How to Write A Career Objective That Gets Your Resume Noticed Career objectives are a topic of hot debate in the resume space. Certain career experts say they're outdated. Others claim they give hiring managers a quick glance at your top attributes and experiences. Whether you call it a personal branding statement, experience overview, or resume objective, a career objective statement is still relevant. That's because a well-crafted objective lets hiring managers learn about your skills, personality, and career highlights from the first look. That's if a hiring manager even makes it to your resume, of course. With an increasingly competitive pool of candidates, HR teams often rely on technology to help sort resumes and select candidates for the next hiring stage. Algorithms pick and choose people based on keywords, often prioritizing optimized language over someone who may be the best fit for the job. But there are ways to ensure your career objective works for you, instead of against you. Let's look at what a career objective is and how to make yours meet today's resume standards. What is a Career Objective? A career objective is a succinct paragraph that summarizes your professional experiences, skills, and goals. It is usually two to three sentences long and sits at the top of your resume, under your name and contact information. Image Source Your career objective is one of the first pieces of information hiring managers will see when scanning your resume, so it has to stand out. You...

16 of the Best Professional Bio Examples We've Ever Seen  Does your professional bio make a statement? In this article, we have great professional bio examples you should compare yours to — and a series of free bio templates you can use to make it perfect. If you’re anything like me, you probably don't think about your professional bio until you’re suddenly asked to "shoot one over via email." You have approximately one afternoon to come up with it, and that's when you scramble, and the bio ends up reading like this: Rodney Erickson is a content marketing professional at HubSpot, an inbound marketing and sales platform that helps companies attract visitors, convert leads, and close customers. Previously, Rodney worked as a marketing manager for a tech software startup. He graduated with honors from Columbia University with a dual degree in Business Administration and Creative Writing." Woof, that was dull. Are you still with me? I swear, not even adding a tidbit about his cats would liven that bio up. To be fair, in certain contexts, your professional bio does need to be more formal, like Mr. Erickson's up there. But in many cases, writing a readable bio — even conversational — is a really good thing. That means dropping that traditional format of listing your accomplishments like a robot and cramming as much professional-sounding jargon in there as you can. How to Write a Bio Download...

How to Write About Your Professional Background A great way to share more about your background is to have a prepared document, like a professional bio. A professional bio can be shared with prospective employers, your colleagues, included in your social media profiles, used for speaking engagement announcements, or used as an author bio on a blog. Writing about your professional background for the first time may feel challenging or awkward, but it doesn't have to be. Here, we'll explore some tips to help you feel more comfortable when writing your own professional bio. Let's dive in. What is a professional background? A professional background is a summary of your professional experiences —coupled with any relevant personal information, including interests or passions — that you'll use throughout your career as you network with industry peers, apply for new roles, or seek out thought leadership opportunities.  This includes previous jobs you've had, successful projects you've worked on, significant accomplishments like promotions or awards, professional networking organizations you belong to, and anything else you'd share with someone who wants to know more about you professionally. Not only is sharing more about your background a great way to tell more about yourself to others, it's also an opportunity to wholly reflect on your professional journey and the goals you've achieved — plus, what you hope to achieve in the future. Next, let's dive into how you can get started.  How to Write About Yourself 1. Don't start from scratch. If you're having trouble...

The 7 Best Free Resume Builders We've Ever Discovered A couple weeks ago, my brother Max sent me his resume in a text message, and asked me to 'spruce it up a bit' for him. Undoubtedly, I needed to do more than copy-and-paste the text into a Word document. To truly stand out, I knew the resume needed to demonstrate a level of professionalism and effort -- something content alone can't always convey. Fortunately, with the help of Zety, I was able to input Max's resume information, choose a template, and have Zety design the piece for me, within a span of 20 minutes: Looks a little better than a text message, doesn't it? Resume builders are incredibly helpful when creating a resume, and can help you showcase your unique personality. Best of all, they look a lot sleeker than whatever you can design in a Google Doc. To ensure you can create a resume for free, we've compiled this list of the best free resume builders we've discovered. Keep reading, and then get to work designing your own -- trust me, with these tools, it's almost as easy as sending a text. Featured Resource: HubSpot Resume Templates Download these free templates and plug in your experience and information for a custom, well-crafted resume. 1. Resume Genius Resume Genius is undoubtedly one of the easiest and fastest free resume tools you have at your disposal. With a clean and easy-to-use interface, the...

The 17 Best Resume Templates for Every Type of Professional While an eye-catching resume alone probably won't land you your dream gig, it doesn't hurt to put a little extra effort into how you present yourself on paper. The right resume design speaks to your individual skills and personality, and can propel your application to the top of the stack. But finding a cool design that also fits your professional identity can be a major hassle — and applying for jobs is already hard enough. We've scoured the web for some of the best resume templates to help you stand out in a sea of Times New Roman and crowded copy. You'll want to steal each and every one of these creative resume templates — and the good news is: You can! These generous designers have made their work available for free download. Read on to check them out and find a great fit for your next job application. Download a free, editable resume template. We've organized them by the type of candidate they're best for. The 17 Best Resume Templates for Every Type of Professional Best for Creatives These templates emphasize the design, color, and typography skills that creatives need to show from the get-go. 1. Resume Template with a Photo Background This template from Polish designer Patryk Korycki is perfect for photographers, graphic designers, and other creatives looking to showcase a sample of their best work. The template can be downloaded here for free. 2. Monochromatic...