Saturday, February 21, 2009

Sample Mini Resume Business Card

You need to be prepared to sell yourself at all times. Many job hunting books suggest you keep your resume with you at all times. However...my resumes did not include basset hound foot prints! Think about it, if you keep some resumes with you in the car/truck, you will either spill a drink on them, have the kids throw them on the floor or like me, have a pet give them a personalized look which despite her best efforts, was not the appropriate look for a prospective employer to see.



SOLUTION: Create a mini resume business card by visiting: http://vistaprint.com/
A mini resume business card includes:




  • your name

  • phone number with area code

  • email (if you check it daily)

  • job title

  • and three to five bulleted phrases about your knowledge, skills, abilities, or strengths.


Here's a sample:





John Smith, S.P.H.R.

Human Resources Manager

(AC) 123-4567

Email address


  • Over fifteen years experience in both the manufacturing and service industries.

  • Over five years in recruitment and four years in labor relations and negotiation.

  • Seven years experience in corporate training which includes executive training, safety training and management and .




To Do within the first month

So you lost your job...did you like it? Were you happy to go to work every day? Are you having aches and pains in body parts you never knew you had? If you had a fairy godmother, and could do any job you wanted to do, what would you do?

A job loss can be a great opportunity to think about what you really want to do for the rest of your life. If you don't know where you are going, how will you know when you got there? This said, in today's world, there are many jobs you never heard about when you were in school.

A resource, available to most people, is a Career Counselor. Career Counselors are typically found at vocational schools, colleges, universities, technological schools. Check to see if your local two year college or votech has a Career Counselor and make an appointment to take some assessments. Typically these assessments are a no cost or very little cost when you work with your local schools - after all, how can you possibly enroll in a training program if you don't know what you want to do?

The assessments will hone in on your innate interests and abilities and will also pick up on your life experiences. There is no "pass" or "fail' in these assessments because the results are based on you and you are not a failure.

The Career Counselor will visit with you and direct you to sources where you can read more about these potential careers and will also direct you to local sources of (re)training. Additionally, (s)he should direct you to a Financial Aid Counselor because you will most likely need help funding any training. Please keep in mind that monies available are not necessarily in the form of loans - there are many sources of funding which do not require repayment (but will most likely require successful completion of courses or programs).

One of the places I visit to read about potential jobs is my favorite Internet site ONet Center which is hyperlinked in the blog however the URL is: http://online.onetcenter.org

This site not only gives information on the typical tasks performed but also the knowledge, skills, abilities, and tools used in this profession and provides information on salary ranges.

Together with the Career Counselor, you can Plan Your Work (retraining) and then it is up to you to WORK YOUR PLAN.

And for you Baby Boomers....old dogs do learn new tricks. As a Baby Boomer who returned to school for a Master's degree 20 years after completing my Bachelor's degree, I found we learned faster than the younger pups. You have real world knowledge that means a great deal - you actually have an advantage over the younger pups because of this.

Week 1, STEP 3

By now, you should have completed a BUDGET and a PERSONAL DATA (CHEAT) SHEET.

STEP 3

PLAN YOUR WORK...WORK YOUR PLAN!!!!

This is a critical step to being successful in your job search. Research shows that 95% of successful people set goals and write them down! So...if you want success, copy the steps successful people take .... after all, why fix it if it ain't broken?

Earlier I mentioned that when you lose a job, you no longer have a job description nor do you have a routine. Your job now is composed of three parts: (1) find a new job, (2) continue with your home and family responsibilities and (3) have some fun - after all, you lost a job, not your life. You didn't do anything wrong, so why punish yourself?

There are a number of ways to come up with a new routine...what I did was divide my bathroom mirror into seven imaginary columns, one for each day of the week. I then used tiny Post It notes for each task needed to be completed that day AND I included my fun stuff as tasks.

Since I cannot set this up in seven columns, lets give you a couple of ideas of what needs to be done and when....regardless of where you live and how you are looking.

SUN -
  1. Check out the classified ads in your newspaper
  2. Work on resume and cover letter (or whatever paperwork is requested from the classified ad).

MON -

  • Morning -
  1. Call employers with ads you are answering before you mail or deliver your resume and cover letter..
  2. Ask how you can get a copy of the Job Description.
  3. Ask to speak to the person who would be your prospective supervisor.
  4. Fine tune cover letter and/or resume based on information seen in the job description or gleaned from the prospective supervisor.
  5. Mail paperwork
  • Afternoon -
  1. Cold Call prospective employers
  2. Check for new Internet job postings
  3. Make a minor change to any online resumes (aka: e-resumes; electronic resumes)
TUE -
  • Morning -
  1. Cold Call prospective employers
  • Afternoon
WED -
  • Morning -
  1. Cold Call prospective employers
  • Afternoon
  1. follow-up with employers visited this morning
  2. IF Wednesday is a big ad day in your local newspaper, check out the classified ads for new job postings, otherwise the big ad days are usually Tuesday or Thursday which is the day you want to check for new postings.
THUR -
  • Morning -
  1. Call on classified ads from last night/afternoon and ask for a copy of the job description and to speak to your prospective supervisor as you did on Monday.
  2. Fine tune your cover letter and/or resume based on new information from the job description and prospective supervisor.
  3. Mail paperwork
  4. Pickup applications
  • Afternoon -
  1. If you were able to bring the apps home, start filling them out
FRI -
  • Morning -
  1. Pickup applications
  • Afternoon
  1. Check for new Internet job postings
SAT -
Fill in applications