Tag Archives: career path

Sep 28 2019

When A Robot Reads Your Resume

Before a person views your resume, it might be scanned by a computer to screen your qualifications.

Career experts suggest preparing your resume for three audiences: a computer screening program, a human resources specialist, and the hiring manager.

To pass the test of automatic resume scanners, consider these suggestions:

  • Be sure to include your contact information, and avoid putting required information in the heading where it might be missed by the scanner.
  • Avoid fancy formats and fonts. Use a professional presentation.  Bullets are suggested for an organized, easy-to-read appearance.
  • Emphasize keywords that reflect your competencies and experiences.
  • Connect to the job description. Use the requirements and responsibilities of an employment position as a guide for presenting your background, skills, and accomplishments. Avoid a generic resume; tailor your resume to the specific position. Especially look for keywords that are repeated in the job description.
  • Use clear job titles. Adapt and simplify previous job titles to fit generally-accepted labels in an industry.
  • Seek guidance. Ask for assistance from career development centers, professional colleagues, friends, and others who can help you prepare a resume appropriate for scanning software.

Of special note, job applicants with military experience should match job description keywords to their military service. They should also emphasize and communicate their background so the resume scanning software will easily recognize their employment competencies.

For additional information on automatic resume scanners, click here.

Teaching Suggestions

  • Have students create a resume for a specific job description to connect their background to the available position.
  • Have students talk to a few people to obtain suggestions for improving their resumes.

Discussion Questions 

  1. Based on selected job descriptions, name keywords that might be appropriate to use in a resume for those positions.
  2. List various sources that might be used to obtain resume preparation assistance.
Apr 11 2015

10 Life Hacks That Will Make You Richer

“Money interviewed dozens of experts in different fields to find out which skills, tricks, and workarounds are most financially worthwhile.”

In this article Daniel Bortz and Susie Poppick describe 10 different activities that can help anyone advance their career and increase their salary.    While the list below identifies different activities, more specific information about each activity is provided in the article.

  1. Master the meeting
  2. Lend a hand at work
  3. Learn a language
  4. Get techy
  5. Write better
  6. Learn social savvy
  7. Take back your workday
  8. Sell yourself
  9. Learn to DIY (Do It Yourself)
  10. Get Organized

For more information, click here. 

Teaching Suggestions

You may want to use the information in this blog post and the original article to

  • Point out that the suggestions in this article can improve their productivity on the job and make them a more valuable employee.
  • Encourage students to read the article for specific information about each of the above activities.

Discussion Questions

  1. In today’s work environment, why is it important to “make yourself a more valuable employee?”
  2. Ask students to review the 10 different activities and pick the two they feel are the most important. How could those two activities make you a better employee?