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The Best Piece of Professional Advice I Ever Received

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career-advice

Real-world career advice holds tremendous value, no matter who it is coming from. There is no teacher like that of experience.

As firm believers in constant learning from the people around us, we asked our staff what the best piece of professional advice they ever received was. The answers include great tips for your career and maybe even real life, too.

“Always look for ways to improve.” Tiffany Schifley, Operations Manager

“If you notice something wrong with your work or if you’ve made a mistake, take a deep breath and try to solve the problem. Come up with 2 to 3 solutions to fix it before bringing it to the attention of others.”

“Be present.” Sean Rigsby, Managing Partner and Senior Executive Recruiter

“My old boss used to say ‘When you’re here, be here; when you’re not, don’t be here.’ It’s advice that has stuck with me and I’ve always tried to follow throughout my 20 + year career.”

“Be kind.” Michael Kaufman, Environmental Recruiter

“Treat everyone with kindness, and always be professional first. It can a long way.”

“Go beyond your comfort zone.” Sarah Wheeler, Head of Marketing and Research

“At the edge of your comfort zone is where you’ll find success. Never be afraid to be wrong, and never be afraid to step outside the box. You’ll never regret it.”

What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received? Share it with us on social media by tagging Rigsby Search Group (on Facebook or Twitter). We’ll share it with our followers and help to begin a chain of helpful tips!

How to Clean Up Your Online Presence

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These days, everyone who is anyone is online. The big virtual space that we know as the World Wide Web is so deeply embedded into our daily culture and routine that nearly everything we do can somehow be related to the Internet. So it’s only natural that when it comes to career building and job seeking, your online presence will play a role. Chances are, if you discovered a job posting online and applied there, more than likely, when that hiring authority receives your resume, they will type your name into Google, Facebook or LinkedIn and do their own research. The last thing you want is for that to hurt your chances at landing a position you really wanted.

Cleaning up your online presence is something that should be done every so often. Here’s a few methods that may help streamline the process.

  • Make it a monthly goal. Pick a date, whether it be the first of the month or the very last day, and mark it in your calendar for the remainder of the calendar year.
  • Regulate every post. Always keep the thought in the back of your mind that your coworkers and potential future hiring managers may one day see what you are posting. Ask yourself how you would feel if you saw the same photograph or article on another coworker’s profile. What thoughts would immediately come to mind?
  • Enhance your privacy settings. Before sharing that photo on Facebook, choose the audience that you want to see it. During your monthly cleanup sessions, double check your account privacy settings for each of your social media accounts to make sure they are the way you want them to be.
  • Don’t be fooled. Privacy settings are great, but don’t let them fool you into thinking that you are safe to post anything. Proceed with caution knowing that what you post, can, in some way or another, be seen by anyone. Anything is possible in the incredibly interconnected world of social media.

Networking is important, don’t get us wrong! Who you know can sometimes be just as important as what you know. We are big believers in social media and the power that it holds to connect us all. We’re telling you to go for it, network like crazy, but monitoring your online presence and regulating the content which you are sharing with the world is very important in preserving your identity.

Free Resume Screenings!

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Have you heard? For the first quarter of 2016, we here at Rigsby Search Group are offering FREE resume screenings to professionals like you! So if you’re on the job hunt and questioning whether your resume is the best it can be, we’d love to help.

How does it work? Simple! Follow the steps below:

1. Email your resume to us at srigsby@rigsbysearch.com or submit it here on our website.
2. One of our highly trained professionals will call you with one-on-one tips for improving your resume.

We see hundreds of resumes every day. We know what works and what doesn’t, and we would love to offer our expert advice to you!

Don’t wait – this free service only has one month left!

Nailing Your Resume

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There’s a lot of pressure riding on a resume. Usually, it is a hiring manager’s first (and sometimes only) impression of you. It has to stand out. It has to scream talent. It has to catch their eye.

As recruiters with a combined 50+ years of experience, we’ve seen thousands of resumes pass across our desks (and computer screens). We know what works and what doesn’t. We also know how difficult it can be to craft your resume so that it fully represents just how qualified of a candidate you are. It is the deciding factor in whether or not you will get a face-to-face interview for your dream job.

Needless to say, resumes are pretty important. Here’s our best tips for securing that interview and putting your best resume forward:

  1. Formatting and Organization. Rarely will a resume get a full read-through from a hiring authority. Making those few seconds that you have their attention count is vital. When writing your resume, the most important items should be at the top, clearly and concisely summarized. As a general rule, your work experience should be the first section, with your most recent job first. Be sure to use bold and italics for emphasis and bullet points to help organize your words. Ultimately, your resume should be easy to read. There’s nothing worse than frustrating a hiring authority because they can’t find what they are looking for on your resume.
  2. Cater Your Resume. It can be easy to type up one resume and distribute it to 20 different companies, but it’s probably not going to be very successful. Take some time to research the company and the particular position you are applying for. If there are a certain set of skills that you have that apply to one job in particular, maybe move those up to the top of that section. If a certain certification is needed for one position, be sure to include it. You want to display all the right qualities, otherwise, they’ll pass right over you.
  3. Include Achievements Instead of Responsibilities. While some responsibilities are alright to include, your professional achievements are what will make you stand out from the rest. If your job title at your last place of employment was Accountant, chances are anyone reading will know your responsibilities. Instead, by summarizing your achievements, you’ll grab the reader’s attention and prove that you have something unique to offer.
  4. Proofread. At least twice. Double-check for spelling or grammatical errors, and make sure your formatting is uniform throughout. If one job title is bolded, they all should be. Consistency is key because a hiring authority could see this as a quality that folds over into your daily responsibilities and work ethic.

If you think your resume still needs some TLC, we would love to help! We are offering a brand new, free service to professionals (like you!) for the first quarter of 2016. It’s really easy, too! Simply email your resume to us at srigsby@rigsbysearch.com or submit it here on our website. One of our highly trained professionals will call you with one-on-one tips for improving your resume.