Top 6 Common Résumé Misnomers

Maybe you have already purchased a professionally written résumé, but you have some doubts about the document you received. Unfortunately, the résumé-writing industry gets a bad rap sometimes simply because there is a lot of misinformation out there. And, truthfully, sometimes résumé writers don’t do the best job of explaining their strategy to the client. Not to mention, all the different opinions that seem to prevail out there, from our friends, online resources, recruiters, coworker, etc.
In an attempt to rectify that, I have listed here some of the main areas of confusion and the real deal behind them:
1. There are a lot of rules to writing a résumé.
WRONG!
Writing a résumé is part science and part art. Although there are some general guidelines, honestly, there is a lot of wiggle room too. Often people get all caught up in worrying about the fine points that they miss the overall target and strategy. Big mistake! There is no one path to landing an interview, and you don’t want to either confine your résumé to one way of thinking (i.e., yours) or work with a writer who only has one way of doing things.
2. The main goal of the résumé is to get you a job.
WRONG!
A résumé is a tool that you use to present your background to a specific audience, which will help you to secure interviews. Nothing more. The only thing that gets you a job is you.
Think of it this way. If you build a box out of wood, when it is finished, you don’t say “the saw made it.” Instead, you say that “I made it using a good saw.” The same is true for the résumé. It is important to get a good one, but it is equally as important to use it well.
3. A résumé is all about the job seeker.
DEFINITELY WRONG!
Here is where the résumé writer-client relationship can go south fast. Clients typically want documents that appeal to them, thinking that if it appeals to them, it will appeal to an employer. However, that is not necessarily true. Although résumé writers want their clients to be happy with what they see, they mostly want their résumés to be effective, to meet that goal we outlined in #3. Therefore, to serve the client the best, the writer is really thinking about the potential employer, the reader of the résumé.
That is why writing your own résumé can be a disaster. Sometimes we think because we have been in a hiring position before that we best know how to market ourselves on paper. After all, we know what we liked to see. The problem is that it is very difficult to look at yourself objectively and to think of you as a hiring manager would.
4. Résumés should be colorful and flashy OR résumés should be traditional and conservative.
REALLY? SAYS WHO?
Somewhere along the line, rumors have seriously distorted people’s perceptions of what a résumé should look like. Many job seekers (and even some résumé writers) lean one way or another. They either want graphics, color, and flash, or they want chronological obituaries.
By and large, flashy résumés have not really proven to be anymore effective than traditional obits. Both can seriously hurt a candidate’s chances.
So does this mean you can’t use color or get creative with a two-column masterpiece?
No, but a solid résumé must accomplish 3 things: (1) Utilize strong writing skills with solid action verbs, (2) organize the candidate’s information in such a way that a clear picture of the candidate is revealed (scope of knowledge and responsibility), and (3) be attractive without being offensive.
We all like things that look nice, but color isn’t what sells a candidate. Let the “wow” factor be in the strategy employed and the quality of the writing.
On the other side of things, however, don’t be so rigid that you force the writer to prepare a cookie-cutter résumé (Times New Roman, 10-pt, with lots of bullets!!). You’ll just end up with something nondescript, that looks like it came from a Word résumé template, and is not much better than anyone with decent grammar skills could produce.
5. The résumé should be full of buzzwords.
SORT OF
In today’s world of OCR scanning and online databases, job seekers are more aware than ever before that not having key terms embedded in their résumé could mean missing out on opportunities.
However, the problem with this issue is that résumés can quickly become nothing more than lists of terms and phrases. They don’t really say much about the candidate other than that he or she claims to know what these terms and phrases mean (or at least should know what they mean). And if you are not careful, you end up with nothing that really distinguishes you.
6. Every accomplishment listed should be backed up by a metric.
THAT WOULD BE GREAT IF IT WERE REALLY POSSIBLE.
This theory has been floated and tossed around so much in the résumé writing industry that you can certainly find a wide variety of opinions on the subject. The bottom line, however, is that not all accomplishments realistically can be quantified. There is no doubt that numbers are a key ingredient to any résumé, but setting some kind of “rule” that you must have a number to go with every bullet point or something like that is kind of ridiculous.
Furthermore, although hiring managers definitely like to see quantifiable results, let’s face it, numbers can be fudged and the data can be twisted so much that they say anything you want them to.
Our position at No Stone Unturned is that numbers should be used effectively and not just for the sake of using numbers. Hit ‘em with a good, solid punch, but don’t keep hitting ‘em…too many percentages, too many dollar signs, and pretty soon you’ve lost the effect of the punch…
NOTE: The same can be said for bullet lists. The idea of a bulleted list is to show emphasis. A résumé that is nothing more than a long list of bullets doesn’t emphasize anything. Just like you don’t want a big block of text, you also don’t want one bulleted list after another. So save your best for the bullets!

How To Write A Dissertation – Classical Structure

Dissertation writing is no doubt an exhausting task for almost all students. But then there is nothing impossible in the world, only if you want it to be possible as the word impossible itself says I M Possible. Students can get dissertation help from various resources. The thing is dissertation help is available to you in different types, depending on what you are searching. If you need just advice regarding your dissertation, than you can take it from various educational websites. And if you know how to write a dissertation or about the structure of dissertation than I guess you don’t need to search anymore as you have come to the right place. Here is the classical structure of a dissertation • Title page • Acknowledgements • Contents page: chapters, appendices, tables, figures, illustrations • Abstract Summary and outline of main findings • Introduction of dissertation Outline scope of study and what background material will be discussed. Define abstract concepts in the context Explain complex or technical words Describe how study conducted – data collection methods used. Outline and explain order of material. State major findings. Summarise conclusion. • Literature Survey Put your own work into context. Move from general background/standard theoretical works to more precise, recent work relevant to your topic. Cover range of positions – not just those you agree with. Show how existing theories/research findings illuminate your work. • Methodology Explain approach taken and why particular methods and techniques were used. Describe procedures, size of samples, methods of selection, choice of variables and controls, any tests of measurement, etc. Mention deficiencies in methods. • Results Present findings clearly. Use tables, charts, diagrams etc. in your dissertations if appropriate. Highlight significant aspects of findings in text. Avoid interpretation/conclusions • Discussion Interpret findings. Construct a logical, consistent argument based on findings. • Conclusion Summarise main points and state any conclusions which can be drawn. Indicate how firm the conclusion is Make any recommendations • References • Bibliography - background reading but not cited • Appendices - e.g. blank questionnaire, transcript of interview, extended case studies, letter of invitation.

Science Coursework

• "It's that coursework time again! Before you begin to panic, just think of it as an easy way to score marks for your science GCSE. If you do well in your coursework, it takes the pressure off your exams. Coursework is an excellent opportunity for you to show the examiner that you understand science.
  coursework is divided into different sections, and you will be given marks for each section. This is excellent, because if you are not particularly good at the practical part of your coursework you can make up the marks in the plan or the discussion sections.
  There are 4 main sections. Let's look at them one by one.
  Planning
  In this section you are planning what you are investigating, why you are investigating it, how you are going to do it, making it a fair test, and finally predicting what you think will happen.
  1. Decide upon a topic that has something you can measure, because you can collect a set of data or recordings that you can draw graphs of and comment upon.
  2. Find out as much information as you can on your topic, this will help you make your predictions - if you understand the topic you can work out what you expect to happen.
  3. Work out what you are going to MEASURE, CHANGE, and CONTROL in your investigation. For example - if you are looking at the affect of increasing acid concentration on the rate of reaction of marble chips, you will MEASURE the rate of reaction by measuring the carbon dioxide gas given off during each test, you will CHANGE the concentrations of acid and you will CONTROL the amount of acid you use, the mass of marble chips that you use, the temperature of the acid, the surface area of you marble chips and the equipment you use.
  4. This is an area that examiners look out for, if it is done correctly it will get you top marks: Make sure you have made your investigation a FAIR TEST, that means writing down all your controls and explaining why you have done them.
  5. The more data you have the more reliable and accurate your results will be. The examiners will look for a good set of results and if you have only carried out each test once these will not be very reliable results.
  6. When you are planning your method make it simple, clear, accurate and above all safe. Remember to write it in the future tense - this is how you PLAN to carry out your investigation, you have not actually done it yet.
  7. You must include SAFETY in your plan, if you miss this out you can often not get to the higher marks in this section, examiners will always look for this section first.
  Obtaining evidence
  This is the section where you actually DO your experiment.
  1. Make sure you use appropriate equipment e.g. don't use a 500ml measuring cylinder if you only need 10ml of acid!
  2. Make sure you repeat your test at least 4 times, this will ensure that you have plenty of data to draw reliable and accurate conclusions.
  3. Make sure you carry out your investigation safely, and say how you did this.
  Analysing Results and Drawing Conclusions
  First draw a graph of your results. Make it clear, accurate and neat.
  Remember to label your axis - don't forget units.
  Also remember to write a clear title on your graph, and use a pencil, not pen.
  The examiner will look that you have included the correct units on your graph - even if everything else is correct, no units = no marks.
  Next... answer the following questions and this section will be a winner!!
  Can you see any patterns or trends in the results?
  What do the results show you?
  Why did this happen?
  How does this relate to your scientific research?
  Was your prediction correct?
  Evaluation
  This is the final section of your coursework and it is all about evaluating your performance and progress.
  Again answer the following questions to get top marks!
  Was your method a suitable one?
  Were your results accurate? How did you ensure that they were accurate?
  Were there any anomalous results? If Yes, Why?
  How could you improve your investigation?
  How could you extend your investigation?