Members Article – Top 5 Resume Writing Mistakes

by admin on May 20, 2012

TOP FIVE RESUME-WRITING MISTAKES
By Marian Bernard, Certified Professional Resume Writer 

People who attempt to craft their own resumes stand a 15% chance of landing an interview.  That rate exponentially rises to 85% when a job seeker retains a professional resume writer.  More information is available on-line at www.resumeexpert.ca.

No goal or focus.  Unless the job-seeker expressly states the kind of position they want, employers will most certainly toss a “general” resume into the garbage.  

Inconsistent formatting.  Such a document is too “busy” to read and can prompt the employer to move on to another resume.

No industry-specific keywords or phrases.  Keywords play an integral role in two areas of the resume screening process:  (1) the human element when resumes are screened for words and phrases that match the woman helping with resumecriteria for the job opening, and (2) the computer search where computers hunt for the data on resumes that match eligible words and phrases.

No achievements.  Hiring managers want to know what distinguishes one applicant from another.  Although Candidates “A” and “B” could come from similar backgrounds, Candidate “B’s” resume – packed with quantifiable examples of how he made a difference on the job – will push him ahead of his competitors.  

Grammatical inconsistencies and spelling errors.  Many job-seekers have emigrated to Canada from other countries, and English is their adopted second language.  Nevertheless, an employer wants to see a well-written resume – no matter where a job-seeker is born.

Marian Bernard, CPRW, CEIP, CJSS is Principal of The Regency Group in Aurora, Ontario and a Member of Aurora-Business.com – Canada’s only while-you-wait resume-writing service.  She opened Regency in 1985 and has since become Ontario’s first Certified Professional Resume Writer in 1997, one of 10 Certified Employment Interview Professionals, and Canada’s first Certified Job Search Strategist.  Log onto her web-site at www.resumeexpert.ca or call her at 905-841-7120.

To find out more about Aurora-Business.com CLICK HERE for more information

 

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Members Article – ‘Your Marketing Message – It’s only everything”.

by admin on May 2, 2012

As a small to medium size business owner or entrepreneur, you face many challenges. Not the least among them is to clearly communicate with your customers and prospects. You must be able to articulate your marketing message and value proposition with absolute clarity.Your message must speak to and engage your target market. Clear communication can mean the difference between selling and not selling. If you don’t sell you won’t make money. Word of mouth alone is not enough to sustain you. It is an absolute necessity that you market your business.

At the risk of being blunt, here is something you must know. A current or potential customer doesn’t care about the number of widgets your company has sold. Likewise they don’t care how many years you have been in business, nor how many sales awards you have collected. Here is what they actually do care about and want to know. Will your product or service fill their need, solve their problem, or make their life better and easier? If your product or service can achieve these things, then the world will beat a path to your door. This is a paraphrase of a famous (mis) quote, often attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson. It simply means that if your product or service has such a compelling value proposition, that people will go out of their way to find and purchase it.

Joel Sussmann is located in Aurora, the Owner of “The Witty Wordsmith” and a Member of Aurora-Business.com to find out more about Joel CLICK HERE

To find out more about Aurora-Business.com CLICK HERE for more information

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Members Article – Read the fine print on deep discount mortgages

by admin on April 11, 2012

Spring market 2012 is heating up with some low-rate no-frills mortgage promotions. They are certainly attention getting but these mortgages often come with restrictions that can cost you in the long run. That’s why it’s important to check the fine print:

  • A  fully closed mortgage means you’re not leaving the lender unless you sell your house, so your options are limited and you have no negotiating power if your needs change in the next 5 years.
  • Low or no prepayments gives you no or limited ability to chip away at your principal to reduce your overall cost.
  • Maximum 25-year amortization can take away important flexibility like taking a 30-year amortization but setting your payments higher using a 25-year or lower amortization, which keeps open the possibility of reducing payments later should you need breathing room for an emergency situation or special need.

Who really knows what life might be like a few years down the road? The lack of flexibility associated with a no-frills mortgage could end up causing you some major headaches.

Talk to Peter J Rich at Mortgage Intelligence in Aurora to review all of your options. We have access to many low-rate full-feature mortgages that provide more flexibility and could save you thousands.  Rate is not the one and only factor in choosing a mortgage!

Compliments of Peter J Rich – Aurora-Business.com Member

To find out more about Aurora-Business.com CLICK HERE for more information

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Members article – RESPs

by admin on December 13, 2011

The Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) represents one of the very few “free lunches” in personal finance.

For deposits into an RESP of $2,500 a year, the government contributes a Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG) of 20% of the deposit to a maximum of $500 a year.

Where else are you going to find a guaranteed and instantaneous 20% return on your investment dollars? Also, your invested capital, the CESG and the investment returns are compounded tax-free for the duration of the plan.

Not surprisingly many parents have opened RESPs for their kids. As a matter of fact, grandparents find it especially gratifying to make contributions to a post secondary school education plan and the capital freed up by this gesture allows the parents to contribute more to their own RRSP, TFSA or apply a like amount to their mortgage balance.

Do the math and you’ll understand why the RESP is the “grandparents best gift ever.”

For more information visit www.canlearn.ca

Compliments of Gillespie Adams and Associates Aurora-Business.com Member

 

To find out more about Aurora-Business.com CLICK HERE for more information

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