Building a successful career takes not just days, months, or years. You build your career over your own lifetime. It is just not enough that you set your mind into getting employed and making your employer happy.

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Corporate & Individual Career Solutions for Mid-Level Professionals & Executives

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Building a successful
career takes not just
days, months, or
years. You build
your career over
your own lifetime. It
is just not enough
that you set your mind into getting employed and
making your employer happy. In an era where the
employment market is full of people who are capable
of getting several jobs in their careers, it is very
important that we know how to evaluate ourselves
just to see to it that we are on the right path towards
achieving all our goals.
It doesn’t matter if you are still employed now, or
that you are looking for a new job; here are some
very important questions you need to ask yourself,
and whose answers will help you assess yourself and
know if you are still on the right career track.
1. Is job hunting something you are ready to do
anytime?
Do you already have an up-to-date resume that you
may use or modify to fit any particular job you could
possibly apply for? Take note that having a resume
template is different from having a resume that you
can customize anytime. Professionals offering
resume and career services would always
emphasize the importance of using a resume that is
made specifically for a job. This is one good way of
letting the hiring manager that you are the best fit to
their company.
2. Have you built and maintained a solid
professional network?
Every worker needs to build good relationships with
all the relevant people in their industry. In addition,
your network should cover professionals within your
own locale, in your country, and even globally. This
explains why attending a huge industry event or
conference at least once every year is advisable.
3. Do you keep yourself educated enough about
your profession or industry?
You need to continuously learn to make sure you stay
ahead of the pack. You can do this by constantly
reading publications and other books relevant to
your career and industry. It is recommended also
that you look for many other opportunities to
advance your education.
4. Is your career strategy long term or short term?
With the pace at which technology continues to
modernize these days, it is not at all surprising to see
how industries change and evolve as well. Thus, your
career pathways should be built around the
principle of staying in the industry for as long as
possible.
Finding a new job and
getting more and
better job
opportunities is
something that many
of us are habitually
thinking of. In fact,
many are even considering completely changing their

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careers. This is not strange at all, but it isn’t as simple
as you think it is either. There are so many things that
need to be taken into account to make sure that each
time you change jobs, it will be for the betterment or
advancement of your career.
If you are more than determined to try out a different
job, one of the first things to do is refresh your old
resume. This is important because the playing field is
changing very fast, and employers are continuously
changing as well in terms of their standards in hiring
a job applicant.
How to Restore Your Old Resume
• Identify what your resume is focused on. Before
you do anything to modify and enhance your old
resume, you should know first what your job
target is. This is what even a professional resume
writer would do. Unless your resume clearly
shows what direction your career is heading, it
won’t do well in marketing your skills. If you
haven’t figured out what your job focus is, you
may as well make a comprehensive assessment of
your skills or consult a career coach.
• Be highly knowledgeable about your target job.
Ask anyone in the industry, or do your research
online to gather enough information so you can
know what qualifications are being sought by
employers in this industry. If you are a career
changer, you may even have to take some
continuing education classes just to make sure
you have the appropriate skills for the job.
• Come up with your career objective. As you start
preparing to write your resume, pay attention to
the objective that will tell the hiring manager
what it is exactly you are looking for. This section
should also be used to detail the skills you have
that the company can benefit from.
• Choose a more modern design for your resume. If
it’s been years since you last used your resume,
chances are its design is obsolete already. Take
advantage of the word processing features on the
computer, or you may also try using some of the
best resume templates online. Take note that at
present, companies are putting a lot of
importance in the way an effective resume is
constructed.
Let’s face it. An
employer faces piles of
resume each day and
won’t pay attention to
your resume unless it
catches his attention.
But how are we to get
the attention of a
potential employer?
Easy. Refrain from making the all-purpose standard
resume because it will keep you unnoticed. Generic
resumes could bring out the boredom in your
potential employer.
Resume targeting is about producing resumes that
have gradually replaced the common resumes that
you see on the market. Such types of resumes are
designed to suit you and the particular employment
objective in searching a career or a job. Using
targeted resumes isn’t just common sense; it’s also
significant and critical. Aside from the fact that it
persuades the potential employer that you will be an
asset in the company by just going through your
resume, it will also persuade him to choose you as
one of those he will invite for an interview. It also
makes the potential employer see the relevance of
your qualification to particular requirements in the
job.

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The problem about the all-purpose resume is that it’s
generic characteristic, as it becomes obsolete, makes
your resume lost in staffing black holes.
Here are three simple steps in writing a targeted
resume.
1. Prepare your primary resume.
Have a list of every single aspect in your background
that can serve as tools to modify your resume like
your work experiences, skills and capabilities and of
course your education background. Your primary
resume will be your reference every time you make
your targeted resume. However this one, will never
be passed to a potential employer hence be used as a
resource where you can pull out basic information
about yourself as you need it.
2. Know the requirements of a job.
Basically, if you want your resume to gain attention,
make sure that it suits the requirements asked by a
particular job. However don’t be confused between
the duties stated and the job requirements. Since you
have a list of specific aspects on your background,
you can pick those who are relevant only to the job
you’re applying for.
On the other hand, if you’re only posting your resume
online, it will be easier to use your generic or all-
purpose resume and in the purpose of catching the
attention of employers, it is best to research and
study as many job ads as possible.
3. Customize your resume.
When you have all the requirements compiled to
attain a tailored resume, always go back to your
primary resume to check out some information you
may add in that will supplement your resume and
increase your chances of getting noticed.
Since resume writers have also gained respect in the
field and have probably made their clients get the job
they applied for, it is advised to consult them or ask
their professional help especially when you just can’t
write your own resume. It is best to state what you
want a resume developer to do. More specifically,
telling them to write a targeted resume that will
surely draw the attention of the employers.