Category Archives: Work
Writing Tips: Five Ways To Create A Great Resume
I have edited resumes for my students, friends, and family members, and one thing I note is that every resume is different from the format to the content. No two resumes are the same and neither should they be. So, how can you make your resume stand out, be professional, and get a read through instead of a toss aside?
Here are 5 ways to make a great resume:
- Be Honest. If you have never worked on the moon, please don’t list it. List your actual work experiences, education, activities, and skill, even if they seem insignificant. And try to list skills, experience, and training/education that is relevant to the career position or job you are applying for.
- Be professional. Make sure your resume is not riddled with emojis, text-talk, and poor grammar. Make sure your email is professional: 🚫twerkforfun@gmail.com ✔lastnamefirstname1@gmail.com. Make sure your address is up to date also. And make sure you have a consistent format and font. The typical font used for resumes is Times New Roman.
- Make it stand out. Make sure your name is front and center. Make it bold or larger than the rest of the content. Make sure your contact info is right up there with your name. Make sure you print on white paper, or a special type of paper as long as it is white, or play around with your format. Just don’t overdo it and please keep it professional. If you are an artist or model, perhaps you can get away with adding a headshot photo of yourself.
- Maintain great content. Use action verbs to start off with explaining your tasks or duties from your work experiences. Make your objective specific as you communicate your career goals. Don’t list your skills in a generic way. Be specific. For example: 🚫Typing. ✔Type 100 words per minute 🚫 Math. ✔Proficient in Advanced Algebra and Trigonometry. You may think your work experience isn’t diverse, in depth or great. Don’t fret. It is not what you say it, it is how you say it. If you babysit or are a stay at home mom now entering the work force, you provide child care. Find out what strengths you are developing as a result and what things you are learning. Value those things. On your resume, list some of the things you did in providing child care. If you developed or have special skills, list them also on your resume. If you have learned how to apply theatrical makeup even if you learned from watching countless YouTube videos, list it. I had a high school student who didn’t realize that he helping his uncle remodel someone’s kitchen was a skill he was developing and something to put on his resume.
- Lastly, edit your resume. Check for mistakes. Everyone makes them, including me. So, go back over it and more than once. And have someone proofread it and edit it. Get feedback. Another person’s eyes can catch what you missed and give you the constructive criticism you need.
- Bonus Tip: Make sure you update your resume every year. You might have recently changed your address or job, learned a new skill, renewed your license or certificate, etc. and you want your resume to reflect such and be current.
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Tannika Moore is a writer, a poet, an editor, and an educator. She is a firm believer that there are two things people can’t take from you, and that is your education and faith, which are major focuses in her career and life. She has a Bachelor’s of Arts in English: Professional & Technical Writing. Her favorite genre of writing is poetry and she has self-published two poetry books titled Setting The Captive Free and Wearing Someone Else’s Shoes Ain’t Never Been Me. Tannika has edited various works from research papers to web content.
Guard Your Heart…At Work
According to the American Institute of Stress, “sixty-five percent of workers said that workplace stress had caused difficulties and more than 10 percent described these as having major effects.”
According to the American Institute of Stress, “twenty-five percent of workers view their jobs as the number one stressor in their lives.”
For more stats on workplace stress, click on this link: https://www.stress.org/workplace-stress
Upon prayer requests, it was an eye opener when God exposed one of the root causes of my anxiety was work. Moreover, every time I would enter a particular work site (I have multiple), my body would go on a stress alert, and one time I had an anxiety attack right inside of the classroom (thank God I was alone at the time). My anxiety levels at work/from work have decreased since that awareness and although I still have struggles, I handle the anxiety and stress much better. Life is a process and so is overcoming stress and anxiety. I found through research one way to handle anxiety was to just embrace it. Don’t fight it. Let it take its course while of course stopping what you’re doing, like driving if you are. This helped because fighting the anxiety was made my heart pound even more and the walls of my lungs close in tighter. The fighting didn’t help. The releasing control and allowing myself to feel physically and emotionally helped ease the symptoms and restore me back to calm. I also learned to take deep gut breaths. My anxiety often gave me more stomach issues to the point of having to run to the bathroom. I call it anxiety poop now. The breathing helped greatly to get my breathing and stomach under control. I have also watched funny videos and listened to worship music to change my mental channels. There are other ways to manage stress and anxiety but let’s talk about one way that should be supreme. That is to guard your heart.
Work-related stress can get so bad it can result in sickness, mental instability, the inability to be present, anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, low morale, poor productivity levels, and even death. I have been a part of numerous work conversations or chatter that lead to one or more of us expressing the effects of stress at work personally and as a whole.
Sometimes stress can be in the everyday routine and demand, or from workplace bullying, or betrayal, gossipping, and backstabbing, unprofessionalism, outside personal issues affecting inside work issues, or from coworkers who are aware or unaware of the unruly pressures they put upon the team due to the pressure put upon them. And nonetheless, these issues may be all spiritual for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12).
Since we spend much of our day at work, how do we live our lives where stress no longer controls them or seeps into our hearts and cause emotional infections?
We, as believers, are taught to guard our hearts. Above all else, guard thy heart; for out of it flows the issues of life (Proverbs 4:23). But do we keep our hearts guarded even at work? I am not talking about putting up a 10-foot wall and threatening all the coworkers you dislike from trying to climb it guard.
Our spiritual heart is composed of our thoughts, will, emotions, and desires. We are to protect it and allow God to transform it. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God (Romans 12:2). Guarding our hearts is a battle for we sometimes forget much of the war takes place there. And if the enemy can can throw grenades there, he can get you off course with what God believes about you and wants for you.
So, let’s begin to purposely and actively guard our hearts, even at work. Work is not just to earn a paycheck but it is like a second home for many, and it is definitely our mission fields. There are people on our job hurting and need to receive God’s love and presence to envelop them. Walking in consistent stress and anxiety can stifle you from walking in the love and presence of God to impact others. Your mind is clouded; your heart can grow weary. Edited: There are beautiful things that can take place at work. For example: today, I had a moment of break down when I arrived at work and was embraced and comforted. I was embarrassed but little did I know that I wouldn’t be the only one who needed comfort. After our movie and discussion session with the young ladies for Women’s History Month, some of the students expressed their hearts but it was the female staff who poured out their hearts, and I witnessed such love and support surface. Guarding your heart also means allowing vulnerability to surface in your heart to receive the genuine love and care you need. When your heart has grown numb and cold, nothing grows there. I thank my school today for being a safe place for us to share and receive the love necessary. That school knows who they are.
Guarding your heart at work takes four things:
1. Taking every thought captive. Catch those thoughts, check those thoughts, and change those thoughts that do not line up with God’s Word about you, others, or your circumstances. “I am not good enough.” “Things will never change.” “My coworker hates me.” Maybe she does or maybe she is coming down hard on you because when she was little they told her she will never be anything so now she demeans everyone to lift herself up. You don’t excuse the behavior at all but seeing them the way God does can ensure you won’t hold a grudge, seek revenge, or internalize their low self-worth and make it yours. You will be able to address them professionally and with love and understanding. Even avoid thoughts, gossips, and opinions from others at work that are causing division, stress, and just plain ungodliness and unprofessionalism. I have not always done this. But sometimes you have to change the subject and give those things no attention.
2. Change your perspective. Seeing things, others, and yourself the way God does. This takes prayer, even fasting, and saturating in the Word of God. I remember upon getting evaluated at work last year by my bosses and one saying they noticed I wasn’t as stressed or sick like I used to be. I told them I still got sick and stressed sometimes but what changed is the fact that I had to change my perspective. I had to see things differently and not take every thing personal. Seeing things from a different perspective, from God’s perspective, helps us to maintain our joy and our witness before others even during rough times.
3. Take a day off to renew. Every now and then you need a day of rest to reset. Some times I had to take off because I was sick and needed rest. I not only rested but I took that time to spend quality time with God. That refreshed me, having unrushed, quality time with the one who created me, loves me unfailingly, is the Source to my resources, and sacrificed greatly for me. I also would find myself able to catch up with something I normally wouldn’t be able to. I also found that rest was needed to be truly productive. I can think straight and function well.
4. Lastly the Word of God is alive and active and it is our sword. Saturate in it, read it and study it, use it as your weapon against the enemy’s lies and threats, and submit it to the Father in prayer. His Word cannot return to Him void.
Be encouraged!!! What other ways can you guard your heart? Are you a source of comfort and truth for others at work? How do you navigate work-life balance?
Tannika Nikeya 