How to Make Your Resume Stand Out

How to Make Your Resume Stand Out
By Joyce Lain Kennedy, Excerpted from Resumes For Dummies, 6th Edition.

1. Match Your Resume to the Job

To dart past job software filters, a resume must closely match your qualifications with the requirements specified in a job posting’s position description. Include keywords to help connect the dots. Alternatively, when you’re posting your resume in a job board’s resume database, research a dozen job ads in your target career field for typical requirements and keywords. The old generic resume has nearly dropped dead.

2. Choose Flattering Format

Select the best format for your situation. For example, the reverse chronological format is appropriate when staying in the same field, but a skills format works best when changing fields. A hybrid format (using parts of both types) is effective in any situation. One to two pages, in most cases, is the right length to avoid T.M.I. (too much information).

3. Sell, Don’t Tell

Forget the naming-your-previous-responsibilities routine. Merely listing “Responsible for XYZ” doesn’t assure the recruiter you met your responsibility or the result of your efforts was worth the money someone paid you. Don’t be stingy with your accomplishments. Always answer the “So what?” question for each accomplishment. The hiring honchos are thinking “Who cares?” or “What’s in it for me?” Tell them!

4. Prove Your Claims

A good start on backing up your claims of skills and accomplishments is measuring them with numbers, percentages, and dollar amounts.

Compare the following statements. Which is the most convincing?

* Easy Ways to Be More Popular OR 50 Easy Ways to Be More Popular
* Towels on Sale OR Towels 40% Off
* Designed internal company insurance plan to replace outside plan at great savings OR Designed $30 million self-insured health plan, saving estimated $5 million per year over previous external plan.

5. Use Bulleted Style for Easy Reading

Using one- or two-liners opens up your resume with white space, making it more appealing to read. Big blocks of text suffocate readers. Let your words breathe.

* [Resumes For Dummies, 6th Edition]

Republished from:
Resumes For Dummies, 6th Edition

Source: http://www.rd.com/money/how-to-make-your-resume-stand-out/

Effective plyometric training

From Sports Peformance :)

Effective plyometric training
There’s a decided feel of spring in the air here in Istanbul. Whilst it’s still coolish, the temperatures are no longer low enough to burn the nose off your face. It’s hard to believe that it was snowing here only last week. Unfortunately, it also means that my single handed attempts to prop up the antihistamine industry have begun in earnest!

I am running one of the units at Edith Cowan University on the Masters of Strength and Conditioning course and last night I completed packaging the lecture on tendinopathy management, so I thought I’d share some of that information with you guys. In particular, I’d like to chat about the impact that plyometrics have on tendon pathology.

First of all, we need to define two terms:

Plyometrics refers to drills where the musculotendinous unit is loaded and then contracted rapidly, utilising a phenomenon known as the stretch shorted cycle (SSC). The rapid stretch produces a more forceful contraction. You may remember a while back I talked about depth jumps and this is an example of a plyometric exercise. Bounding, jumping, skipping, hurdles and clap push ups are all examples of plyometric drills.
Tendinopathy means pain in, and dysfunction of, a tendon.
Plyometrics place a high load on tendons. Effective plyo performance relies on the tendon’s great capacity to provide elastic recoil, which in turn enhances jump height etc. This load is sensed by the tenocytes (tendon cells) that increase their activity to provide a stronger supporting collagen framework within the tendon so that this increased load can be tolerated.

"Effective plyo performance relies on the tendon’s great capacity to provide elastic recoil, which in turn enhances jump height."
The tenocytes are capable of dealing with this load so long as it’s not too frequent. For a beginner, too frequent means engaging in high tendon load activities once every 3-4 days.

What is high tendon load for a novice athlete may in fact be low tendon load for an experienced high jumper (in the same way that what is heavy for me may be as light as a feather for you).

If the tenocytes are asked to deal with high loads on an all-too-frequent basis, they can become overworked and eventually burn out. This is the basis of the degenerative tendons we often see (for example, the grumbling Achilles tendon that complains for the first 10 minutes when we get out of bed in the morning).

So how should this affect our plyometric programme planning? Well, to start with, we should be aware that whilst plyo exercises (hurdles etc.) don’t feel particularly stressful, they are and we need to limit the reps to around 4-6 per set (after that, performance declines anyway).

We need to build up slowly to allow the tenocytes to adapt to the increased load and we need to structure high, medium and low tendon load days into the programme. We also need to appreciate that tendon load capacity varies between, and even within, individuals. Generally speaking, plyometrics would fall into the high tendon load basket and so we need to take care if prescribing many sets of these during a week; once to twice a week should be sufficient for most folk.

'Til next week,

Stay robust, amigos!

Joycey


David Joyce

Injury and Performance Consultant at Galatasaray FC. Holds a Masters in Sports Physiotherapy and a Masters in Strength and Conditioning. He also lectures on the MSc in Sports Physio course at the University of Bath.

1 Corinthians 9:25
Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

Just wanted to share a survivor's tale

A not so epic version but still insightful to what difficulties may do to us.

Thought experiment (What if such a thing happened to yourself? What would be your top 3 to do? And how would you spend the 48 hours.)

Another close one would be the movie 147hours. Go figure. Human Will.

48 Hours Without Power by Christie Anderson

Proverbs 18:10

The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.

My room cleanup

Spending some time to do a revamp of my room these past few days. Battling the dust bunnies and nostalgic memories of the past! Really blessed to see a rainbow on the evening... the divine promise from God to Noah remembered. Pray that I shall finish this by week end!

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True or Not?

The economy works in a predictable cycle. Let's start from the end of a depression. When the market revives from a depression, stock prices will be the first thing that climbs up. Then, all kinds of interest rates will increase. This is followed by a drop in unemployment rate and companies posting good annual report. Stock prices begin to skyrocket and everyone starts to talk about how much they make in stocks. Those who have earned enough from the stock market will start to pump their money into properties. Property hype begins. Property prices shoot up. Interest rates continue to increase. Salaries increase. Economy is now in a boom.

During economic boom, more money is channeled into properties. Property prices continue to rise. Stock prices begin to stagnate due to lack of fund. Interest rate and rental rise to an all-time-high, businesses manage to survive because consumers' spending is still high. Consumers' spending is high because of good salaries, good bonus and good earning from stocks.

Usually when this happens, some bad news will set in and the market crashes. Stock prices fall sharply. Money in the market suddenly dries up because everyone withdraw their money out of fear. Economy begins to slow down. Rental falls, property prices begin to fall. Everyone starts to tighten their spending, resulting in poor business for every company. Business is bad, unemployment increases. The economy is now in a depression.

During economic depression, businesses with poor business model or poor products will be phased out. Interest rate starts to drop to help businesses to survive. The market begins its correction process. After the correction, the economy cycle repeats. Stock market will be the first indication, followed by interest rate, and finally property.

The rich understands this economic cycle. Unlike the poor, the rich will start to park their cash in the stock market towards the end of the depression. The rich will wait patiently for 1, 2 or 3 years. They are not bothered by the daily fluctuation in stock prices. When stock market revive, they easily make 200-300% return. The next thing they watch out for is the property prices. When property prices begin to show its first quarter increase, they will sell off some of their shares and grab a few properties. In another 1 or 2 years, their properties appreciate in value and they easily make a few millions. When the economy reaches its peak, they will sell off some of their properties, keep some to earn rental income and park the rest of their money in fix deposit, survive through the depression (which can last for about 5 years!) and wait for the next cycle!

Guess what the poor will be doing? They do the exact opposite. When the market is good, they got their pay rise and bonuses. They feel rich and start to think of some investment. Usually, they will turn to a bank and listen to those unit trust managers who show them all kinds of track record about the superb performance of their unit trusts. The poor will then put their hard earned cash into those unit trusts and become a victim of the next economy depression.

I hope you know where your economy is at right now. In Singapore, property hype has just began. Property prices are increasing at astonishing rate and it's getting harder to find good investment. Economic boom may continue for another 1-2 years (that's my guess), but the days of getting 100% return in stock market is gone. Property investment is still viable, but 100-200% return is not likely. For those who have just started work, this round of economic boom is not for you. You should use the next 5-7 years to accumulate your cash and get ready for the next boom.

Remember, history repeats itself. You don't have to be a swami guru to predict the future.

Taken from http://www.emailcashpro.com/200907.php

Psalm 111:10
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!