​​If you are a recent graduate, now is the time to work on refining certain skills to help your transition to the workplace.​This summer, a new group of ambitious college graduates will hit the job market. Along with their energy and enthusiasm also comes inexperience. Here are the top communication skills that employers want to see from new grads. ​Listen, listen, listenWhen you are just starting out, you should listen more than you talk. Really hear what the other person is saying, instead of formulating your response. Ask for clarification to avoid misunderstandings. The person speaking to you should be the most important person. Don’t multitask. This means that if you are speaking to someone on the phone, do not respond to an email, or send a text at the same time. ​Be clear and concise Maybe every once in a while, on occasion it could be said that a college student filled a 20-page paper will a few filler words to meet a minimum word count. In the business setting, however, time is money. Getting to the point in a presentation or meeting is a premium communication skill. Work on clearly articulating your point in a concise and direct manner.​Project management skills In college, a big project rarely lasted longer than a semester, and usually were much shorter. But in the workplace, you are often expected to juggle multiple projects that can last six months, a year or longer. Set several milestone goals, check in on progress regularly, get feedback, and use the resources of others around you. Practice the art of meetings Meetings in an office are also different than the group meetings or the dorms at college. To respect others’ time, always send out an agenda before the meeting, giving participants enough time to prepare. At the start of the meeting, establish the ground rules for communicating, and any other expectations. Finally, send meeting minutes to those who participated or who will be affected by what was discussed. ​​Organizations know that it will take time for new graduates to get acclimated to their new work environment. That’s also a two-way street. Spend time getting up to speed in your communication practices, and the transition will be smoother for everyone. ​

​Far too often, recruiters have received applications that have made them turn white in fright. Spelling errors, over-the-top “creative” layouts, mini autobiographies, illegible fonts (comic sans, anyone?) – these are just some of the examples that have made recruiters drop everything and run. With Halloween coming up, here’re some tips on how to make your resume a treat to read and help it land in the callback pile. ​1. Keep It ConciseA recruiter often has to go through over a hundred applications for a role and the worst thing that you could do is to send in a resume that has over 20 pages detailing your life’s achievements from the time you were born. Be more discerning on the information that you want to include in your resume and be concise. A good way to do so is to list down any relevant work and education history that you have from the past 5 to 10 years as well as skills that are relevant to the job or industry that you are applying for.​2. Use the Right Formatting​As most companies today are using an application tracking system (also known as ATS) to filter through applications during the initial recruitment stage, your resume is very likely to be screened by a resume bot first. To ensure that your resume is ATS-friendly, here’re some things to note:Use the right file format. Unless the system mentions you can upload PDF documents, the safest option is to use Word document saved as .doc or .docx. Stick to simple bullet pointsUse an ATS-friendly and easy to read font such as Times New Roman, Arial, and Verdana. Avoid using fonts such as Comic Sans and Jokerman. Use simple bullet points to list down your work history. Avoid using tables and columns as the information might not be detectable by the ATS.3. Look for Keywords in Job AdsBesides using the right format, it is important to tailor your resume to the job in order to get past the resume bot. A good way to start is to look at the job advertisement and determine what the skills required are and include the keywords in your resume. Besides listing down the relevant technical skills, highlight any transferable skills you have as well. However, simply including all the keywords in your resume will not work – the system is smarter than you think. Decide on the keywords that are relevant to you and incorporate them within your work experience. ​4. Include Sections in Your ResumeRecruiters usually spend a few seconds to look through each application. To help recruiters easily navigate your resume and draw their attention to key information, include headings and sub-headings such as ‘Work Experience’, ‘Skills’ and ‘Education’.​5. Quantify Your Work AchievementsQuantifying your work achievements is a great way to show, and not tell, the hiring manager why you’re the right candidate for the job. Besides adding legitimacy to your capabilities, doing so can help the person sifting through the applications to have a clearer understanding of the scale and impact of your accomplishments. This can be done even if your job does not directly work with numbers. Use digits to represent the numbers instead of words to make it easier to read. Here’re some examples of how you can quantify your accomplishments:Increased company’s market share by 10% within a year of launching the product in the marketImproved Google Business Reviews rating from 3.8 stars to 4.2 stars after implementing a new customer service program.Taught a class of over 30 students and increased average exam scores by at least 15 points.Wrote 5 blog articles a week which has over 100 shares per article.Use these tips to create a great resume that will be a treat to read not just during Halloween, but for any time of the year. For more resume tips, click here.

The economy has shifted at a rapid pace, with some sectors losing workers while others can’t add talent fast enough to keep up with demand.For workers who find themselves searching for jobs, making the leap is possible. Here are transferable skills to highlight on your resume and consider when searching and applying for new roles in fast-growing fields like logistics or customer service.Critical thinkingAs organizations make pivots and fast-paced changes in response to the global workforce environment, workers can take concepts learned in their previous roles, and apply them to new opportunities. In their new roles, workers need critical thinking to take their knowledge and apply it to the interconnectedness of the workplace environment. When there isn’t a road map, the ability to think on your feet and also consider long-term implications is essential and in demand. Coordination and collaborationProject management skills will always be in demand, including the need to coordinate and collaborate among multiple people, skill sets, and teams. In any workplace, you’re often expected to juggle multiple projects at once, often over a long-term timetable. Employers will always need people who can set goals, check-in on progress regularly, get feedback, and use the resources of others around you. Time managementEvery workplace has the same amount of this limited resource: Time. People who can manage time and workload effectively will be valuable wherever they go. Managing workload effectively means understanding your own abilities and timeline, and also that of others around you. Those who know how to respect others’ time will always send out an agenda before a meeting, set timelines for projects, and create check-in targets to adjust if necessary. Active listening and communicationMore than half (56%) of employers say communication skills, written and verbal, are their most valued human strengths followed by collaboration and problem-solving, according to a ManpowerGroup global survey. That’s why developing these skills are important for any workplace, and they’ll only become more necessary during change. Finally, above all learnability is needed over the long term to adapt to an ever-changing economy. Learnability is the desire and ability to continually learn and grow throughout careers. Of all transferable skills, learnability is the foundation –– and will help keep you in demand for the future.

​A layoff can create gaps on your resume, however, there are a few things you can do to address the layoff, so that prospective companies do not penalize you for any gaps in employment. During the period of transition when you are looking for a job after a layoff, it is the perfect opportunity to update your skills and to use your time off in productive ways. Consider doing some of the following activities.Be open to other employment options such as part-time work, working on projects, temporary assignments, or consulting in areas where you have experience and expertise. Volunteering for an organization where you can gain new skills and experience is another option. If you decide to volunteer, don’t forget to add the new information in the Experience section of your resume. This is especially helpful if you are looking to switch careers. Additionally, look for organizations that offer internships for adults.Related to the point above, during your time off, consider investing in your career by going back to school and taking classes to update your skills. This will demonstrate to prospective employers that lifelong learning is important to you, and that you are someone who capitalizes on opportunities. Include your professional development activities on your resume.Use a functional resume to direct the hiring manager’s attention to the results you delivered in the past, your industry-related strengths, achievements and expertise, your transferable skills, your updated skills and experience acquired while off work. You can consider using only years and not months on your functional resume, but if you decide to go this route, be consistent, using years for other previous positions held.Although these activities will enable you to address layoffs on your resume when you spend your time off productively, you should be thoughtful about the process, because every step that you take, should lead you closer to securing a new job. And in the event that you have to explain a layoff in a job interview, be honest about what happened, but present it in a positive light. For instance, “My competencies and expertise were not the right fit for my previous employer’s needs, but it looks like they’d be a good fit in your organization.” And if they are concerned about how long you have been unemployed, simply say that you took time to reflect on what’s next for you, and that you are also being selective about your next move. Then without missing a beat, describe how the position aligns perfectly with your expertise.This article is contributed by Right Management, www.rightmanagement.sg, the global career experts within the ManpowerGroup.

​Want your resume to look cutting edge? These digital tools can help tune up a resume for a digital format without any special coding or technical skills.​The days of mailing your physical resume to human resources or a recruiter are long gone. Today, almost everything is conducted online. So why continue to adhere to the convention of a boring, text-heavy, single-page resume?  It does makes sense to use the traditional resume format in most formal job interview situations. However, for professions that call for more creativity, you can set yourself apart by breaking free of the format everyone else is using and taking advantage of online tools.  Fortunately, there are digital resume services that can help tune up a resume for a digital format without any special coding or technical skills. Here are some of those tool that will help you dazzle employers with your digital resume.   Standard Resume Website: https://standardresume.coIf you want to be web friendly but don’t want to break too much with tradition, Standard Resume will give you the best of both worlds. Standard Resume converts your LinkedIn profile into an elegant one-page website that looks like the traditional resume. It converts the data on LinkedIn in seconds, and allows you to customize or delete any individual sections. The finished resume is mobile friendly and convenient to send online.  VisualCV Website: https://www.visualcv.comFlair is the focus of VisualCV. The online tool allows users to add photos or graphics to their resume, select sample templates based on industry type, or outsource their design to a team that will format a CV or resume. Once the resume is finished, VisualCV will generate a URL for the design that can be shared in social media and indexed by search engines.  Cake ResumeWebsite: www.cakeresume.comWhile many other resume builders let users choose a template, Cake Resume takes customization one step further by allowing users to select the individual design components of a resume. Do you want to add a video, a quote or a slide to your resume? Just drag and drop that section into your template. Do you want to add a link to Twitter or GitHub? Add or delete these icons. After you are finished, Cake Resume lets you publish your page to the web and then monitor statistics of how many people are viewing your page.  Remember, whether you are creating your resume in Microsoft Word or VisualCV, there’s always a temptation to add more bells and whistles to your design. But your goal should be to let your qualifications shine through in an easy-to-read format. Keep that in mind when updating your resume for the digital world.  ​This article is contributed by Right Management, www.rightmanagement.sg, the global career experts within the ManpowerGroup.

​Getting the job interview in today's competitive job search environment means creating a resume that stands out in the crowd. Here are five hacks that will do just that.Writing a resume is one of the most important career management tasks you can do. The key is to write it in such a way that it stands out from the crowd. That doesn't mean using colored paper and large, interesting fonts. Those tricks don't work, and they're just as likely to get your resume sent to File 13. Follow these five tips to make simple improvements to your resume that really make you stand out from your job search competitors: Customize your resume by using words pulled from the job description. You'll impress your potential interviewer if you use the language they used in their job ad. Read the job description carefully, and when you describe duties and achievements at previous jobs, use the words you find in the job description to show that you have the requisite experience.Give your resume a title.Most job seekers don't do this. They just put their name and contact information at the top of the resume and hope it catches someone's attention. If you give your resume a suitable title that is relevant to the job you are seeking, it is more likely to catch its reviewer's attention and land you a job interview.Bold important words.You have six seconds to grab the reader's attention. By bolding important words in your resume, you make it easier for the reviewer to find the information they are looking for, which will save them time and increase your chances for a job interview.Make it scannable.Today's interviewing managers spend a lot of time online reading blogs, website content, and other online copy that is easy to scan. Make your resume scannable by using bullet points, lots of white space, subheads, and other visual features.Customize to the job you are applying for.That includes keywords that will make your resume search engine friendly and increase your chances of getting the job interview because you make it easy for the person reviewing resumes to see if you have the necessary skills to perform the job.By making your resume easier to scan, read, and discover your most valuable skills, you will save the resume reviewer time and present yourself as a more valuable candidate for the job. That will increase your chances of landing the job interview so that you can close the sale and land the job.

​A recent college graduate is considering adding relevant and substantive evidence of on-campus leadership to her resume. She was a 3-year officer of a very active and visible group on campus, leading efforts to bring in nationally known guest speakers, arranging campus rallies, and posting the group’s activities and viewpoints on a range of social media and web-based sites. The group, by the way, was the leading advocacy organization for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered students. She has no other leadership roles to list. Should she put this on her resume? A 35-year old African American CPA is ready to leave public accounting for an in-house accounting role, and is putting his resume together. He was named to the “100 Most Influential African American Residents” list in his home town this year, and is an active fundraiser for his alma mater, Howard University. He was President of his college’s chapter of Alpha Pi Alpha. Should he list these accolades and accomplishments?  While social media may be breaking some of these old rules, when it comes to your resume, we are still not quite there yet with the types of information you reveal. As a rule, do not include information that is illegal for the prospective employer to ask, in addition to other ‘no-nos’. So for now, here’s a list of what not to put on your resume: AgeHeightWeightPhotoMarital statusReligious affiliationPolitical affiliationSexual orientationEthnicityNumber of childrenSocial security numberSalary informationJobs you held while in high schoolHome ownership statusDetails about your petsNegative details such as a criminal recordEarly/Unrelated ExperienceMinute details about positions held When reviewing your resume, be sure that it does not reflect: Unfocused career objectiveIrrelevant job experienceUnusual hobbies that have nothing to do with the job being applied forUnprofessional email addressesThat you were fired from a job and reason for terminationFalse information Following these resume writing tips will prevent your resume from being filtered out during the screening process.

Download a sample of a welder resume for your reference:​Sample Resume (Welder).pdfSize: 171 KB​

From personal websites to social networking, job seekers have a wide variety of tools and resources to help them land a new job. With all these options, don't forget the importance of a solid resume.Modern job seekers enjoy the benefit of many helpful tools and resources to assist in their search. From social media and online job boards to professional recruiting agencies, there are so many new things to try to expand your network and help you stand out. As you're experimenting with these new resources, it can be easy to forget the important role a resume still plays in your job search. Besides the fact that your resume is required for most employers (and is one of the necessary elements to help get your foot in the door), it is also a helpful tool to help organize your experience and define your personal brand. The best approach is to leverage your resume in parallel to your other job search efforts. Here are a few ways to make your resume work in sync with everything else you are doing to find a job. 1. Include links to your social media profiles on you resume Job searchers use a variety of methods to accomplish this. One way is to include a social media section on your resume. More often than not, this section is at the bottom of the resume. Other job searchers include social media profiles with their contact information at the top of the page.2. Link to your online portfolioSome people use LinkedIn as an online portfolio, but there are other websites that serve as portfolios for creatives, entrepreneurs, and specialists of one stripe or another. If you have an online portfolio, link to portfolio items from your resume. This is particularly effective if you post your resume online anywhere.3. Post your resume onlineSpeaking of online resume posting, you can upload your resume to your personal website, to your LinkedIn profile, and to other sites such as job search websites where it can be found by potential employers.4. Brand your resume to look like your online publishing assets One sure way to stand out in the crowd is to use design as a branding element across all of your online publishing assets. This includes your website, your social media accounts, and your resume. Instead of simply creating a bland black & white resume, if you post it online, brand it for easy recognition and credibility.Your resume is still an important part of your job search strategy. Make it more effective by ensuring it works with all of you online job search methods. This article is contributed by Right Management, www.rightmanagement.sg, the global career experts within the ManpowerGroup.