CalvinGilbert.com is a personal blog!

Here are 5 more resume tips, ok well 4 and a great social networking tip. The first three were submitted by Barbara Hart from Hire Well Maine: in a previous resume don’ts blog post.

1. Flagging your email as something it is not.
Do not email your resume as “High Importance”. Imagine you are the hiring recruiter, and every email came through flagged as high importance. It really loses what it was intended for: urgency. Flagging emails to gain attention is poor email etiquette, and if your resume is getting printed regardless, why bother. In they same respect avoid these words in your email subject: URGENT, IMPORTANT, HIRE ME, PLEASE READ, DON’T DELETE.

2. Your cover letter should reflect the job and company you are applying to.
Think about it, if you were applying to a management position at an electronics store, would you attach a cover letter highlighting your strengths as a graphic designer? When writing the cover letter, make it unique to the company and if you only do one thing: make sure it sounds like you understand the position you are applying for. As awesome as you are at graphic design, the electronics store hiring manger probably doesn’t care.

3. Do not write like you are talking to your friends.
–Do not use numbers as words: I am applying 4 the job, can’t wait 2 meet you.
–Do not use slang: Don’t end your resume with holla back or keep it real.
–Use proper capitalization: It is “I” not “i”. 

4. When you attach your resume, make sure it is not myresume.doc.
If you are attaching a resume please add your name to the file-name.  In case someone needs to find your resume on their computer naming it firstname-lastname-resume.doc is a lot easier to find. Who wants to look through myresume1.doc, myresume2.doc, myresume3.pdf to find the correct resume anyways?

5. Clean up your social networking pages.
Trust me, if you are doing something embarrassing on your myspace/facebook page, your potential employer will see it. All social networking sites have security features that allow you to be hidden from peeping eyes-use them! Now just remember your default profile picture can always be seen regardless how secure your page is. In addition, do a quick google search and the city you live in. Check and see if you appear in Google, and in what context. 

Please comment below with your tips and/or pet peeves and I will include them in future posts.

I have been in Colorado Springs for several days now, and am hardly an expert on the city. However, you do not need to be an expert to make a list.

Drink lots of water.
It took me a day to figure this one out. You get dehydrated very fast. I made the mistake of assuming that I was tired and needed coffee, but did not feel better until I had water.

If you lose your breath walking, blame it on the air.
How embarrassing walking up a flight of stairs with a co-worker and needing to sit down because you will fall down. It is crazy things happen to the body in high altitudes.

When you take a cab, make sure they know what you mean.
There seems to be 2 of everything in Colorado Springs, and it seems by default cab drivers want to go to the one far away.

Everyone is nice.
By nice I mean freakishly nice. I almost smacked a guy with a door at a restaurant and he waved to me when he pulled out of the parking lot and wished me a good night.

Colorado Springs is a boring, boring town.
I am sorry, it really is. Minus the mountains and chain stores, what is really here?

You will not get mugged, begged, attacked, maimed, touched in Colorado.
It is odd, I think I could walk around town with a 100 dollar bill taped to my head and not have anyone try to take it. Doesn’t help the city is spread out and only connected by roads and sidewalks that end for no reason.

Companies will give you weird looks for recycling.
Every week I fill my giant blue bin of recycling and put them out on the curb, and it is really nice living in a city that has companies like Goodwill Industries of Northern New England to really set an example. For some reason companies in Colorado don’t care. Businesses just throw out recycling as trash and don’t seem to care.

Colorado Water is Drinkable!
I could not believe it when I tried it and did not get sick. It is actually refreshing.

Fire Ants Will Eat You Alive.
It is kind of mind blowing how many fire ants are out here. I am surprised I have not seen them inside buildings yet, or worse yet in my hotel bed.

Here is a quick tip to help new designers find Pantone color libraries in Adobe Illustrator. Pantone is a company that created the Pantone Matching System (PMS). This system allows designers and printers to be on the same page color wise.

For some reason Adobe hid this color library in Illustrator. This is how to find it. Read the rest of this entry »