Tag Archives: advice

Writing a Resume the Right Way

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It’s time. You’ve put this off for months now and it’s constantly nagging you in the back of your mind. It’s time to update your resume. Resume work is one of the most tedious tasks because there are so many wrong ways to do it and contradicting tips across the internet. There’s also the common rule that resumes should be one page long, whether you’re struggling to fill it or your experience is overflowing, don’t let this trip you up. We’re here to make resume writing a skill all can succeed at!

So, what should be put on it and what should not?

A resume is composed of four main sections:

  1. Contact Information

  2. Skills/Professional Summary

  3. Experience

  4. Education

The way it is organized should be based on how you want to format your resume and how you want to prioritize your information.

  1. Contact Information

The important contact information you must include on your resume:

  • Your name
  • Current email address
  • Current phone number

Adding your mailing address to your resume is optional, but certainly makes it easier for recruiters to make sure they are contacting you only for positions that are near you. Remember that if any of your contact information changes you should update your LinkedIn and any other locations your resume is housed.

  1. Skills/Professional Summary

Consider this a snapshot of your experience and the part that will capture the reader’s attention and determine whether or not they’ll continue reading your resume. The ‘Skills’ or ‘Professional Summary’ section is a list compiled of your best skills and is most commonly shown using bullet points.

You might list something like:

  • 5+ years medical front office experience
  • Sufficient in Microsoft Suite, specific scheduling software, etc.
  • Ability to answer multi-line phone with 100 inbound calls per day while operating check-in window

  1. Experience

This section will take up a good chunk of the space, but keep in mind that not every job will go on it. You only want the jobs you’ve had in the past 10 years or the most relevant ones. Also, make sure there are no gaps in your job history.

You want to have your most recent job at the top of your ‘Experience’ list and then have your jobs listed in reverse-chronological order. When labeling your experiences, you should have a maximum of five bullet points under each job.

Here’s a tip! If you are applying for a job, go off the advertised job description and elaborate your experience for that skill on your resume. When you get the chance, use numbers to quantify your experience.

  1. Education

The ‘Education’ section should list the schools you attended and the degrees you’ve earned. Just like in your ‘Experience’ section, this should be in reverse-chronological order. If you’ve graduated from schools higher than high school, leave your high school off.

Add your major and what you studied or concentrated in. Along with your studies, fill in any awards or honors you received whether it’s Valedictorian or Honor’s Society. If you don’t think your GPA is good enough, don’t put it. And, if you’re not a student, don’t put it at all. Also, make sure to put the month and year you graduated.

Now that we know what to put in your resume, let’s go over some things that absolutely shouldn’t be on your resume.

  1. Anything personal such as your height, weight, social security number, marital status, your religious beliefs, or your sex.
  2. Don’t be that person who has the word “Resume” written at the top of it. The employer will know 100% that it is, indeed, a resume.
  3. Leave your photographs out of it. Selfies cropped to remove friends from the picture and even some professional head shots can be a laughing stock. And due to Equal Employment Opportunity legislation, an employer would never ask for this.
  4. Grammar and Spelling Errors!!! Make sure you double, triple check that you have no errors on your resume.

At HealthCare Support, our recruiters are resume writing experts. In fact, one of our recruiters average at least 20 resumes a week. If you feel stuck and need a hand, we are here to help you display your skills to the best of your ability and land your dream job!

How to Achieve that Work-Life Balance

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These days, a work-life balance can be pretty much impossible. It’s especially hard when you’re not really “logged off” and calls, texts, and emails come straight to your cell phone well after 5 PM. We know that people are exhausted when they come home from work and we know people need to take care of themselves. There are other factors that come in to play when talking about a work-life balance, such as, having to entertain your kids, relaxing, or socializing with your friends. These things help us obtain a healthy lifestyle. So how do you accomplish a healthy work-life balance?

  1. Exercise

There’s a lot of things we make time for, including eating, sleeping, and scrolling aimlessly through social media. But, shouldn’t we also make time for exercising or meditating? Working out for at least 30 minutes a day has some major health benefits that will impact you at work. Working out boosts your energy and it also makes it easier for you to fall asleep at night. It reduces stress and is healthy for your heart, brain, and your overall happiness. Most offices have gyms onsite or offer a discount for gyms that are close by; make sure you’re taking advantage of this.

  1. Unimportant people and activities

We all know that it’s easy to get sucked into surfing your social media pages or watching funny videos on your phone, but you should be using this time for other important things. Make a list. Write down important people you should be connecting with or important things you should be doing every day. These things can range depending on the type of person you are, but writing a list ensures you get this stuff done every day. Whether it’s calling your mother, cleaning your surroundings, prepping lunch boxes for the next day, or even a little time for yourself to read a book, you need to put aside what is wasting your time and what is necessary for you to do.

  1. Turn it off

When you are done for the day, turn off your work notifications. You don’t want to get sucked into replying when this time is supposed to be yours. In fact, put your phone and computer fully away so you have time for your family, friends, a book, or even that Netflix series you want to catch up on.

  1. One word: No.

Are you the type of person who, when asked a favor, says “yes”? Well, we’re here to tell you it’s alright to say no. Taking time for yourself over others isn’t selfish because if you don’t do it for yourself, who’s going to?

  1. Prioritize and structure at work

It’s important to make sure all your urgent tasks are getting done first. Determine what work is most important and then structure your day around them. Tell yourself you’ll do activity 1, 2, and 3 and then reward yourself with a walk around the building for 10 minutes. Breaks are important too! Take more personal moments for yourself to daydream or compliment the weather.

  1. Company holidays

When work holidays are coming around, use this time to recharge yourself. Relax. We often end up “spring cleaning” or hitting our to-do lists but you also need some down time. You want to be in the right mindset before you go back to work. Take a day trip to the beach or the city to take your mind off work and give yourself some personal time to reflect on your life.

Let us help you find the perfect job. We have positions with hundreds of companies across the nation. Visit our website to see our current openings, or join our Talent Network to stay connected with future opportunities that match your interests.