Hi Mamas
I am in dire need of help. I have been out of work for a while. However, I currently am a licensed Real Estate agent and have not done that well this year due to so many factors that I don't have time to get into. So I have decided to find a part time/full time job until I get on my feet with my RE business. I need help revamping my resume. I have been searching for free resume templates to use but to no avail, all the ones that I have found on the internet you have to pay for them one way or another even though they say they are free. Any professional HR mamas out there or anyone good in career advice/resume help etc. can you give me some help. Thanks in advance.
If you have Microsoft Office, then you have Word. And Word comes with several free templates to make resumes. If you don't have Microsoft Word, you can probably use the library computer for free, and they likely have it.
Try the career services office of your college. Believe it or not, many will have templates available for you, even if you have long been out of school. The unemployment office will also help.
BEst,
F. B.
N.
What exactly are you looking for?
How to write it?
What "buzz" words you need to use?
First off you need to decide WHAT you want to do.
what skills do you have?
What you reviewed open positions that you KNOW you can do?
When I review resumes I look for consistency, no spelling errors, no grammatical errors.
I see how their experience relates to what I need in the position I have open. I don't fit a square peg in a round hole.
Don't lie on your resume.
List the skills that you have and are proficient in.
I would also be hesitant to hire you knowing you aren't going to stick around that long. SO figure out what you want to do and stick to it.
Good luck!
The format is really the least important thing to worry about with your resume, as long as it's well organized and error-free. Resumes are not very complicated. Put your name, address, contact info in the top center, then include your work history with bullets of action items describing your work, followed by education, certification and special skills sections at the bottom. You can find information about how to present everything in articles online. You will usually have to pay for a quality template simply because you're paying for someone's expertise.
Your cover letter is going to be far more important when transitioning to another field than your resume. It gives you the chance to play up the right skills and make a case for why you're a strong candidate (e.g., "The strong communication, problem-solving, negotiation and interpersonal skills I developed in the real estate field would be a real asset as a customer service representative.")
The big thing with resumes is to make sure you customize it for each job opening. Don't send the same thing to everyone. If you highlight the most relevant aspects of your background and skill set, you'll make it easier for hiring managers to connect the dots why you're a good contender for their opening.
Above all, have friends and family review your job search documents before you send them out. Does the content make sense? Are there any typos or grammatical errors? Often, it's the simple things that can eliminate you from contention.
Check with your local community college. They are funded with our tax dollars and many may have resume help resources and classes. They would definitely have free resume formats. You might also check with your local unemployment office. You don't have to be unemployed or on unemployment to use their job and resume services. I have some concerns about you wanting a job "til you get on your feet with your RE business," --perhaps you can just work some temporary Christmas jobs who just expect you to work for a limited time or sign up with a temporary agency and get some additional experience to add to your resume. That would give you some flexibility (to accept jobs or not) as your real estate business gets back into gear. It wouldn't be fair for an employer to hire you and train you with the expectation that you are going to stay employed with them for a while. Good Luck
Revamping a resume is more than just finding a nice and attractive template. There are plenty of free resources in the library for templates so I don't know why you are running into so many things that charge a fee just for that. But there's more to it. It's about analyzing your skills and marketing yourself based on current employment trends.
There are qualified consultants to help you do this if you want to go that route. You want someone to look at what you've done and see areas of strength, and who can minimize areas of weakness (such as time spent unemployed).
You can join a networking group and meet some of these people in your area. You can go to an open BNI event and there's probably someone in there with HR experience (most BNIs have one person per field - one contractor, one HR, one nutrition, one computer person, etc.). There are also women's networking groups that help people focus on finding new career paths and support. I was in one for a few years and there were several women in there who work as Life Coaches and at least one who is an HR consultant. The coaches help you focus and draw out your hidden strengths and passions, help you find motivation and clarity, which may be something you could use. The HR consultant was helping people with resumes and repositioning themselves in the market - one of the things she uses as a benchmark is her success rate in getting her clients an interview. The average HR person spends something ridiculous like 12 seconds glancing over a resume. Something on yours has to stand out - and it's not the font or the paper color or the statement of objective as many people think. I know she has something like a 94% success rate in getting you noticed - the idea is to get an interview first. You could use her (even across the miles) but you could use someone local as well - I'm suggesting that you ask a prospective consultant those types of questions.
You're going to have to shell out some money to try to get a job, so working with someone who specializes in this area and with the long-term unemployed is a worthy investment. If you're really stuck for funds, you could get a short term retail job right now (holiday shopping staff) to bring in some money to help fund your networking or consultant fees. Otherwise get into some groups and build your network little by little.
Good luck! It's never too late!
N.,
When I was job searching earlier this year, I just googled "resume examples" and "resume templates" and hundreds popped up (click on the "images" link at the top of the screen after typing in "resume examples".)
Those examples gave me the idea on how a professional resume should look.
You don't need a fancy template. Just use Microsoft Word or whatever word processing program you have it is easy to model your format after what you googled.
The biggest thing is to proofread it several times. Have a friend look it over as well; it helps to have a second set of eyes look it over.
Same thing with the cover letter. Just googling examples is super helpful to get your brain in the right place.
Don't make it too complicated. One thing that I did learn is to use action words in your resume. For example:
implemented
trained
organized
collected
Another thing you can do is list specific results. An example would be:
"Increased team collections by $150,000 per month in 2015". (see how it has the verb at the beginning and then a specific, positive result?). This shows employers that you are action-oriented as well as how you will help their business.
I was very successful using the tips I listed above. I was offered 5 jobs in a short amount of time and was able to pick the best one for me. Good luck!
Your local state job service office will have someone who can help you. You may also find a temp agency who will help you tighten up your resume and help find a job.
I googled free resume help and this is a few of the bunch that came up.
Take a look at Monster's resume critiquing service, it's free.
You might think about reading through some resumes and choosing one you like to model yours after. There are lots of YouTube videos on writing a good resume as well.
Since you're wanting this temporarily, you might look into hiring as seasonal help right now or work for a temporary service. I've used temp agencies before when I moved because my experience was in medical office work. It was a great tool to see if I liked the office and doc before committing to go to work and wishing I had not. I went to work for an office once and thought I was a good fit. Had no idea the doc was a pompous a** who when he got mad would throw things at you. When he picked up a chart and threw it at me I picked up my purse and left. From that point on, I used temp services. Anyone can look good for a 30 min interview.
Blessings!
L.
