17 Recruiter-Approved Skills for Your Resume That'll Help You Get the Job When I graduated college, I didn't have much prior work experience. However, I had something I believed made up for it — hard and soft skills for a resume. But what are hard or soft skills and how do they impact your professional future? What are Hard Skills and Soft Skills? Don’t let these antonyms fool you — both hard skills and soft skills play a vital role in crafting an optimal job skills section. But although best practice calls for a balance of hard and soft skills in the skills section of your resume, There are differences between soft and hard skills that you need to understand before you hit submit on that application. Some additional examples of hard skills include: Web design Content creation Computer programming Accounting Technical writing A few examples of soft skills are: Collaboration Time-management Conflict resolution Interpersonal skills Self-motivation For instance, examples of soft skills like "strong communicator", "detail-oriented", or "self-motivated" may not be within the job description, but they could be the attributes that nonetheless help you thrive and succeed in the role. But what makes a combination of hard and soft skills so important? These skills are vital because employers are looking for the right union of both qualities to find the best candidate profile for the position. The main takeaway to remember...

The Best Fonts for Your Resume in 2022, According to HubSpot Recruiters Studies have shown recruiters typically scan a resume for only about six seconds before making a decision on whether an applicant is fit for a role. With only six seconds to demonstrate your qualifications for a position, every detail counts – including the font you use. The question is, what are the best resume fonts to pass the six-second scan? We asked HubSpot recruiters to reveal the seven best fonts for your resume as well as what they consider in terms of design in general, so your resume can stand out in the pile. Best Fonts for Resumes Does your resume font even matter? Worst Fonts for Resumes Ideal Resume Font Sizes Featured Resource: 12 Free Resume Templates Download Now With only six seconds to demonstrate your qualifications for a position, every detail counts. To evoke a sense of style, professionalism, and uniqueness, it's critical you put effort and consideration into your font choice. When speaking with recruiters, it quickly became clear that classic fonts are still the best options. "I’m a big fan of the 'classics' for resumes – Times New Roman, Arial, Calibri, Helvetica, and Cambria. I’m a little old school, but I think they are the cleanest and exude professionalism," said Johanna Fleming, a former senior recruiter at HubSpot. Riley Kundtz, former senior MBA campus recruiter at HubSpot, agreed. "I find the classic formatting...

13 Common Interview Questions and How to Answer Them You made it (almost)! After networking and sending countless resumes, you’ve finally landed a job interview. Of course, you want to be prepared, so you did what most candidates are recommended to do — you looked up “most common interview questions.” The key to a successful interview is preparation, so it’s important to look up interview questions so that you can go to the interview with your answers already in mind. This will boost your confidence and increase your chances of a second interview, as well as help you get the job. To help you along, I’ve put together a list of common interview questions and some tips to craft winning answers. Want to jump to a specific question? I’ve got them linked for you below: "Tell me about yourself." "Why do you want to work for this company?" "Why are you the best person for this position?" "What are your strengths and weaknesses?" "What’s a professional achievement you are most proud of?" "How do you handle stress and pressure?" "Tell me about a time you had conflict with a coworker or colleague, and how did you overcome it?" "Tell me about a time you failed at work and how did you handle it?" "Why are you leaving your current job? / Why have you left your most recent position?" "How do you stay organized?" "Where do you see yourself in five years?" "What are your salary expectations?" "Do...

How to Give Your Two Weeks' Notice Giving your two weeks notice is never easy, particularly if you have a good relationship with your boss and colleagues, or you feel they've invested time and energy into your professional development. If you’re wondering how to give two weeks notice without hurting your relationship with your employer, you’re in luck. There are particular actions you can take to ensure you leave a good final impression with your current employer. Leaving your current company respectfully and thoughtfully can ensure better long-term connections and references — and, even if you're switching industries, you never know who could help you down the road. Plus, it's the courteous thing to do. Here, we'll explore the best way to give your two weeks' notice to maintain a positive relationship with your old employer, while ensuring a seamless transition into your next role. What is a two weeks notice? A two weeks notice is when you let your current employer know that you will be resigning from the company in two weeks. It’s a standard method of resignation that can help you leave the company on good terms. It’s important to remember, however, that if your employment contract or union agreement clearly states how much notice you need to give before resigning, abide by that agreement. If not, two weeks notice is generally accepted as the norm. In the case of the latter, if your employee asks you to stay longer than the two weeks, you...

How to Find a Job After College: The Ultimate Guide College graduation is just around the corner, which means it’s almost speech season. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good graduation speech and all the platitudes that come along with it, but very few of them give guidance on how to find a job after college.  We want to help. At HubSpot, we’re lucky enough to interview and hire a lot of recent graduates, so I’ve rounded up some advice below based on interviews, applications, and feedback we hear from hiring managers, recruiters, and job candidates alike. And for free templates and tools you can use to put the advice below into practice download this post's complementary guide here. But before we dive into how to find a job after college, let’s first shed some light on why the job searching process is so difficult for college graduates.  Why is it hard to find a job after college? One of the leading factors that make finding a job after college difficult is fierce competition.According to Statista, the percentage of the U.S. population that have a 4-year college degree has steadily increased since the 1940s. As of 2020, 38.3% of women and 36.7% of men have completed four years of college or more.With college degrees becoming more and more common, graduates are finding it difficult to stand out to employers. The competition can be even more intense for college students who either did not complete an internship in...

9 Tips on How to Leave a Job on Good Terms At some point in your career, you’ll likely quit your job – it’s a normal part of any career. When it does come around, learning how to leave your job on good terms will be key. However, even though quitting happens all the time. it’s easy to ruffle some feathers during the resignation process and burn bridges. In this article, you’ll learn how to preserve a healthy relationship with your employer, manager, and colleagues. Tell your manager first. Give two weeks' notice. Organize your files. Finish strong. Offer to train your replacement. Write a goodbye email to your teammates. Express gratitude. Don’t blast your manager, team, or the company. Give feedback on your experience. 1. Tell your manager first. With such big news, it’s important that your manager hear this news directly from you first. Hearing this from someone else can cause unnecessary friction between you and your manager and end your relationship on a sour note. In addition, you don’t want the news to spread until you discussed an exit strategy with your team. Otherwise, you may get bombarded with questions and concerns regarding the impact of your departure on ongoing projects without a clear path forward. Instead, inform your colleagues only once you’ve had the conversation with your manager – even those with whom you’re close. Your company may want to share...

12 Incredible Answers to "What Is Your Greatest Weakness?" — "That Aren't Perfectionism" So, you’ve finally got your foot in the door at your dream company. You’ve submitted the perfect resume and made a lasting impression during the phone screen. All there’s left to do now is to win over the hiring manager in the face-to-face interview. As a well-informed candidate, you’re doing your research on the company and preparing your answers to the most important interview questions you can think of — the most notorious of them all being: “What is your greatest weakness?” You don't want to respond, "I tend to work too hard," or "I am too much of a perfectionist." That can easily come across as scripted and insincere at best and lacking in self-awareness at worst. Alternatively, you don't want to respond with weaknesses that will prevent you from succeeding in the role. For instance, if you're applying to be a project manager, you don't want to admit that you’re “not very good with time management." Fortunately, there are ways to answer this question that will help you demonstrate your value as a candidate. Here, we've cultivated some incredible answers to the mainstay, "What is your greatest weakness" question — and don’t worry, these answers aren't "perfectionism". 1. Choose a weakness that will not prevent you from succeeding in the role. When an interviewer asks, "What is your greatest weakness?" they want to find out: Whether you have a healthy level...

How to Write a Professional Resignation Letter If you are leaving your job, you’re not alone. In April 2021 alone, around 4 million people quit their jobs, according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics. That number is the highest recorded since the bureau started recording such rates. Even though millions quit their jobs every month, we understand that telling your boss that you’re leaving the company is never an easy conversation. A respectful resignation letter can mean the difference between an awkward goodbye and a chance for a long-term professional connection. Ideally, you’ll provide a resignation letter two weeks before you leave the company. A resignation letter lets you officially announce your termination at the company and also offers essential housekeeping information, like your last day and other details about your departure. An effective one helps you ensure a positive conversation with your boss and a smooth transition to your next journey. But how do you write a good resignation letter? What should you include and exclude? Writing a resignation letter can feel like a daunting task, so we’ve created a professional resignation letter template to get you started and included examples for inspiration. What do I include in a professional resignation letter? Writing a professional resignation letter starts with understanding each of its components: 1. Statement of Resignation and End Date Begin your letter by stating your position at the company. This might seem redundant if you work at a small company and...

Best Personal Websites: 19 Examples to Blow Your Mind Here's the thing about resumes and cover letters: No matter how unique you try to make your own, for the most part, they tend to read dry. And there's a good reason for it: It's supposed to be a single, no-frills page that documents your work experience. And while being concise is good, there's very little opportunity to convey your uniqueness, or for your personality to shine through at all for that matter. While a resume is a sole, largely unchanging document, a personal website can be customized and updated according to what you're working on, or what you want to emphasize. It's both fluid and current. Did you know 80% of businesses say a personal website is important when evaluating job candidates? Recruiters are looking you up online, and a personal website that tells the story you want to tell can make all the difference between you and a competing candidate. If you're thinking about creating a personal website of your very own, check out the examples below that hit the nail on the head. Inspired by a particular type of website? Click one of the following links to jump to that section of this article: Personal Resume Websites Personal Portfolios Personal Blogs Personal Demo Websites Best Personal Websites Gary Sheng Brandon Johnson Quinton Harris Sean Halpin ...

How to Write the Perfect Email to Apply for an Unlisted Role Maybe you've been refreshing the Careers page at your dream company for months. Alternatively, perhaps you've heard glowing reviews about a company from friends — but whenever you check, they're still not hiring for any roles for which you'd qualify. Whatever the case, if you feel a company's culture could be a great fit for you, you might consider sending a cold email so hiring managers can keep you in-mind if a role becomes available. But that's easier said than done. If you sound too pushy, you risk alienating the hiring manager. A good cold email should be concise and focus on how you can add value to the team. When done correctly, a cold email is a good opportunity to network and get your name in front of the right people. Fortunately, the folks at Resume.io put together an infographic, which details the 8 essential elements of a persuasive email you can use to apply at your dream company. Take a look now, and then check out How to Write a Letter of Interest in 2021 . ...