Category Archives: Interview Advice by Jeff LeFevre

Interview Advice by Jeff LeFevre

Project Partnering with JTL Services, Inc.

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How finding top talent should be and is with JTL Services, Inc.  Project Partnering is what we believe to be the future of job search for companies.  Why pay the high cost of contingency recruiting when you can have a team of search consultants who are specialized in finding top “A” talent.  The best part isn’t the end of all those phone conversations with your resume slinger telling you about their  sharp guy.  No!  It’s not the fact that you no longer have to waste part of your day going through the mountains of resumes from unqualified job candidates.  No!  The best part is getting someone who is always looking out for what you want while saving your organization money!  Our process is simple.  For more information reach out to us!

 

 

5 Tips for Writing a Compelling Digital Resume

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With employers getting smarter, your resume should not just be about impressing the hiring manager. You resume should be such that a computer can also read it. This is the electronic part of the hiring process. Now, keeping this in mind, follow the 5 tips given below to write your digital resume.

  1. Be Precise and Emphasize the Main Points – The points that you mention in your resume should be precise and to the point. You must make your point concisely. Prepare an attractive and interesting layout but don’t go nuts.  I’ve seen some “creative” resumes that were just too creative. Also ensure that your resume is grammatically correct and error free. In short, proofread it before you send it. Best practice on this is to have someone you know read it.
  2. Choose Keywords – Since your resume is going to electronically screened before the hiring manager or a human resource person sees it, it should have the choicest keywords. It is quite possible that the electronic screening means that the company has done away with the hiring manager.

So, choose keywords that the prospective employer is likely to look for. You can understand the type of keywords you need by reading the advertisement carefully and going through the company profile. Some good keywords will include your past positions, your skills and software that you know.

  1. Don’t Stuff Your Resume With Keywords – Now that you have chosen the keywords, you need to include them in the resume. Weave them in the body of the resume without stuffing them. A good way to include keyword is to use them in the bulleted sub-heading. Or, you can use them in the qualification description, or description of your skills and others.

You can also include a separate section for keywords listing your terms in block.

  1. Set The Resume In Various Formats – Your resume should be set in different formats like PDF, Microsoft Word and others. You should have a separate format that you can e-mail separately. It is essential to ensure that the format is correct or the automated system will delete your resume. Check the advertisement for the preferred format.
  2. Customize Resume – Each type of job has different requirements and thus, you should customize your resume accordingly. Don’t prepare a general resume because it is not likely to be noticed. A generic resume will be targeted much more quickly than a general one. Add or delete keywords according to the nature of the job and the type of advertisement. Also, add, delete, or highlight your qualifications, skills and others.

These are a few tips that you must follow when you are writing a digital resume. You can build your own CV online here. The main thing to remember is that there should be no stuffing of keywords. Secondly, don’t pad your resume with qualifications and skills that you do not have. Many aspiring job applicants make this mistake only to regret later.

To learn about keywords, you can check trade journals, annual reports of the targeted company or industry websites. You will know the popular terms used in the industry or field.

 

3 Basics of Expat Tax Laws That You Must Keep In Mind

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Working in some other country when you’re an American citizen can be a tricky situation, especially when it comes to the making tax payment in a foreign land. Well no one likes all the nuances that compromise the tax season, and staying abroad and reporting your worldwide income and paying taxes on them make it no easier. This is why it is important that you know the basic rules, regulations and laws that govern the payment of expat taxes when you are living abroad. This also includes the fact that your process of tax payment will be easier once you are aware of the nuances. While you can always use the services of a tax lawyer in order to help you out, here are 3 basic expat taxes laws that will keep you floated:

1.      Exemption For Foreign Earned Income

 If you have been living and actively working on foreign land for a period of 330 days during an overall duration of 12 months, you are eligible to have your foreign earned income exempted from your tax payment. The maximum cap for the exemption is $92,900 for you and another $92,900 for your spouse in case she has been living with you and also working.

The trick in this law lies in the fact that it necessitates you to file a tax return on the same meaning that you will need to pay the usual tax amount on this income at first. Later on, you will receive a tax return certificate and check after exempting the calculated amount from your filed income and the same will be returned to you. Yes, it is a bit confusing, but well, nothing good comes without its share of complexities.

2.      Foreign Tax Credit

 When you are earning abroad and needing to pay taxes to America, you can always resort to the services of foreign tax credit in order to take care of your momentary shortage of money problems. In order to be eligible for foreign tax credit you will need to file for taxes worth $92,900 of income. This provision is in place to facilitate the tax payment in case you are in a country that has a higher tax payment rate than the USA has.

3.      Tax Treaties

 Here is some good news if you have been cursing your luck of foreign transfer due to the fact that you will need to pay multiple instances of taxes for social security in the USA and abroad at the same time. The USA has tax treaties with more than 60 countries around the world which exempts you from paying Medicare taxes and social security taxes in the USA in case you have a qualifying taxable and filed income amount in the foreign country.

 

A word of caution here; tax treaties are difficult to understand for the layman and it is best to consult a tax attorney for the same.

 

With these 3 laws in your head when you are earning overseas, you can rest assured that the basics of your tax payment has been taken good care of and you won’t be running into problems and troubles.

How to Ensure That Your Resume-Writing Guarantees You a Job

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It is a mad rat race for landing the handful of the most coveted jobs available in the market and you will need to ensure that your resume does half the hard work when it comes to job hunting. For this, your resume should be so good that you land interview calls in multiple places by just sending it in.

Once there, you will need to make sure that your resume has all the right qualities in order to set you apart from the other applicants. This will give you an edge in the interview. Although it seems quite a formidable task, follow the 2 tips given below so that you write the most perfect and formidable resume -

1.    Your Objective Section Must Be Precise Yet Explanatory

Yes, the terms ‘precise’ and ‘explanatory’ seem contradictory to each other. But that is the trick that you will need to master when you are out there to become one of the most prolific resume writers in town. You job resume’s objective section should not be too vague, neither too long when you are writing it down and nor too short that it does not cover everything. Here are a few tips to go about doing it:

a.    Explain clearly what is the job role that you aim to fill in and why do you think you are tailor made to fit the same.

b.    Don’t be modest and bring out the flamboyance in you when you write this part in explaining why you and not another person can be the best choice for the position.

As a rule of thumb, keep it within 100 words and 2 of 3 lines, whichever one is shorter. The objective section must be right after your name and contact details on top of the resume.

2.    Catch The Attention Of The Interviewer With Your Resume

In an average scenario, an interviewer will not spend more than 20 or 30 seconds going through your resume before he sets it aside and concentrates on you. This is why your resume should have all the right points to catch the attention of the interviewer within that short period of time. Here are a few tips to go about doing the same:

a.    Use bullet points for dividing anything that you are writing in your resume. Interviewers hate to go through long paragraphs and bulleting your points will make your resume more readable. This will also ensure that they do not miss anything important.

b.    Highlight your special and biggest achievements to make them more noticeable. Use the ‘bold’ fonts for them or underline them. This will make them take notice of the same so that they remember it when they are interviewing you.

Follow these 2 simple tips and incorporate them when you are writing your resume. Resume writing is not a very difficult, but you have to approach it as methodically as you approach other work. If you’re not too confident about your writing skills or language skills, or what skills needs to be highlighted better in your resume, you can hire a resume writer online to write one compelling resume for you. You can compare resume writers on the basis of their skills according to the points that are written above.

An impressive resume should list all the important aspects of your career, your life, your interests and anything that may prove to be of value to you in your line of work.  Follow these tips and you will see that you are way ahead of the other applicants.

 

Election Correction

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Here we are again at the end of another summer. Kids are getting ready to head back to school as you change your alarms to accommodate to the new cycle.  I myself look forward to the change because in the business world, things start to get busy once again.  Vacations are over and people are planning for the new year.

This year is going to be different from years past due to the Presidential election that we are about to encounter.  If you thought it was hot then, just wait for the next few months.  I believe that this election is going to be most important election America has ever had.

America has never been this divided over anything like it currently is and all by design. You might be asking, “Jeff what does this have to do with a job advice?”  Well, I will tell you.  Whenever you hurt the job provider, you hurt the job consumer.  The provider will figure out how to protect and provide for themselves just like they did when they decided to start their own business. These people are indeed different and understand their capabilities.  On the other hand, job consumers understand that if they perform a task, they then get paid.  If there is not enough money to go around, then the job provider will perform the task that they once paid for someone to do for them.  Let’s face it: there is only so much that can go around.  When you have unaccountable politicians that are trying to get votes from the people they pay, the system will break.  America is divided in half by the “haves” and the “have nots”.  No offense by the terms that I am using, but let’s face it: if you are receiving money or assistance from the government then you are receiving that money from the “haves”.  You then are indeed a “have not”.  This policy works until you run out of the “haves” money.  The government does not have its own money.  They simply are trying to divide us by saying the “haves” do not pay their fair share. Well we already know that 50% pays nothing into the system and in fact they collect from the system.  Well how does that collect if the “haves” don’t pay their fair share?  Very confusing!      I do know that some people think that there is a money tree somewhere that they just pick the dollars from.

Now back to the job advice.  If this Idiot gets elected again, the next 4 years are going to be a nightmare for the “have nots”.  Without a doubt, jobs are going to be far scarcer than they have been.  Companies will hold back on growth and will go into hibernation mode until the bellies of the “have nots” meet their spines.  We can all hope that this election will bring about a correction and if not we’ll have 4 more years of developing more “have nots” !