by admin | Feb 13, 2023 | Business Owners, Career Professionals, Content Creators, Marketers, Students
Every now and then you come across something that instantly arouses curiosity in your mind. You want to know the answer immediately.
Here are three examples of well-crafted, attention-grabbing titles:
- Hovding: The world’s safest bicycle helmet isn’t a helmet.
Then what is it? Right?
See for yourself at https://hovding.com/
2. Book title from the authors of Feakonomics:
Not many people can resist thumbing through Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner’s book “When to Rob a Bank”hoping to get the answer quickly.
3. Blog-post on peeling a banana: When someone asserts that you have been doing a very common thing incorrectly for a long time, you have to know the right way. As simple a thing as peeling a banana.
When you see a title like “You’ve been peeling bananas wrong your whole life, and it’s time to stop” then you will have an irresistible urge to learn the right way. Click this link to find out.
Writing titles that instantly grab attention is a skill that comes with practice. Accelevaite provides guides and courses to help you write better and get noticed. Better writing is a sure way to find your next job, get customers to take action and generally have your ideas and thoughts recognized.
by admin | Feb 12, 2023 | Career Professionals, Marketers, Students
On average a recruiter spend 6-8 seconds on a resume, to decide if they should read it.
On average about 11% of resumes are considered suitable for the roles applied for.
More statistics here.
Your resume has to be spot on, to go to the next level.
The big question is, how do you know that your resume is good enough for submission.
Note: Your resume can never be perfect. If you don’t believe this, take your best resume and send it to someone to take a look. I will give you $10 if they come back with no comments.
You need to have your resume at 80% completeness. The other 20% will come when you tailor it for submission to a particular position. That’s when the specific job related requirements, keywords and re-ordering come into play.
The following list contains all the sections you need in your resume. No more, no less.
Here is a cardinal rule of resume. One page for one decade of experience. Junior professionals and students – one page. Senior and mid-career professionals – 2 pages. No more than 2 pages.
Please also read the 3 mistakes to avoid on your resume at all costs.
- Name, contact:
Put down your name, location, telephone number and your email.
City and state are good enough. No need for exact home address.
Keep your email in the format [first name].[last name]@ xxxxmail.com
Your personal mobile phone is expected. Don’t use a phone that could be answered by someone else.
Do not include a photograph and other personal information such as gender, date of birth, etc.
2. Summary:
Keep this to 80 or max 100 words. Include your expertise, experience and achievements in this section. Only the top ones. Use starting clauses such as “deep experience in …”, “stellar track record in …”, “exceptional understanding of …”.
When tailoring to a specific job description, ensure that the keywords sought by the hiring manager (from the job description) are included in the summary section.
The summary section, by far, determines whether the reader will read the rest of your resume.
3. Core Competencies:
You can also call this a “Key Skillsets” section. Ideally a bulleted list, you can have this in a two-columnar form, or even a table.
Include skills and competencies that are expected in the role you are targeting. For technology roles, you can have databases, networking, operating systems, business applications, programming language, etc.
For business roles, you can have processes, solutions, customer engagement, team management, etc.
When tailoring to a specific job, ensure the right keywords are included. Also re-order the skills to position the required keywords at the top of the list.
4. Key Accomplishments:
Include between 5 and 7 accomplishment in bulleted form. Specify the value created, in the form of quantified benefits, such as “shortened average time taken by 20%”. Where application, indicate magnitude, like “led a team of 15” or “managed a $25 million annual budget”.
Use power words to start each accomplishment. Some examples are:
“Led a global team for…”
“Successfully managed…”
“Built a company-wide process for…”
Don’t include more than one bullet for the same type of accomplishment.
When tailoring to a specific job, ensure the first 3 accomplishments directly address the requirements in the job description.
(hint: if you cannot do this, then you are probably not a good fit for the job you are applying for).
5. Work Experience:
Each work experience should contain:
a. The name of the company.
b. Your title.
c. Description of the company. One sentence only, and if relevant.Start and end dates of employment (month and year are sufficient).
d. Bulleted list of achievements.
Ensure dates of employment are contiguous (i.e. no gaps). If there is a gap or more than 3 months, then you should explain. For example: May 2011 – August 2012 – Took time off for spending time with my grandparents. Or as relevant.
In the achievements bullets, list the activities you performed (not what the role is expected to do) and the end result (preferably quantified).
For example: “Led a global 18-month program with a 9-member team for re-designing XXX’s [company name] packaging process, resulting in 20% decreased use of non-recyclable materials”.
6. Education:
Start with the most recent one first.
Include university name, type of degree, month/year (from and to) or graduating month/year.
Optionally include field of study (especially if rare (e.g. city planning) or in vogue (e.g. artificial intelligence).
Include your GPA, if stellar, and other achievements such as Dean’s list.
For undergraduate students, move this section to the top of your resume.
And add a section for University Activities where you can list your areas of interest and the activities you participated in and teams you were part of.
7. Certifications:
Include if relevant for the position, such as PMP for Project Managers. You can also add this to the education section.
8. Other:
Include language proficiency, volunteering, any leadership initiatives (e.g. standing for local elections), causes you care about, etc.
9. Patents & Publications:
You can also include Patents in “Other”, if you don’t have my space in the 2-page resume.
For Ph.D’s and scientists, include all your publications in the Publication section and then the 2-page limit does not apply.
The above applies for most jobs, primarily in the United States. Other countries may have some additional, generally accepted concepts. Do research those.
The singular purpose of a resume is to get you that first screening call. Once you get that, then your resume has lived a successful life. Its mission is fulfilled.
Do check out the transformational job search strategy as well. Accelevaite guides and courses help you write better and get noticed. Better writing is a sure way to find your next job, get customers to take action and generally have your ideas and thoughts recognized.
by admin | Feb 12, 2023 | Business Owners, Career Professionals, Content Creators, Marketers
“The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus” – Bruce Lee.
It is very likely to focus on a single area or topic, especially one that you are passionate about, and build a successful business over it.
Not easy to do, especially since you would have to say no to a number of other tempting options. And this would take time.
Here are three stellar examples of one person’s expertise or passion which led to getting noticed by a small audience and a resulting, successful business.
- Case Interview by Victor Cheng:
Founded in 2009, this site was born out of Victor’s expertise in acing case interviews at management consulting companies, and the need for coaching candidates for selection at these companies. A decade later, Victor has built the largest collection of free articles on case interview. This is a successful business built out of great writing and giving away valuable information for free.
2. Rejection by Jia Jiang:
When a childhood memory of rejection was imprinted in his mind, Jia systematically went about dissecting the whole concept of rejection. He put out daily videos on 100 days of rejection. Forcing himself to be in uncomfortable situations like borrowing $100 from a stranger to being a Starbucks greeter, he turned his passion into a business.
A published author and TED speaker, Jia is not only a great writer but coaches people on how to “not get ignored by the world”.
3. Yoast SEO by Joost der Walk:
Turning his expertise at SEO into a business that provides SEO services for WordPress users, took more than 10 years. This is another example where one person used his expertise, dug deep and created content and value for users. The result is a successful business. It also showcases Joost’s personality, as evidenced by the caricatures on the site. Yoast SEO is one of the few plug-ins that come by default when you install WordPress. What a presence!
While the above examples are inspiring and achievable, they take several years. You need the expertise or passion first, then a solid strategy and finally the confidence and patience to see it through.
You can pick any area and begin this journey. Think about what you are good at, what motivates you or what has been rankling in your mind for a number of years. Dig deeper and that could be your big business idea.
In addition, the one pattern to such businesses is the content they create and the community they build. At accelevaite.com we provide guidance and examples to help you write better, get noticed and build businesses.
Accelevaite provides guides and courses help you write better and get noticed. This post shows examples on how you can setup a successful business by following your expertise and passion. Better writing is a sure way to find your next job, get customers to take action and generally have your ideas and thoughts recognized.
by admin | Feb 12, 2023 | Business Owners, Career Professionals, Content Creators, Marketers, Students
“You are the average of the 5 people you spend most time with” – Jim Rohn.
It has been my experience too. The more I followed a particular blogger, the more my writing and through processes became similar to theirs. I did not realize this, until a colleague at work commented. (Incidentally she said she liked the way I come up with “3 points” for any argument!).
So, here are 3 steps in which you can find and engage with influencers on LinkedIn. LinkedIn, because that is the best forum for career professionals and business owners, with more than 810 million members. Most members put out content and share thoughts on that platform.
- Identify influencers:
Strategically pick out 5 influencers and reach out. Connect to them or follow them on LinkedIn.
2. Read and Engage with their content:
Read, engage and share their content on the forum. You may have to tweak your feed settings or unfollow and follow others, until you strike a good balance of feed quantity and quality.
Hit the “like” button, offer compliments where appropriate and ask questions. Best way to engage is to comment. Do this only if you can add value or provide insights.
3. Reference them in your content:
There are two ways in which you can get their attention.
One is by referencing them in your content. Provide due credit to their piece if you are referencing. Or put out their story, provided you have been following them for a while, and have permission to do so.
Another way is to respond to other comments and questions on their posts. This is something that the author or post creator does. And when a follower takes on this role, it gets their attention. Again, do so only when you can add value and have the right information to satisfy the question.
Following key influencers has huge advantages. It improves your skills, thinking and writing. It shows your interest and expertise on a particular topic. Your comments help you get noticed. When the influencer shares your content, or “comments”likes” on your comment, you are exposed to their huge audience.
Accelevaite provides guides and courses help you write better and get noticed. This post shows examples on how you can engage influencers and grow your outreach. Better writing is a sure way to find your next job, get customers to take action and generally have your ideas and thoughts recognized.
by admin | Feb 12, 2023 | Business Owners, Marketers
More than anything else, pricing involves maximum usage of psychological techniques. It is all about the customer, making them first of all buy a product, and when they decide to buy, influencing them to buy more.
Here are three examples of some high potential pricing techniques:
- Analogy:
Position your product price against something that is commonly known.
Such as: for less the cost of a latte, like a Netflix monthly subscription.
When the customer learns that the new purchase is similar to something that they are already buying without a second thought, they are influenced to buy.
2. Creative Sizing:
For products that have a sizing dimension, you create an asymmetrical price differential between any two sizes.
e.g. instead of pricing Small at $4, Medium at $6 and Large at $8
you can price Medium at $7 and Large at $8.
This (almost) eliminates the Medium option and influences the buyer to go with Large.
Popcorns at movies use this technique and sell more large than other sizes.
This is explained well in this blog.
3. Bonus offer:
People just love free stuff. The term “bonus” indicates something that you are getting for free, in addition to a purchase.
Instead of saying “Buy A, B, and C for $x”, the technique suggests “Buy A for $x and as a bonus we will give you B and C for free”.
Same thing, differently stated.
Other way (usually seen on TV ads) is to say, if you order within the next 30 mins, we will ship the product for free. Or we will give you a second one for free, if you order within a specified time frame.
Pricing techniques work on psychology. They also involve creativity in writing and presenting to the customer, reader or your executive. This is a skill that can be sharpened with practice.
Accelevaite provides guides and courses help you write better and get noticed. This post shows examples on how you can position your product pricing and influence your customer purchase decision. Better writing is a sure way to find your next job, get customers to take action and generally have your ideas and thoughts recognized.
