The Importance of Proofreading Your Resume (and Other Crucial Adjustments)

When applying for a new job, candidates must do a handful of things to ensure that they make a positive first impression on potential employers. One of those things is sending in an outstanding resume. One critical step that must take place is proofreading the resume, to avoid any mistakes, grammatical errors, or other snafus that can cost a job.

As a job seeker, submitting just any old resume for a job could cause you to never hear back from the company. When you take the time to carefully proofread your resume, you vastly improve your chances of receiving a call for an interview. Remember, the main purpose of a resume is to get you that first interview opportunity! Let’s dig deeper into why it’s important to proof your resume and make any other crucial adjustments now.

How to Proofread Your Resume

The best way to proofread your resume is to read it aloud. When you read a document aloud, you are more prone to find any mistakes made in your grammar and punctuation. Have someone you trust proofread your resume as well in an effort to find any other issues that you might have missed. Once you proofread your resume, make sure you fix all of the mistakes found immediately. Another tip is to review your resume backwards to help catch misspellings on it.

Checking the Resume for Attractiveness

You might not think this is important, but it is vital to your success at finding a job. The resume must flow well and should not have any mismatched font types or font colors. Your resume needs to have a format that is very easy to read because employers do not have time to search the resume for your most important information. Typically, an employer wants to see a chronological resume listing your last position first.

Using Keywords Related to the Job Search

Your resume should use keywords that are related to your job search in order to get the attention of potential employers. Many companies use automated programs to sift through resumes submitted for open jobs, which is why keywords are just as important on a resume as they are when writing content for the Web. Do not over-stuff your resume with keywords because this will just be viewed as spamming. Make sure you include relevant skills that your new employer would be looking for in an employee. Does your resume match the job description of the position you are applying for to attack the interest of the hiring manager?

Focus on Clear Accomplishments

To secure a job interview and then an offer of employment, focus on your top accomplishments and don’t be afraid to brag about yourself. You can do this by editing your job descriptions from passive wording to active wording. This will help you explain the accomplishments you enjoyed at previous jobs in your career. Quantify your successes and achievements either in money or time saved for the company or income brought into the organization.

Using the Most Relevant Job Info

Including your entire career story will not help on a resume, and you should select information that’s relevant to that job posting. You do not need to include jobs from right out of college if you have been in the working world for more than 10 years. Instead of worrying about how long your resume is, you should be focused on the relevance of your resume when proofreading it.

Proofreading your resume is an important part of the job search process. If you submit a resume that is full of mistakes, there’s a strong likelihood that you will never hear from an employer again.

Casey Resources provides a number of services for clients and candidates to be successful in their job search. Contact a leading staffing firm in Chicago to learn more  today.

Featured Accounting Talent

Casey Resources, one of the top finance and recruiting agencies in Chicago, currently has several outstanding candidates.  Here is a sample of some of the top talent currently available.   Contact Casey Accounting & Finance Resources today and let us place the right accounting and finance worker with your company!

SENIOR ACCOUNTANT

  • Areas of Expertise: Annette is a CPA with Strong SAP system experience.
  • Noteworthy: Expertise includes preparing financial statements, month-end close, consolidations. Excel skills include: pivot tables and v lookups.
  • Position of interest: Senior Accountant Role
  • Available for: Temporary, Temporary to Hire and Direct Hire opportunities.
  • Location: McHenry County, Lake County and Elgin/Schaumburg area

SENIOR FINANCIAL ANALYST

  • Areas of Expertise: Justin is a MBA with about 3 years experience
  • Noteworthy: Expertise includes financial consolidations of multiple entities, in-depth reporting and presenting financial information to executives, developing budgets and forecasts. Strong user of Cognos and Excel
  • Position of interest: Senior Financial Analyst Role
  • Available for: Direct Hire opportunities.
  • Location: Flexible

ACCOUNTING MANAGER

  • Areas of Expertise: Michelle has 5+ years of small manufacturing company experience as Accounting Manager.
  • Noteworthy: She has supervised multiple employees and been responsible for all accounting functions. Direct responsibility for US and Canadian operations. She has a BA in Accounting and an MBA in Finance. She is proficient in Navision, Great Plains, AS400 and JD Edwards.
  • Position of interest: Michelle is looking for Accounting Manager role.
  • Available for: Temporary, Temporary to Hire and Direct Hire opportunities.
  • Location: Hoffman Estates, IL area.

ACCOUNTING MANAGER

  • Areas of Expertise: Katherine is a financial executive with a background of planning and managing initiatives to improve finance, accounting and operational processes.
  • Noteworthy: Her extensive professional skills and experience include financial analysis, budgeting and forecasting, improving processes, procedure and productivity, managing expense budgets and capital expenditures, producing accurate financial statements and reports, coordinating sales tax reporting and reconciliation, negotiating contracts with vendors & suppliers, HR/payroll/taxes/employee benefits, minimizing financial risks & exposures, analyzing insurance coverage & premiums and controlling costs & boosting profits.
  • Position of interest: Accounting Manager, Controller or VP of Finance
  • Available for: Temporary, Temporary to Hire and Direct Hire opportunities.
  • Location: Chicago, IL area with ideal locations within the western and northwest suburbs

CONTROLLER

  • Areas of Expertise: This CPA Professional has 7 years within the manufacturing industry arena including 16 direct reports. He also possesses 5 years experience kicking off his career within public accounting. Nick’s core values are integrity, ability to make a difference, balance and ever learning. He is very service oriented.
  • Noteworthy: He has provided continuous internal controls to improve and develop his team of best practices and procedures. He has installed cross-training and developed the roadmap for his staff. While with a prior employer he was involved with standard cost for engines and while in public accounting he audited manufacturing operations verifying the standard costs. He has held full g/l, financial statement, budgeting, forecasting and modeling responsibility throughout his career. Nick considers himself a power user of SAP. He has also been involved with a system conversion from an IBM platform to PeopleSoft platform.
  • Position of interest: Controller
  • Available for: Direct Hire opportunities
  • Location: Schaumburg or Chicago IL Loop

CORPORATE ACCOUNTING MANAGER

  • Areas of Expertise: Mike has solid progressive career growth throughout his career.
  • Noteworthy: He was designated “Accounting Expert” for a Fortune 500 SAP Conversion. He established all Policies and Procedures in addition to building and training a team for a new Fortune 500 Accounting Department due to an acquisition. He managed the accounting and analysis for the a business segment with revenues over $2.4B. He streamlined the accounting close process as well as developed gross margin analysis model to quickly and accurately identify margin and pricing issues for that Fortune 500 Company.
  • Position of interest: Corporate Accounting Manager
  • Available for: Direct Hire opportunities
  • Location: Joliet, IL and along Route 88 corridor to Aurora

Interested in learning more?

Contact Casey Accounting & Finance Resources today and let us place the right accounting and finance worker with your company!

 

 

Where Did All the Candidates Go? What to do In a Candidate-Driven Marketplace

Finding the right candidates for your company’s available positions can be difficult enough in a normal marketplace. But, when the marketplace is driven by candidates, the search can be downright challenging. In a candidate driven marketplace, you will find that the pool of qualified employees shrinks very quickly. When this happens, you need to have a plan in place to find an employee for your open job.

Here’s how to find and recruit the best employees in a candidate-driven job market.

Appeal to the Candidate’s Lifestyle

An excellent way to compete in a candidate-driven marketplace is to appeal to the lifestyle of the candidate. Aside from offering an excellent compensation package, offer an employee incentive program that rewards employees for their hard work and dedication to help them achieve their dreams. Also consider offering flexible scheduling so your employees are better able to balance their life outside of the office.

Become a Desired Employer

In order to compete in a candidate-driven marketplace, you will need to become a desired employer. This can be done by promising your employees a place that allows them the chance to build a long-term career. Do not become a company that is just a stop-over for employees as they move up the corporate ladder. Instead, become a company that encourages employees to stay the length of their careers, finishing up in top leadership positions.  Provide mentorship and training opportunities to develop your employees.

Focus on an Attractive Culture

The culture at your company needs to be as positive as possible if you want to compete for the best candidates in a candidate driven marketplace. Candidates from Generation Y want to work in an office setting that has a positive culture. They thrive off the atmosphere and want to have co-workers with whom they can get along with and have great interactions with while working together.  When you develop an attractive culture, you will be able to bring in some of the most talented candidates in the marketplace.

Look Outside the Box

When you are really struggling to find candidates in a candidate-driven marketplace, consider looking outside the box. Think about hiring entrepreneurs who might be looking to come back to a corporate setting, parents who took time off to raise children, or people who took time off to earn a second or third degree. They will be just as eager to succeed and will bring a wealth of knowledge to your company.

Find Out What Candidates REALLY Want

When interviewing candidates for open jobs, you need to find out what it is they are looking for in their career. Place emphasis on the career goals of the candidates and what their individual ambitions are. When you find this out, you can do your best to make their career dreams attainable.

In a candidate-driven marketplace, a company needs to put in an 110 percent effort in order to find qualified employees for open jobs. If your company uses the information from this post, then finding a strong candidate should not be an issue.

Casey Resources provides a number of services for clients and candidates to be successful in their job search. Contact a leading staffing firm in Chicago to learn more  today.

Employee Incentives: Why They Are A Good Idea

Want to encourage your workforce? Employee incentives are an excellent way to motivate and reward your employees for a job well-done. Not all companies like to offer their employees incentives, but more are moving in the direction of these programs. In today’s post, we will discuss why it is a good idea to implement an employee incentive program in your workplace.

Send the Right Message

When your company offers an employee incentive program, it sends the right message not only to your employees, but also prospective employees. Not only does the entire program send a message, but individual aspects of the program send strong messages to those the rewards target.

For example, if you offer child care to your employees, those who are parents will see you value their family life. If you offer longevity bonuses to employees who are celebrating an anniversary with your company, you show the employee that you value their loyalty to the company.

Some of the most common forms of recognition in employee incentive programs include length of service with a company, going above and beyond on a project, top sales numbers, excellent ideas, earning employee of the month, practicing safety and attendance.

Increased Motivation

When your company offers its employees an incentive program, it increases their motivation to perform strongly while on the job. Employees will work harder when they are rewarded for reaching various goals or targets at the office. It can be difficult for employees to motivate themselves, which is why your company should provide an incentive program.

Better Loyalty

Companies that offer employees an incentive program notice an increase in employee loyalty. You cannot buy employee loyalty, but offering an incentive program for your employees will definitely help. These programs show employees that you value their time, hard work and commitment to the company. They will return that care by staying at your company and trying to work their way up the corporate ladder.

Higher Attendance

An employee incentive program can also help the attendance at your office. When employees have something to look forward to at the office they will tend to come in more often. Office settings that have poor culture and no reward system will see a higher amount of call-outs.

Stronger Culture and Morale

A company with an employee incentive program will experience a stronger culture and morale. Employees will be happier, highly motivated and have better morale each day of the week. When employees are happy and morale is high, your company’s overall costs will decline and productivity will increase.

If your company is considering an employee incentive program, take a look at the benefits outlined in this post. They are very hard to ignore, especially when you realize that happy workers are excellent workers.

Casey Resources, a trusted staffing firm, provides a number of services to clients and candidates, specifically in the accounting and financial industries. Contact us today to learn about the services we provide.

2015 Salary Survey

Happy New Year! 2015 is upon us, and with that, there are updates to salaries in finance and accounting. The compensation trends change every year and with the fluctuating economy, you need to be on top of your game when negotiating salary numbers.

Looking to learn more about what salary expectations should be? Casey Accounting and Finance Resources can help! We have compiled our salary survey list with updated facts and figures including job descriptions for Finance and Accounting positions for  the Chicago metropolitan area.

Contact us today and we will be happy to share this with you.  In the “YOUR MESSAGE” section, please enter “2015 Finance Salary Survey”.  Best wishes to you in 2015!