Does your resume represent the best you have to offer?  When you read it, are you proud to say that it represents you? Does your resume need a make-over?  Review your resume with these tips in mind…

** Does your resume target your audience? **
Every job and each employer seeks a slightly different applicant.  Unless you are applying for the same exact job over and over again, you should not be sending the identical resume for every position.  Research your target organizations.  Use their buzzwords and lingo in your application materials.  (You can easily tweak a well written resume to appeal to different audiences, so don’t feel that you need to completely rewrite your resume for each new job.)

** Is your resume attractive, consistent, error-free and easy to read? **
Don’t underestimate how important it is to have a clear, error-free, visually impressive resume.  Does your resume look crowded with thick text blocks that may be difficult to scan?  Are you making strong use of bold to enhance your document, or are you overdoing it?  Did you use a resume template from your word processing software?  (Don’t!)  Since readers likely give your resume a 20-second glance, visual appeal is important.  If the reader notices careless spelling errors, it is not likely that you will land an interview.

** Do you DEMONSTRATE what you have to offer? **
Is your resume a laundry list of jobs you held, or does it engage the reader and demonstrate your skills and achievements?  You should quantify your value using percentages, numbers and specifics.  Your resume should highlight the positive impact that you had in previous jobs.  You want to convince the reader that you could do the same for them. If your resume is TARGETED, ATTRACTIVE and DEMONSTRATES what you have to offer, it will be more than a TAD above the rest!

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Time flies when you are having fun. It’s true! I realized this week is the seven-year anniversary of my blog. In celebration of the blog-aversary, I thought it would be fun to revisit my very first posts from seven years ago. I was surprised to find out that, while I wasn’t talking so much about social media in that first week of blogging, the advice I provided seven years ago is still sound and valid today.

Below is the text of my very first blog post. Do any of these statements resonate with you? If so, it’s probably time to start thinking about how you are going to make a change in 2015!

A new year is a great opportunity to reevaluate your career goals and decide if 2008 (or 2015) is the year that you’ll (finally) focus on finding a new job or career.

Is this your year?  Do any of these bullet points sound familiar?

• You dread going to work. Thinking about your job gives you a twitch, or that familiar stress feeling in your neck.
• You aren’t being paid what you are worth.  You need to make more money to support your lifestyle or family.
• You have always dreamed (or at least thought about) a career in a different industry or setting.
• Your work consumes you.  You are working so many hours that you don’t have time for anything else in your life, and you want more.
• Your job is  having a negative impact on your health.

If any of these describe your situation, now is the time to plan for a move.  Although a job hunt may sound like a lot of work, with the right tools and attitude, you can successfully transition to a new job or career.  Stay tuned for more about how to get started!

The post Looking for a new job in the new year? appeared first on Keppie Careers.

Perhaps you saw the story about a photographer and editor who accidentally included a section of her cover letter applying for a job with Buzzfeed as a caption sent to all of the AP’s newspaper clients. In one accidental click of the mouse, she made two major mistakes at work. She posted an inaccurate caption for a photo (a major gaffe for an editor, whose main job is to pay attention to details) and simultaneously alerted everyone that she was looking for a new job (not a great move for anyone hoping to keep their current job).

What does this widely publicized mistake teach employed job seekers? Do not conduct your job search while on the job; it could cost you your current position and put future opportunities in jeopardy, too. Avoid being marginalized at work because everyone knows you’re looking for another job.

Keep these tips in mind when you’re looking for a job to avoid getting trapped between a rock and a hard place at work:

Don’t conduct your search while in the office or using work equipment.

Did you know your boss is probably spying on you?

Yes, it’s perfectly legal for your employer to monitor what you’re doing while on the job or when using company equipment. The bigger your organization, the more likely it is that monitoring software is installed to track what you’re doing while at work.

That means if you’re spending time surfing job boards, reading job search advice while at work or using your work-issued computer or emailing cover letters to potential employers, your employer may know about it and could dismiss you as a result. (Check your company’s policies; it could be against the rules to use your computer for any personal business at all.) It’s inconvenient if you don’t have your own computer and use your work laptop for personal business, but be aware your work computer is fair game for your employer to track and avoid using it to conduct job search business.

Don’t leave a digital trail.

Using LinkedIn and other social media tools will help you land a job, but if it’s important to keep your search confidential, you’ll want to be careful not to leave a breadcrumb trail online leading your boss to uncover your job hunt. Some important steps to take to maintain privacy on LinkedIn:

Hide your activity updates in LinkedIn.

There’s no need for your current boss to receive an alert every time you update your status, is there? While making changes to your LinkedIn profile doesn’t necessarily mean you’re looking for a job, frequent curation and consistent updates that may be necessary when you’re in an active search could land you in hot water. Visit your “Privacy and Settings” on LinkedIn and select “Turn On/Off Your Activity Broadcasts.” Make sure to uncheck the box that allows LinkedIn to let people know when you’ve made changes to your profile.

Be stealth when you research.

If you’re visiting a lot of profiles via LinkedIn, you may not want to let people know. While your in the midst of your research, change the setting in LinkedIn labeled “Select what others see when you’ve viewed their profile.” You may want to temporarily change it to “Anonymous” during your in-depth online investigations.

Join groups privately.

When you join groups on LinkedIn, you have the option to not advertise your membership on your profile. Just scroll down to “Groups” on the bottom of your profile and hide any group’s icon from your page. Be aware, public groups are not good places to post about your job search or to rant negatively about your current employer. Even if you hide your membership, someone could still see your updates in that group.

Don’t assume you are anonymous in any social network.

If you’re participating in Twitter chats, Google communities or hangouts or any online forum, assume your boss has access. Unless you are exceptionally good at maintaining your anonymity, you should assume everything you do or say online is public. That includes updates to your “friends” on Facebook.

It’s a challenge to maintain a confidential job search, but situations such as the one of the photo editor remind all of us how easy it is to make a mistake. Be careful and attentive when you’re on the prowl for a new job and you’ll be much more likely to be successful keeping your plans to yourself until you’re ready to make a big announcement.

Originally appeared on AOLjobs.com.

The post Don’t make this major job search mistake appeared first on Keppie Careers.

As an employee, whether or not your company incorporates being thankful into its mission, do you feel appreciated? Do you believe you should expect more than a paycheck?

Bryan Miles, CEO and co-founder of eaHELP, a provider of virtual executive assistants, knew he wanted “gratitude” to be featured prominently in his companyâ€s values. Here are his suggestions for all leaders and employees to consider this week and all year long:

1. Donâ€t wait to be grateful. Regardless of your position in an organization, cultivate gratitude as a core part of your work. “Donâ€t wait until youâ€re leading a team, a division or a company to become a grateful leader,” Miles says. “If you do, when you start telling people youâ€re grateful for them once youâ€re in the position you want, people wonâ€t buy it.” He suggests you make sure those around you right now understand that youâ€re grateful for the many ways they help you each and every day.

2. Be humble. Miles believes that if youâ€re a leader, you know down in your gut that what youâ€re leading doesnâ€t have much to do with you. He suggests you acknowledge that youâ€ve achieved your role, in part, because your team works hard and takes advantage of market opportunities. “Your team looks to you for leadership and for guidance, but when it comes down to the day-to-day wins and losses that actually make up your business, you need to know that those donâ€t have much to do with you,” Miles says. “You need to be grateful for the team that powers the engine of your business.” Similarly, as a team member, recognize your role in ensuring your team continues to move forward. Be grateful for everyone around you, and donâ€t be shy about expressing appreciation.

3. Acknowledge that your success depends on others. Being a grateful employee will make you a smarter employee. Admitting that you donâ€t know everything and that everything youâ€ve ever learned thatâ€s made you successful has come from someone or something else helps improve your standing in a team. “Being grateful for those from whom youâ€ve learned is essential if you want to stay humble and teachable and will actually propel you forward in your career,” Miles says.

4. Be sincere. In many cases, being grateful can be disarming. As a leader or a team member, when you are thankful and express it – sincerely and frequently – it will often make people stop in their tracks. “Genuine gratitude is pretty rare in todayâ€s society, which is a shame, but expressing real gratitude sets people apart,” Miles says. If you lead a team, your employees will know when your gratitude is genuine, and they are more likely to put in extra effort. “Grateful leaders have stronger, more effective, more loyal teams,” he says. As an employee, demonstrating gratitude can help set you apart from others in your organization.

Consider how being appreciative at work and expressing those feelings to all team members can help make your organization more successful. When you do, you give the people who work with you even more reasons to be thankful – at Thanksgiving and all year long.

Miles says this approach has helped contribute to the success of his organization. He believes his success could very well end, should he fail to incorporate gratitude for those around him. “Gratitude is the only lasting motivator of change,” he says. “Itâ€s the only thing that will propel you to change in the future, if youâ€re grateful for what you have now.”

This post originally appeared in U.S. News & World Reports.

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