Composing a resume is a difficult task, as we all know. It takes time and patience to fit your whole professional history within one or two pages, and present yourself as the best candidate for the job. While we focus so much of our energy on what to include in our resumes, we forget to stop and think about the information that should never be included. The following five items are at the top of the Resume Don’ts list:

1.    Do not get personal. Any information that discloses your demographics should not be listed in your resume. Your age, race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, marital status, physical appearance, or your personal philosophies are not critical to your job performance, and therefore should never be listed on your resume. Present yourself as a professional to your potential employers. Your resume is not a list of your hobbies or interests; it is a listing of your education, your qualifications and your employment history. Stick to the information relevant to the job and your career objective.
2.    Do not list salary information or requirements on your resume. This is a strict rule, and you must follow it. Your employer is concerned with what your desired salary is, not what you earned in your first job out of college. If you are asked to provide salary requirements, do so in your cover letter not your resume. As a best practice, always list a minimum you are willing to accept for the job, and avoid using a salary range. Do your research and know what the acceptable salary is for the job of your interest. Whenever possible, leave all salary conversations to for the interview with your potential employer.
3.    Do not use jargon or too many “big words.” Unless you are absolutely certain that the person reading your resume will understand the terminology you are using, avoid using jargon in your resume. Gear your resume toward recruiters rather than an immediate hiring manager, because the human resources associates are usually the first to scan your resume. You should showcase your knowledge of a particular field through your education and experience; thus, jargon doesn’t have any place on your resume. In addition, avoid using too many “big words.” Don’t hide behind your vocabulary; making your resume overbearing is sure to lose the interest of your employer. Use the action words that are relevant to your career level.
4.    Do not list your personal web site. As a rule, do not include your personal web site if it contains your photo or other photos that may be viewed as inappropriate, if it contains jokes (even if they are clean jokes), or your blog. In other words, if the site you have is entirely for personal purposes, you are best leaving it off your resume. Only include a link to your web site if the pages are set up to showcase your professional portfolio, a copy of your resume, reference letters, presentations, photos taken for professional use, or your web development skills.
5.    Do not have any typos. The most important factor in achieving a winning resume is proof reading. You want to put your best foot forward. If your resume contains grammar and spelling problems, your potential employer will get an impression that you are not detail-oriented. It is hard to proof a document you have been working on so closely – use spell check (but be ware, it will not catch everything), ask your friends for help, meet with a career counselor. Do your best to present the most polished resume to your potential employers.

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The second step in getting the job is meeting the potential employer for an interview. The first step that an applicant has successfully completed was sending your application and passing the screening process of the company.

The employer got the resume through a variety of sources that can be from an ad that was posted, a referral from a friend or a headhunter, or by a person who simply submitted an application by logging on the company’s website. 

Here are a few tips that will help in having a successful interview:

•    Before going to an interview, it is best to do some research about the company one is applying to.

•    It is also best to practice with a friend or family member mock up questions that the employer    will  likely ask so you do not choke during the real interview.

•    When you go for an interview, it is best to always arrive 10 to 15 minutes ahead of time. This shows employers that the person is punctual and serves as a good attribute in a potential employee.

•    When meeting an employer, you should bring an extra copy of the resume and other documents that are needed if asked certain questions. A good example is architects and photographers who are professionals in the respective fields who have a portfolio of the works done which may impress the interviewer. 

•    It is always best to dress appropriately. This shows the employer sincerity on the part of the applicant applying for the job. One must have finger-nails and hair well groomed for the interview. The outfit worn should be professional.  This would mean that shoes must be used to match the outfit. If you typically wear a lot of jewelry, it is advisable to remove and tone it down for the interview.

•    When you are in front of the employer, smile and greet the interviewer with a firm (but not bone crushing) handshake  which is always a good start to get the interview moving.

•    During the course of the interview, listen very well to the questions asked. Each must be answered truthfully and confidently to be able to sell yourself to the potential employer.

•    Afterwards, the applicant should thank the recruiter for the time that was given to meet for the interview.

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Within this article today on how to start an online business, we will look at what must be done to succeed online.  This formula is very simple and one that people do not pay enough attention to.  By explaining what to look for online, this will be a good way for you to learn how to start an online business. 

When you'll are looking at how to start an online business, you'll first want to look at a particular field which you are interested in.  You'll want to see whether or not there is a great deal of competition out there because this could affect your decision to get into that particular field.  When you are deciding to start an online business, you usually want to look for a field in which there is less competition so that you can come in with cheap but effective marketing and dominate that niche.  It is often easier to be a big fish in a small pond rather than a small fish in a big pond.  There are many different ways that you can make money on a website in this article will show you a couple of those different ways.  You can decide to sell products online which you can find through wholesale distributors.  You are able to advertise on your website and sell advertising using programs such as Google's Adsense. You can even sell your products through storefronts at either Yahoo, eBay, or Amazon websites.

Another key when you are looking at how to start an online business, is to make sure that you are continually testing and retesting your website.  Once you design your website, you cannot sit back and wait for the sales to comment.  You want to test and retest the difference ways in which you have your pages and website built to make sure that you are taking advantage of the traffic coming into your website.  If you do not do this, you are leaving money on the table.

The final key when looking at how to start an online business is how you decide to market your website.  There are many companies which you are able to buy traffic from at a very cheap price and this can be a good way to supplement your natural search engine traffic.  The way to build natural search engine traffic is through content and developing back links.  Back links are links from other websites to yours so that when search engine search bots are indexing webpages, they will find the links to your web site and index your pages.

If you work on finding and underserved niche, it is easier to pay for traffic bought from Internet marketing firms as well as move your way up in the natural search engine pages.  You want to make sure that you are developing both a good site and its contents of the people will want to read what they find and then continually return to your website.  This is a simple formula in your search on how to start an online business.

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It's utterly bizarre how some people spend their lifetimes slaving away at lame jobs they don't really enjoy. Now let's examine the downside of this. First of all, disliking your job position or career can really put a damper on your overall lifestyle. No one wants to dread heading to work each and every morning. Second of all, if you're going to have to earn an income, which most folks do, you should choose something you're good at and enjoy. It's like a forty year span of work before retirement. Make it a great one. And finally, working for some random company that doesn't really care about you or your future can be dicey to say the least. What if they choose to drop you at any minute? That would be terrible. Suddenly you'd be without a paycheck and probably lose all of your benefits as well. So, it's basically time to check into starting your own business.

Although many people are intimidated by the notion of starting their own business, you really shouldn't be. There are ways to acquire assistance with this. You just have to do your homework beforehand. Start by pondering the things you're good at and enjoy doing. This is a great place to start! Maybe something you already excel at and do for mere pleasure, could be a way to make oodles of money. You could market your services and/or products from home, on the web. If you seriously choose starting your own business, you'll most likely need cyberspace for advertising and gathering consumers. The Internet can be your greatest asset in this day and age.

Don't assume you're forced to starting your own business on your own! This is not the truth. With a little online browsing, you'll discover that there are loans and even grants offered to those starting a business on their own. Therefore you can attain financial backing to get you going. Unless you're wealthy or have ample money saved, you'll probably need it. So stop wasting day after day grinding away at a career you don't enjoy. Think about starting your own business from home via the web or out in a public venue. The choices are not only endless, but they're yours as well.

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