Just recently I’ve been creating a few tips of the day on Twitter and I thought it would be a good idea to amalgamate into 20 Quick ‘n Easy pieces of advice. I think you’ll find they are effective!

• When writing your resume if you are a “techie” talk to humans first, to business second. Don’t hide behind acronyms when communicating.
• Your resume should be about quantified achievements and value propositions. Use CAR (Challenge Action Result) examples to position yourself.
  
• Eliminate clichés: no “I have excellent interpersonal and communication skills and I am have good organizational skills”
  
• Word templates should be eliminated. If you can’t make a page look nice, hire a typist if you can’t afford a professional writer.
• Don’t live your live publicly on the web, unless you are happy for your current or next employer to see it. Bad judgment may negatively impact your career
• Create a profile at linked-in and nurture the contacts you make there.
• Do not make replying to advertisements on major job sites your only strategy.  Use other strategies to apply for a job.
  
• Eliminate stock standard clichés in your resume like “responsibilities included, duties included and responsible for”.
• Updating a resume before the dream job is advertised is much better than a massive panic after the advertisement is posted!
• Ensure your resume is targeted to the role you are seeking by showcasing relevant and transferable skills.
• Never start a cover letter with “To whom it may concern”. It sounds impersonal and out of place as a personal introduction.
• In the absence of having a real name for a cover letter, Dear Hiring Authority or Dear Human Resources Manager is ok. Never “To Whom it May Concern”
• Keep a career journal at work to jot down small victories and daily ‘atta boys’. They will be of great value when writing your resume.
• For graduates when writing your resume. Do what senior execs do: delegate and capitalize on the talents of others. Use a professional.
• Remember the reader doesn’t know you or your company. Stay away from non-standard acronyms in resumes.
• When looking for professional resume writers, it is important to choose a certified writer.
• Don’t use SMS/text speak in emails or communications with employers. Ampersands (&) look sloppy and lazy in documents!
• Check for spelling errors by searching your resume for frequent typos such as “Manger”. The spell check won’t pick it up!
• When reaching a recruiter’s voicemail, forget the “Call me back” message. Use 10-second introduction along with name and contact to sell yourself.
• Knowing what your references will say in advance will allow you to delete/add references before having to actually rely on them!

Networking, and specifically online networking through social media is something so many get wrong. I cannot tell you the numerous invitations I have received to join a complete stranger’s network on Linkedin or eCademy, and for what? To boost numbers of friends and associates to show how many people he or she knows? In most cases the person after adding me has never contacted me again! This is relationship networking? Hardly!

Worse still, on occasion I have been asked to endorse individuals I have never met or may have only seen around the traps as a member of an association! Providing a personal endorsement of a person’s skills, character or expertise and introducing him or her to people I know and respect when we have no history of even speaking, just goes against the very core of personal or professional networking! (and my personal sense of integrity).

Instead of adding me to a network and never contacting me again, consider sending me a few emails, reaching out, helping me with a problem, or asking me for help first, so that the seeds of a relationship can be sown. The very core of networking should be building relationships and introducing people you know to benefit others. As a by-product, you benefit through their friendship and introductions in a circle of giving. Lately, online networking through social media seems to have become a competition as to how many people you can boast as friends regardless of how well you know them!