Whether you are a fresh graduate looking to launch your career or a midcareer PMET looking for a new start, here are some tips that will help you craft a solid resume that might improve your chances of getting that dream job.
No no, don’t read it wrongly. I’m not asking you to cheat. Understanding the job description can help you greatly in crafting a resume. Many companies & organizations rely on HR solutions to sift through tonnes of resumes they get for a single job role. Using keywords often found in the job description and adding them to your resume can help boost your chances. For example, if the job requires a “sales-driven team player”, then your resume should include metas, aka examples of how you have fulfilled/can fulfill that role. Certain meta-phrases such as “acquired new clients”, “team player” or “continually hitting quota of <insert sales figure>” which you should add into your resume.
This is especially important for newbies/fresh graduates. Unlike your more experienced peers who may have proven track records, you need to give your future employer a very good reason to consider hiring you. Offer your strong “interpersonal skills” that can help the company build its reputation and relationships with customers, or talk about how you have a “good sense of responsibility” when receiving and executing instructions from your superiors. The key to this is not to bullshit of course, but give your potential employer an idea what your capabilities are and if you’ll be considered a good fit for this role.
No seriously, stop it. It’s childish to see resumes with power bars describing their software & language skills. Keep it professional by just listing your software competency skills instead, this will give your potential employer a general understanding of your software skills at a glance. Language-wise you can simply state “English – Fluent both written & conversational” or “Mandarin – conversational only”
There are available platforms you can use (some for FREE) to help you fine-tune your resume. You can use CVScan to double check if you’ve got #1 down pat, or Grammarly to fine tune your draft. Also, do your own dry-run – Read your resume and see if it is too: 1) Boring & lengthy 2) contains too much information or 3) Just about right. Remember, if it makes you want to stop reading on, it’ll most likely do the same to the hiring manager.
Ok this is more of a shameless plug, but you have to do all you can to make it through the 1st round of sifting. Your resume has to stand out from the rest. Despite all the tech available to filter out the unworthy, I believe there’s still a huge portion of employers relying on the old methods of looking through resumes. This is good for you, job seekers to consider using our resume templates and boost your chances. It’s almost as good as handing your resume to the employer in person.
I wish you all the best in your job hunt. Remember, YOU are your best resume. So stay positive no matter what in these challenging times! – Ken
If you’ve only just figured it out, the good news is that you’re still not too late. As businesses go digital, the adoption of social media for marketing(and its adspending) may very soon surpass mainstream media platforms. Here’s a little catchup for you folks.
According to Statista, by 2025 there will be around 5.1 million Facebook users in Singapore (up from 4.74 in 2019). The highest percentage of users currently are likely aged between 25 to 44, followed by those between 18 to 24 and 45 to 65 and over. It is least popular among teenagers aged 13 to 17, as they are more likely found on Snapchat and TikTok. However, this trend is shifting during the Covid-19 pandemic, as many public figures are migrating to TikTok to widen their reach online.
The Covid-19 pandemic has changed consumers’ behaviour. A study conducted globally found a 61 per cent increase in social media usage during the pandemic. Video-conferencing platform Zoom has been used for other purposes, for example fitness studios and instructors conducting workouts through Zoom. Think about it – Now it is possible for a Singaporean to attend a yoga class conducted in Indonesia via Zoom.
Social media marketing is still much cheaper in absolute costs compared to other mainstream advertising and marketing tools available to businesses. The pandemic has also created a demand for human interaction in the midst of a lockdown, hence fuelling a surge in Online-to-Offline sales and going beyond liking posts and reposting. Many businesses have turned to Facebook Live Streaming. For example, Tekka Market did a Facebook Live Stream featuring wet market food stalls, and the online auction garnered more than 28,000 views on Facebook with overwhelming sales.
In an interview with CNA, Lazada shared that consumers have gone beyond searching for items only. User engagement through live streaming has proven to boost sales by more than 40 per cent. By spending some time a day on your social media presence, you can see increased exposure aside from developing good relationships with your customers.
With all good things also come the bad. And as the saying goes, bad news spread faster than good news, this is especially true on social media. There are plenty of businesses that have suffered due to fake news and reviews. A negative review can influence a would be customer to change his/her mind about patronising your establishment. Hence it is important to engage (or get someone patient enough to do so) your customers consistently and to address any issues swiftly.
Social media is an efficient tool for connecting with people, and businesses can leverage it to conduct marketing research to acquire consumer data on info such as purchase patterns & demographics.
Suggestion #1– You can conduct surveys or polls and you can ask customers to offer reviews about your products and services. This helps you to improve on your existing line of products or services and helps you to come up with new business strategies.
Suggestion #2- Another way for your business to stand out is to create a unique and catchy hashtag. Many social media users use hashtags to search for certain content or products. For example, if you are selling masks and targeting the Singapore market, you can use #sgmask to index your content.
Finally, in order to enhance your brand’s image, content creation has to go beyond selling just your product. Keep your brand at the top of the newsfeed by posting engaging content regularly. As an example, Red Bull capitalised on their classic slogan “Red Bull Gives You Wings” with the hashtag #givesyouwings, combined with cool sports videos and photographs to enhance their brand image. You can add visuals as these images increase interaction rates and can engage your audience to make them feel there are real people behind the brand.
#smartfishasia #socialmedia #SoMeKetchup
Want to reach out to your customers and generate new leads? Try using our WhatsApp EDMs – professionally-designed templates to help you promote your products, services, property/events! Visit www.smartfishasia.com/edm to purchase your template today. – Ken
‘Infographics’ is a combination of “information” and “graphics”– a visual interpretation of data that makes the content more engaging and memorable. From daily instruction manuals to business charts that want you to focus only on the key information.
Infographics can be static or dynamic (depends on the hardware). Static infographics are the most common type as they can be produced quickly for print and digital publication (i.e. PDF or HTML). Dynamic/Interactive infographics bring life to your content with animation and user interactions. The most common ones we see today are still static infographics via PDFs or HTML mailers. Concept-wise they seem to fall under these three categories:
> CHARTS & GRAPHS – this is the simplest way to communicate figures visually.
> ILLUSTRATIVE INFOGRAPHICS – Information is communicated via illustrations & graphics.
> ILLUSTRATIVE STORYTELLING – Information is communicated and visualized as a theme.
Infographic breaks down data and jargon to bite size information, which allows consumers to quickly absorb key points. The information is presented in a way that is universally understood by readers regardless of culture and language differences.
Infographics can position you as a thought leader. They are often used in marketing campaigns to sway opinion and influence decision making. Infographics can also be easily shared across different platforms and devices, going viral and reaching out to more intended-audiences via social media.
Infographics are powerful conversion tools. I hope this article will share some useful information and interest you in creating infographics for your own business. If you wish to know more, please feel free to email me at ken@smartfishasia.com – Ken
Whether you’re selling a piece of property, or a piece of ‘siobak’ (roasted pork). It is important to not only maintain your brand image, but ensure your customers stay informed about you. This is where sales kits come in. Remember, customers only buy from Who/What they know – The more they know, the higher the chances.
A sales kit represents your business and contains information on your company capabilities, the management and accolades. Depending on the nature of your business, it may also contain a description of your product and services and add-ons.
An attractive sales kit can create a lasting impression with your potential clients and spark conversations to further cement relationships. In this digital age, an eye-catching sales kit can potentially go viral via referrals.
Print and digital work best together in your marketing mix. Although a printed sales kit can be quite costly (especially for micro and small-medium enterprises) there are ways to reduce production costs with a bit of creative ingenuity. That said, even a PDF sales kit can do well for you in the area of leads generation – and you only need to do it once.
The short answer: Very likely to.
Long answer: A sales kit can not only enhance your company’s brand image and as your company’s brand becomes more recognizable, it also encourages customers to lean towards your products over others. Customers are more likely to choose a brand based on familiarity and knowledge of its product line. This is also converted to word-of-mouth referral sales, so the potential of just one sales kit is quite unlimited.
Digital sales kits are the way to go, from a cost-effective & environmentally-conscious PoV. I hope this article will share some useful information and interest you in creating sales kits for your company. If you wish to know more, please feel free to email me at ken@smartfishasia.com – Ken