There are many positive ways to include time off, whether personal or professional, to demonstrate your professional and personal growth. For example:

• Continuing education is a great way to show employers that you’re keeping up with the latest trends and technologies in your field. 

• Volunteer work shows an employer that you’re taking initiative in giving back to your community. 

• Parenting children is a full-time job, and employers may be impressed by your commitment to your family.

• By freelancing, not only does it show employers that you’re staying up to date with current trends in your industry, but it can also provide additional experience in a wide variety of organizations and fields.

Explaining job gaps on your resume doesn’t have to be a negative experience; show employers that you’ve been actively engaged in activities which help to expand your knowledge and benefit your community.  With the right approach, you can demonstrate how taking time off from work has enabled you to develop into an even more qualified candidate.

To learn more about how you can create a useful narrative for any employment gaps on your resume, contact us:  www.jobseekersedge.com  760 310-9598

When you’re crafting your resume, featuring key transferable skills is an excellent way to demonstrate the breadth of your experience and knowledge. Featuring these hands-on skills will help you get the job.

• People Skills: This includes the ability to communicate and collaborate effectively, as well as motivating, listening, and demonstrating empathy.

• Management: Knowing how to make decisions, negotiate, manage time effectively, and allocating resources.

• Leadership: High-level leadership is best modeled by commitment, passion, empowering others, resilience, and demonstrating emotional intelligence.

• Research and Planning: This includes project and risk management, budgeting, resource allocation, and prioritization.

• Hard Skills: Technical know-how that can be applied to specific tasks such as computer programming, software troubleshooting, and data analysis.

• Additional Skills: For example, published articles in professional journals or magazines, speaking engagements, successful volunteer projects, and second languages.

Pay attention to frequently used keywords in job postings and utilize them in your resume.

For personalized tips on identifying and relaying your transferable skills to employers, visit www.jobseekersedge.com

A logo is an essential element of a strong LinkedIn profile. While the platform caters to professionals, it’s still important to stand out from the crowd and make your profile memorable.

• Logos provide instant recognition of a brand or business. Think about companies like Amazon, Apple, or Boy Scouts of America. Their logos are iconic; it’s almost impossible to forget them. 

• A powerful logo has the ability to create favorable associations and talking points. Instead of coming across as a generic job seeker, you’ll make yourself known with a recognizable image.

• Logo’s add color and variety to basic profile page. When people read digitally, their eyes are naturally drawn to pictures before they read text. Having a profile that is text dense is unappealing and can be an instant turn-off for potential recruiters and business partners.

Yes, LinkedIn profiles are meant to be professional—but that doesn’t mean they have to be dull. 

As your LinkedIn banner is your personal logo, don’t skimp on creating a dynamic logo for your profile—it could be the difference between getting noticed or being lost in the sea of profiles. 

For specific tips on your LinkedIn profile, contact us at Job Seekers’ Edge.  760-310-9598

It’s not just what you say during a job interview that matters, it’s also how you say it with body language. Your body language in particular. Since it’s universally accepted that nonverbal communication makes up more than half of our overall communication, it’s important to be aware of the signals you’re sending.

• Be aware of your body language from the moment you walk into the job interview or appear on the computer screen.
• Lean forward and demonstrate that you’re interested in each interviewer.
• Make eye contact to indicate that you’re listening and understanding by nodding, etc.
• Be mindful of hand gestures. While they can help emphasize points during an interview, too many gestures can come off as distracting.
• Sit Up Straight. Slouching can make you seem uninterested or even bored during an interview.
• Smiling is one of the easiest ways to convey warmth and enthusiasm, don’t forget to smile as much as appropriate during your conversation.

Demonstrating strong nonverbal communication skills shows potential employers that you have poise and confidence. For more tips on how to nail the job interview, whether it’s in-person or online, contact us at 760 310-9598 or contact us.

In a competitive job market, it’s important to differentiate yourself and stand out from the crowd. One way to do this is to take a cue from the saying “be interested, not interesting”.

Rather than simply trying to be impressive, focus on being genuinely interested in the position, the company, and what their specific needs are.

• Successful high-level candidates must demonstrate their ability to work well with others.
• Display genuine interest towards those you are interacting with throughout the job search process.
• Ask questions about the role, and listen carefully.
• This particular skill can help you stand out in situations such as interviews or compensation package negotiations.

Want to know how you can stand out during the interview process? Contact us for more information. www.jobseekersedge.com

One of our favorite books right now is Harvard Business Review’s on Emotional Intelligence.

Throughout the book, there is valuable insight into the skill of managing and understanding our emotional responses, and how that can help every aspect of life.

The five core components of emotional intelligence are:

• Self-awareness: Understanding our own emotions and recognizing how they affect our behavior.
• Empathy: The ability to understand how other people feel so that we can respond appropriately.
• Self-regulation: Managing our own emotions so that we can remain focused and make better decisions.
• Motivation: Taking action that will help us reach our goals.
• Social Skills: Effectively interacting with others and building strong relationships.

Strong emotional intelligence skills can give you an edge during the hiring process, as employers increasingly value EQ when making hiring decisions.

Interested in how your EQ measures up? Contact us for a free discovery call.

If you’ve been with your company awhile, your scope and responsibilities may have expanded, is it time for promotion or a title change? A title is an indicator both internally and externally of what level you are within your organization.

• Do some soul searching as to ‘why’ a certain title. Can this new title help you do your job more effectively? Will it add credibility to you in working with clients?
• Utilize your resources to identify job titles that reflect your skills expertise and status. Does the new title make sense within your firm and the industry?
• Does this new title make sense to your current boss? Their motivations and challenges.
• When making your request project strength, but also modesty. Never demand.
• Remember this is a negotiation and should be a part of a multi-issue discussion. i.e. a review, compensation change, etc.

For more information, visit us at www.jobseekersedge.com

As another year ends and a new one begins, this is a good time to reflect and take action on your leadership resolutions. 

• Take classes to hone your skills as a leader. Check into convenient educational apps and platforms.
• Focus on your own self-improvement, personal and professional. Listen to quality podcasts and/or audiobooks, and keep a journal to track your goals and progress. When you work on yourself, there’s a natural spillover effect on every aspect of your life.
• Improve communication and connections with your people. Look for ways to notice and acknowledge those on your team. Make acknowledgment frequent and genuine, not rewards-based.
• Spend less time in meetings with your team. Spend more time working ON the organizational mission versus IN it. This will advance the mission.
• Schedule important commitments in your calendar. Not tasks, mind you, but commitments like a day off, time to exercise, family and/or couple time, etc. This moves you from reacting to planning and balancing your time well.

As a leader, remember your team doesn’t work for you…you work for them. Leading by serving is a powerful way to build a productive and enjoyable culture for everyone on the team.

Happy New Year from the team at Job Seekers’ Edge.  www.jobseekersedge.com 

Along with the request of “Tell me about yourself,” this is the second most awkward/uncomfortable/difficult question for interviewees to answer.  Be prepared…. Do your homework on the company and role to craft your responses.

Be specific when responding.

• Express your personal passion for the employer’s product/service/mission and be clear about your ‘Why’.
  • i.e.  ‘X’ is very important to me, personally and professionally, because I strongly believe……”
• Explain why you would enjoy the responsibilities of the role.
  • i.e.  Analyzing data is exciting to me and using numbers to tell a story.
• Share how you see succeeding in this role, given your skills and experience.  Express confidence in your ability to succeed and grow.
  • i.e. I work best in a collaborative environment and I like to align all departments/appropriate parties to achieve our goals

.

Employers want to know that their investment in you will contribute to their success.  If you convey passion, enthusiasm, and optimism with specificity, you will leave the interviewer thinking – “We want you to work here.”

Need more assistance with interviewing, see our Nail The Interview program at www.jobseekersedge.com