living

[via Thesimpledollar]

November 7, 2007 @ 12:30 pm - Written by Trent
Last week, I wrote a controversial article about resume tips that got a lot of readers fired up. As a result, I thought it would be worthwhile to go through the entire process of creating a strong resume, step by step.

Step 0: Do NOT fire up Microsoft Word and use a generic resume template.

Absolutely, positively, do NOT do this, no matter what. Microsoft Word is a powerful program, but just firing it up and opening up one of the included resume templates does one thing and one thing alone - make your resume look like everyone else’s.You want your resume to look unique and memorable, but classy - Word’s default templates will not cut the mustard.

Step 1: Open a plain text document and start listing all of the information you might ever include on a resume

List the details of every job, including every possible relevant accomplishment at each one. List every organized activity you’ve ever participated in, and every noteworthy honor you’ve received in your life. List everything.

Tip #1: If you don’t know where to start, include the following in this order:

Work experience (dates, names of employers, location, tasks, accomplishments)
Education (dates, degrees obtained, location)
Specific skills
Honors and awards
Other activities of note (professional organizations, special skills, etc.)

[via cnn]

Words don't tell potential employers as much as deeds

By Laura Morsch
CareerBuilder.com

So, you're experienced? Before you advertise this in your resume, be sure you can prove it.

Often, when job seekers try to sell themselves to potential employers, they load their resumes with vague claims that are transparent to hiring managers, according to Scott Bennett, author of "The Elements of Resume Style" (AMACOM).

By contrast, the most successful job seekers avoid these vague phrases on their resumes in favor of accomplishments.

Instead of making empty claims to demonstrate your work ethic, use brief, specific examples to demonstrate your skills.

In other words, show, don't tell.

Bennett offers these examples:

Instead of... "Experience working in fast-paced environment"

Try... "Registered 120+ third-shift emergency patients per night"

Instead of... "Excellent written communication skills"

Try... "Wrote jargon-free User Guide for 11,000 users"

Instead of... "Team player with cross-functional awareness"

Try... "Collaborated with clients, A/R and Sales to increase speed of receivables and prevent interruption of service to clients."

Instead of... "Demonstrated success in analyzing client needs"

Try... "Created and implemented comprehensive needs assessment mechanism to help forecast demand for services and staffing."

The worst offenders

It's good to be hard-working and ambitious, right? The hiring manager won't be convinced if you can't provide solid examples to back up your claims.

Business luminaries share their thoughts on why M.B.A.s aren't all they're cracked up to be. [via InsideCRM]

Most business schools would love for you to believe that an M.B.A. is the ticket to huge paychecks and unlimited career growth. However, a large number of businesspeople have achieved success without a business school's stamp of approval. In fact, BusinessWeek reports that fewer than one of three executives who reach upper- echelon positions hold an M.B.A. Before deciding to spend significant money and effort on earning an M.B.A., consider what these successful and intelligent players in the business world have to say about getting a business degree.

[via Lifehack]

from Stepcase Lifehack by TatsuyaNakagawa

It looks like much of the gold that was brought to China for this year’s Olympics will remain there after the games’ end. Michael Phelps’ legendary 8 gold medals for the US team helped the Americans bring up their count but not nearly enough to keep them in the top spot for winning gold since the fall of the Soviet empire. Even if you discount a few from China for biased judging, they still won this year’s Lycra War. This 29th Olympiad became China’s great coming out party. Everyone was invited and entertained while these enthusiastic hosts met their ambitious goals for the August event.

There are some important lessons we can learn from what some call China’s great awakening. This relates to Napoleon’s account to his European colleagues that China was a sleeping tiger – one he figured should best be left asleep while his forces agitated in Europe and the New World. Since Napoleon is no longer around, we decided to fill in and take some careful notes from our experience in China these past several days. We have come up with the following ten lessons from China’s Olympic preparations:

[via zenhabits]

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Corey of The Simple Marriage Project.

Tell me if this has happened to you: You wake up one morning several years into your marriage and wonder how in the world did I end up here? Not wondering this in an overly negative way, as in I can’t believe I am with this person (although that may indeed be the case) but instead wondering how marriage ended up being so far from what you thought it would be.

Think about it. How did you think marriage would be when you were growing up? Did it look anything like what you are experiencing? There are very few people that when honestly assessing their life, can say that everything turned out thus far like they dreamed.

Many people go into a marriage with an ideal in mind. After saying “I do” to him or her, life will be happily ever after. Long walks on a sunset beach, hand in hand, staring into each others eyes, and then making love in the morning with the cool breeze through the window and the birds singing in the trees… Blah, Blah, Blah. If you are married, you know full well that this fairy tale seldom, if ever occurs.

Many people also don’t go into a relationship having thought through worst case scenarios. What’s the worst that could happen in a marriage? Is it the prospect of divorce? Maybe. For me, the worst case scenario would be marital monotony. Settling for the same thing each and every day for as long as we both shall live. Where do I sign?

How do so many marriages end up ho-hum? I think the answer lies in this statement: people will choose unhappiness over uncertainty.

[via Zen Habits]

Normally my Family Day articles are about spending time with your kids, but today we’ll talk about another important aspect of families: couples. If you’ve got a significant other, I highly recommend you keep the spark of your relationship alive and find ways to show you appreciate each other, every week and every day, if possible.

Look for little, inexpensive ways to be romantic, and it will pay off for your relationship in innumerable ways.

Why inexpensive? Well, you could rent a limo and take your love to a snooty French restaurant, or whisk him or her off to a trip to the snow-capped Alps, or rent a stadium and have the Three Tenors sing love songs for you while the New York Philharmonic plays in the background. I don’t know about you, but I can’t afford to do that kind of stuff more than a few times a month. The rest of the time, I have to resort to cheaposity.

Before we get into the list, let’s look at a few notes on how to use the list:

[via Lifehacker]

A whole lot more than just words passes between people who are talking, so a few simple conversational skills can help you recognize what's really being said and help you lead the discussion your way. Learn how to read body language and facial expressions, de-code euphemisms, ask sensitive questions, criticize constructively, get what you want in negotiations, cut off chatterboxes, and more with our top 10 conversation hacks. Photo by PhillipC.

Top MBA programs don't have a monopoly on advanced business knowledge: you can teach yourself everything you need to know to succeed in life and at work. The Personal MBA Recommended Reading List features only the very best business books available, based on thousands of hours of research. So skip b-school and the $100,000 loan: you can get a world-class business education simply by reading these books.

About The Personal MBA Recommended Reading List:

This page lists all PMBA-recommended books and resources for easy printing, bookmarking, and reference. For more information about the Personal MBA, book selection criteria, and project history, read the manifesto.

• For in-depth descriptions of each book, click on the name of the category.
• To jump directly to Amazon.com, click on the name of the book.
• To purchase this entire library of books from Amazon.com at a substantial discount, check out the Personal MBA Complete Business Library.

I have been asked by the author to remove the content, to quote him

[via collegedegree.com]

While you can't get college credit for taking open courseware classes, you can make the most of the information and education they offer both in personal and professional aspects of your life. After all, even if you're not working towards a degree, taking the same courses as those in the ivy league can't possibly hurt you and may even be able to better keep you informed and on the cutting edge of what's going on in your field. So how can you make the most of these free online courses? Here are resources we've collected that can help you search for classes, find information and learn everything you need to know about how open courseware works.

Search Engines and Directories

Check out these sites for finding courses and materials you're interested in.

[ via April Masini ]Special to Yahoo! PersonalsUpdated: Jun 20, 2008

Are you a nice guy who has always wondered why the cocky guy -- the one who barely appears interested in the girl -- is usually the one who gets the girl?

Have you suffered from hearing the words, "You're a really nice guy, but I only like you as a friend," from a woman who you would do (or may, in fact, have already done) just about anything and everything for -- only to turn around and watch her date (or even chase) a guy who treats her like she's nothing special? And are you stumped wondering why she would date a guy who treats her like that when she could have you who would treat her like a princess and give her everything she wants? Well, you better brace yourself because I'm going to tell you a couple of secrets that you might not want to hear.

First, "nice" equates with boring and predictable. Look up "nice" in the dictionary and you find: pleasant; agreeable; satisfactory. In other words, average -- not exceptional, not exciting, and not sexy.I'll bet you've never heard a woman say she didn't want to date a guy because he was too confident, too passionate, or too exciting -- have you? But, I'll bet you have heard women say things like, "He's such a nice guy. He's so sweet and he's always there for me, but I only like him as a friend." Or, "He's such a good guy -- kind, thoughtful, generous, honest, loyal -- but there's no chemistry. He just doesn't turn me on." Sadly, I hear it all the time. The fact is, Mr. Nice Guy, you cannot bore a woman into feeling attracted to you or into wanting to date you. And as obvious as that sounds, if you are one of those guys I described that is exactly what you are trying to do. And it won't work.