Starting up the Job Search engine... toot toot

It's about that time again. I sure had fun with my first ever non-school loaded summer but I've got to get back in gear. I've actually been doing an internship that's been going pretty well so it's not like I've been sitting idly by. But what I need to do now is find a job so I can support myself.

So, how can I market myself? One thing I love about my internship is that I'm learning marketing, especially through the use of social media, which I can apply to myself. I've also gathered an interest in reading various marketing related books which I haven't really done before.

Anyways, first thing is first, I need to fine tune my resume. I haven't edited my resume in the last several months. The last time I really looked at is was right before I graduated. So there are a few things that need to be changed. I'm still at a loss of what type of career I want to go into

Instead of looking up what I should be putting on my resume, I've decided to look up what I shouldn't. Some of the more common one's I'll list below

1. Too many words
Plain and simple, this can be a problem. Aside from being boring and like reading an essay, it's dense and can show employers that you can't make a bottom line. Concise, exact, etc makes you waste less of the other person's time.

2. Non-Unique template design
A template makes your resume look just like every other resume. As a cloned piece of work, it will get lost in the sea of many others. It appears that it's more acceptable nowadays to use color, designs, and logos in your resume. So don't be scared and experiment with what works best. But I've also been reading that keeping it simple may be better. Some recruiters or human resource personnel aren't as open to colorful and creative resumes. Remember to think about the position you're applying for and deem if this was actually appropriate.

3. Not using keywords
A lot of companies now use a CV screening program that looks for keywords such as degree, diploma, marketing, consumer, etc and just boots anything that doesn't have enough of these key words. So be careful and look at those.

Right now I find those three things to be the most important newish ideas I've come across.

One last thing I should mention, many employers will take education as being equivalent to experience. A lot of jobs have transcript requirements nowadays if you plan on doing that substitution. I plan on passing by UCI and get my unofficial transcript and perhaps an official transcript in case I need one of those in the future. I know I'll probably bring a copy of my transcript with me even if they don't require it. It's nice seeing employers use the "experience and/or education" now in their job listings so it removes the doubt but that shouldn't limit you to just applying for those jobs.

Some cool sites I've come across
http://www.powerful-sample-resume-formats.com/
http://jobmob.co.il/blog/beautiful-resume-ideas-that-work/
http://business.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Main_Page

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Edit: In case you wanted to see an in-progress view of my resume... it's far from finished but I'm liking the new personality. I'll be seeing how it looks in grey scale also