Editors Pick
12 Words You Need To Delete From Your Résumé
Recruiters spend an average of 6.2 seconds looking at an individual’s résumé.
According to a study by the Ladders, recruiters spend an average of 6.2 seconds looking at an individual’s résumé. Working with that kind of attention span and operating with limited space, résumé writers need to make every word count.
With this in mind, it might be time to take a critical look at your résumé or CV (or even your LinkedIn profile) and root out terms that aren’t doing you any favour. And you can start with these 12 vague, cliché, inappropriate, or downright meaningless words. (See also: Get Your Résumé Past the Résumé Filter)
“I”
Your résumé is a chance to showcase how your skills, experience, and knowledge have produced quantitative results for previous employers. Avoid overusing “I” and focus instead on what you can bring to company and role you’re interest in. Remember, it’s less about you and more about them. A résumé peppered with “I”s and “my”s sends the message that you’re focused in the wrong direction.
“Microsoft Office”
Amber Carucci of PR Daily says that most employers assume that candidates have basic computer skills, so applicants shouldn’t take up valuable résumé real estate to point out the obvious. Instead, focus on specific areas of expertise such as HTML coding, SEO/SEM, or project management software programs.
“Love”
Used in business communication of any sort, love (e.g., “Accounting is my first love” or “I’d love to work for your company”) is a word that sticks out like a sore thumb. Let’s reserve this quite powerful descriptor for our families, our pets, and our smartphones. (See also: How to calculate deduction for employee compensation scheme)
“Impactful”
Sure, impactful is a word, but it’s not necessarily a good one. It’s clunky, awkward, and prompts the question: Was the impact good or bad? Crack open a thesaurus and pick a better adjective (not a tall order since most are better).
“Utilize” and Other “izes”
The “ize” don’t have it. Words like utilize, maximize, and optimize not only fail to impress would-be employers, they detract from the flow and clarity of your résumé. Skip the business-speak and err on the side of simple, direct communication that quantifies your achievements.
“Passionate” or “Driven”
Employers have fetishised passion so much that applicants feel compelled to litter their résumés with this absurd descriptor. Instead of using terms like passionate and driven, or feeling obligated to perform an interpretive dance showing how aroused you are by actuarial science or call centre customer service, demonstrate it through educational achievement, specific career accomplishments, licensures, and participation in professional associations.
“Experienced”
Experienced is so vague and overused that’s been rendered nearly meaningless. So, just skip it and get specific. What have you done? What projects have you managed? What results have you produced? Dazzle them with facts; don’t bore them with generalities.
[Also Read: You could end up in jail if you use WhatsApp like this]
“Responsible”
Responsible, as in responsible for, is the cousin of experienced. Instead of writing a long grocery list of what you’ve been responsible for in previous positions, get to the point. Use quantitative data to explain what you did, who you did it with, how long you did it, and how good you were at it.
“Results-Oriented”
Results-oriented and the three terms that follow it below are all clichés. Through their ubiquity and generality, they’ve lost whatever real meaning they may have once provided employers. It just begs to be replaced with quantitative examples of results you’ve produced, goals you’ve hit consistently, deals you’ve closed, and new partnerships you’ve developed.
“Detail-Oriented”
It’s assumed that you’ll be detail-oriented, so there’s no need to spell it out. Instead, illustrate how your attention has saved a previous employer money, made a team run more efficiently, or kept a project on-track and within budget.
“Team-Player”
If hiring managers collected a dime each time they run across this term, they could retire decades early. Skip the cliché and show how you’ve worked effectively with teams in the recent past. Even better, provide examples of how you’ve built strong teams, supervised teams, and motivated teams toward real results.
[Read Also: CAREER TIPS: What you need to know to become an effective negotiator]
“Hard-Working”
The content of a well-crafted résumé should say this for you. Let your experience, skills, and results speak for themselves.
Remember, while it often seems like getting your résumé noticed by the right person takes one part luck and one part black magic, there is a formula for success. Winning résumés are clear, jargon-free, flawlessly written, and ruthlessly edited. Get noticed by trading generalities for specific measurable achievements and resisting the temptation to gum up the works with flowery language. You and your recruiter are much too busy.
Currencies
DEVALUATION: CBN updates website to official rate of N360/$1
The central bank of Nigeria has devalued its official exchange rate from N307/$1 to N360/$1.
Just as Nairametrics reported, the Central Bank of Nigeria has devalued its official exchange rate from N307/$1 to N360/$1. The apex bank has now reflected this change on its website signaling a confirmation. The bank is yet to issue a press release to this effect.
The CBN has now officially devalued by 15% moving from N307/$1 to N360/$1. Depreciation at the “market-determined” I&E window is 5% having moved from N360/$1 to N380/$1
Devaluation: Nairametrics reported yesterday that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) sold dollars to banks at N380/$1 in a move signifying a devaluation of the currency. Banks trading at the Investor and Exporter (I&E) window bought dollars at N360/$1 from the CBN on Friday, March 20, 2020. The I&E window is the official market where forex is traded between banks, the CBN, foreign investors, and businesses. The central bank typically buys or sells in the market as part of its intervention program.
The CBN has updated its website with the official exchange rate.
Nairametrics also got hold of a letter from the CBN to banks informing them of the new exchange rate for dollars flowing from the International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs). According to the CBN, IMTOs will sell to banks at N376/$1 while banks will sell to the CBN at N377/$1. The CBN will sell to BDC’s at N378/$1 while the BDC’s will sell to end-users at “no more than” N380/$1.
Single Exchange Rate: A report yesterday also suggested that the CBN also planned to move to a single exchange rate policy for determining the price of the dollar. A senior central bank official who does not want to be identified, said, ‘Today we allowed the rate at the importer and exporters (I&E) window to adjust in response to market developments.’
The central bank has now made an apparent u-turn after it had initially that the “market fundamentals do not support naira devaluation at this time” detailing reasons why it did not need to devalue.
Falling oil price: Oil prices fell to under $20 on Friday before climbing back up to settle at $23 per barrel. Nigeria’s Bonny light trades at $26 while the benchmark Brent crude trades at $29 per barrel. In response to the crash in oil price, Nigeria’s announced a cut to its 2020 budget by N1.5 trillion as it faced the reality of a potential drop in its revenues. Nairametrics also has information that state governments are getting jittery about their ability to sustain salary payments as a reduction in their federal allocation “FAAC” is anticipated.
Career tips
Investment options for salary earners
Investment options for the salary earners
#Investing #Entrepreneurs #Investment #Salary #Wages
Recently, one of the readers of my articles asked to know what investment options are open to salary earners. A salaried individual is like everyone else except that he or she has a fixed monthly income. This implies that their investments and expenses have to be managed strictly according to their fixed monthly income.
Since salary is assumed to be the only source of income for the salaried, it is advisable that such an individual fortify himself financially before investing so that adverse investment performance will not have untold effect on him and his family. Therefore, if you are a salaried prospective investor, you need to:
READ: Where to invest N500,000 right now
Get life insurance
Most families in Nigeria are single income families so much such that if anything bad happens to the income earner, the family gets shattered, at least financially. Again, given the risks inherent in capital market investments, it is only prudent to have a life insurance as a first step in one’s investment journey. It is very baffling to see many investors very deep into the market, yet they do not have life insurance.
[Read Also: Understanding the risks in bond investing]
Life insurance is and should be a basic part of any financial plan. Life insurance is a protection for loved ones against financial hardship arising from the death of a breadwinner. This is even more important today than ever before with high cost of funeral expenses, college education and medical bills. So, the first investment option for a salaried individual is to get a life insurance.
Prepare for financial emergencies
Life is full of surprises, emergencies do happen, jobs are lost without notices, and even good investment opportunities emerge sometimes suddenly. There is, therefore, the need for a cash reserve to help weather the financial storms and emergencies when they come calling.
READ: SEC issues pre-notice on cancellation of certificates of 157 inactive CMOs
Cash reserves do not only provide for emergencies, they also help to ensure that investments are not liquidated prematurely or at inopportune times to cover unexpected expenses. There are no hard and fast rules on what the exact amount of the required cash reserve should be, but most financial experts and planners will advise that an amount that equals about six months of living expenses be set aside.
So, as a salaried person, your next investment should be to have a cash reserve. A cash reserve should not necessarily be in a savings account or under the mattress; it could be in an interest-bearing money market account, money market mutual funds with low to zero luck-up period or another form of very liquid investment that is readily convertible to cash without loss of value.
[Read Also: Understanding the risks in bond investing]
Know your risk appetite
As a salaried and fixed income individual, your risk appetite is most likely going to be low as well as your risk tolerance, although your extended family profile could change all that. You need to know or understand your risk tolerance before you engage in any capital market investment.
Your risk tolerance will and should drive the type of investments you go into. Your risk tolerance depends on your psychological makeup, your current insurance coverage, presence or absence of cash reserve, family situation, and your age among others.
READ: Here’s what will happen to Nigeria’s insurance sector in the short to medium term
Talking about family situation, it is reasonable to think that a married individual whose children are still in school will be more risk averse than an unmarried person. On the other hand, older people have shorter investment time horizon within which to make up for any losses. the reason for this is because the older you get the less time you have to work to recoup on losses.
In that case the risk tolerance of an older man will be less than those for younger folks. Again, the more cash reserve and insurance coverage you have, the more your propensity to take risk. Now having known your risk tolerance based on the underlying factors, you can then define your investment objectives
[Read Also: Important tips on how to profit in a bearish market]
Set your Investment objectives/goals
Having met those essentials above, you are now ready for a serious investment plan or program. A good investment plan starts with investment objectives. Investment objectives are the force that determines what you invest in. Investment objectives range from capital preservation, to capital appreciation and constant income generation.
Capital preservation as an investment objective implies that you, the investor, aim at minimising the risk of loss by maintaining the purchasing power of your investment. So, if you are risk averse or you will need money from your investment soon for children’s education or for building a house or you are nearing retirement, this should be your objective.
READ: CBN debits banks N216.1 billion for CRR compliance
Investors whose aims are to see their investment portfolios increase in real terms over a period of time are better suited for capital appreciation as an objective. This is better for investors that are more risk tolerant and those with more potential to recoup on losses along the way.
If you are already retired or nearing retirement, and therefore depend on your retirement plan supplemented by investment income, you need an investment that generates income rather than capital gains. In that case, your investment objective should be current income generation. It is always good to have investment goals stated in terms of risk and returns.
[Read Also: I-Invest generates over N2 billion transaction in less than 6 months]
Decide on asset allocation
Armed with the knowledge of your risk appetite and investment objective, you are now ready to decide on what to invest in, and how much to invest in any asset class. This takes you to asset allocation decisions. Asset allocation involves dividing an investment portfolio among different asset classes based on an investor’s financial requirements, investment objectives and risk tolerance.
A right mix of asset classes in a portfolio provides an investor with the highest probability of meeting his/her investment objectives. Asset allocation is the most important investment decision an investor can make in a portfolio because it demonstrates an investor’s understanding of his or her risk preferences and return expectations.
READ: How to build a profitable Mutual Fund Portfolio
It is good to strive for a diversified portfolio. Unfortunately, the Nigerian market does not provide a lot of asset classes for optimal diversification, but diversification can be achieved across sectors or industries within the few asset classes in the Nigerian stock market.
Decide on how to invest
There are different ways to invest in the capital market. You can invest directly by making the stock selections by yourself, thanks to the online stock trading platforms that abound the world over. This implies that you have what it takes to conduct the required research and analysis of the companies whose shares or stocks you wish to buy.
[Read Also: How I Would Invest My Mother’s Retirement Funds]
It also implies that you have what it takes to know when to sell or add to existing positions. Another method is to have someone “do the heavy lifting” for you. In this case, that someone, often times called fund manager or portfolio manager, does the research and analysis and selects shares that suit your investment preferences, investment objectives, risk tolerance and appetite as well as your investment time horizon.
This route is most suitable for investors that lack the knowledge and time for the required research and analysis. If you decide to go this route, mutual funds are the best bet for you.
Brian
July 8, 2019 at 9:18 pm
I’m almost certain lot of people – including those who conjured this list – would be disqualified by the list itself! 😅
Raheem Ishola
July 9, 2019 at 1:54 pm
According to this list, let’s just leave the CV blank.
T!
July 17, 2019 at 3:06 am
Super proud of the fact that my resume is free of typos and does not have these 12 words.