Resume Donkey

How to use keywords in your resume

bcoin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 05:46:41 +0000

One of the biggest misconceptions about the job search these days is the notion that a human being is going to read your resume before deciding whether you’re a qualified candidate or not. While search has dominated how we do things online, many people still tell themselves an antiquated tale that stars an erstwhile recruiter bent over their desk, carefully considering resumes before deciding what to do with them. Unfortunately that image is nothing more than a mirage, and thinking about the job search that way can actually hurt your chances at an interview.

Resume Search Software has Changed the Game

Today’s corporations use powerful resume database and search software like Capterra and others to vet resumes and identify potential candidates for further review by their recruiters. Recruiters at large companies search for candidates much the same way you might search for a lasagna recipe on Google. And these applications use Google-like logic to surface appropriate candidates to recruiters. If your resume isn’t “Google-friendly” there’s a good chance you’re resume isn’t even seen.

This is where keywords are critical. Because software like Capterra uses keywords, position titles and other information to surface relevant resumes to recruiters it’s important that your resume contain the proper keywords for the position you’re applying for. If you’re a marketing manager your resume should have a high density of keywords relating to marketing; online marketing, brand management, product management, search engine marketing, email marketing and more are all keywords that will help your resume get ranked in relevant queries.

Resume Keyword Tips

It’s important to think about what keywords a recruiter in your industry might search on when writing your resume. If there is a special certification or designation it’s critical that you have that on your resume in a commonly-accepted form. If you’re a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer you want to ensure that you have MCSE on your resume as that is the likely way a technical recruiter will search for people with your skill set.

Lastly, be sure to give yourself visibility on keywords that are related to your core focus. For example if you’re a marketer, phrases like communications, public relations, affiliate marketing and more are all likely search phrases for jobs that meet your background. Additionally, using synonyms can help ensure that recruiters find you no matter how they think of a subject. Search engine marketing and pay per click (PPC) marketing are the same thing, just said differently.

Don’t Turn Your Resume into Spam

It’s important not to fill your resume with keyword spam. Just listing keywords or over-saturating your resume with them will hurt your chances. Not only are the algorithms smart enough to snuff these out and send your resume to the spam pile, but recruiters are able to flag resumes as inappropriate for future searches. Either way, spamming to get your resume in front of a person is not the goal. The goal is to ensure that you have the right keywords in place to ensure your resume appears in relevant searches.

Include the Right Keywords in Your Resume for Success

In conclusion, it’s important to remember that your resume’s first test is often not a human being. Ensuring that you have the proper role- and industry-specific keywords in your resume will put you ahead of candidates who still think otherwise. Resume Donkey suggests critical keywords for your position with each and every resume review and rewrite.

10 Tips for Using Twitter to Find Your Next Job

bcoin — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 07:51:57 +0000

There’s no question that today’s job market has made finding work harder than ever. The saying “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know” has never been a more true statement. If fighting through thousands of resumes on an overworked recruiter’s desk doesn’t sound promising to you, then working your network is your single best bet to finding a job. But now, when its all about who you know, how do you maximize your network to give you the best opportunity at finding a job? I’m sure the first thought in your head is social networks, but besides asking your friends via a blast message if they know of anyone hiring, how do you use tools like Facebook and Twitter to find a job? Well in this post I’m going to share with you my top tips for using Twitter to find a job.

Top 10 Tips for Finding a Job on Twitter

Find Your Friends

The first thing to do is to find your friends. Do this by using the “Find People” functionality on Twitter. Twitter can try to match the contacts in your Web mail, like Gmail or Hotmail, with registered Twitter users. Try this first. Then try using the people search to locate other friends that you think are on Twitter but aren’t in your email contacts. You can also look at your friends’ profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn and Google to find their Twitter “handles” – their Twitter user names.

Look for Friends of Friends

Possibly the best part of Twitter is the open nature of Twitter Followers. Unlike Friends on Facebook, Followers are available for all to see. You can use this to your advantage by going through both the people that your friend follows and the people that follow your friends to find relevant people that you want to follow and engage with.

Find People in Your Industry

Find the thought leaders and other industry professionals on Twitter by using Twitter Find People as mentioned above. Another great way to find people in your industry is to use Listorious to search lists of people grouped by industry, interest and otherwise. When you find a list that is relevant to you you can subscribe to and follow the people on that list all at once. This is a great way to identify lists of influential people in your industry as these lists are curated by people on Twitter and typically represent the best of the people they have found on Twitter. You can also use other Twitter directories like Twellow to find Twitter users in your industry.

Browse the Twitter Suggested User Lists

Use the Twitter suggested user lists for certain industries to find the people in each industry that Twitter has designated as significant either through their celebrity, status in the industry, follower counts or other editorial reasons. These people are the “rock stars” in each industry/category on Twitter and are a good resource to use to mine their Follower lists to find people worth following in your industry.

Find People In Your Area

Use Twitter directories like Twellow and Twitter Search to do geographical searches of people in your region. You can do this by putting in a mile radius around a search in the Advanced Search options. For example you can search for “Marketing” or “jobs” within 25 miles of San Francisco to get results that are geographically nearby and relevant to your industry. You can then either monitor this search or choose to follow people that seem interesting to you.

Follow Companies In Your Industry

Use Twitter Search to find companies in your industry. Companies often post job openings and other news that can help you secure a job interview or find job openings at companies that meet your search needs.

Use Twitter Search for Relevant Terms

Use Twitter Search to search for terms like “jobs”, “job openings”, and terms relevant to your position like “product management”, “marketing”, “web developer”, etc. to find job openings and conversations that may fit your job search.

Put Yourself Out There

Use the Twitter Bio field in your profile to announce that you’re looking and share a bit about your qualifications. Use the Web site link to point to your online portfolio, web site or LinkedIn page. Post a few tweets announcing that you’re looking so your friends and followers know that you’re looking for work.

Share Industry News and Insight

Show your expertise and experience by sharing relevant news and information about your industry with people that follow you. A company announce a new product? A big change in how things are done? An insightful blog post from an industry thought leader? Share that information with your Twitter followers and become known as a trusted and valuable resource in your industry. By sharing information and resources you build up your goodwill with your network that will aid you in getting introductions and recognition that will help you with your job search.

Watch for and Engage in Relevant Conversations

Use Twitter Search and watch the people you follow to find conversations that are relevant to you and your job search. When you find a conversation jump in and share your opinion. Be helpful, add to the conversation and engage the people in the conversations by asking questions, sharing resources and more. This is the best way to build new relationships that will aid you in your job search.

These tips are a great way to get started on Twitter. Finding your crowd, engaging in conversations and providing value are the best ways to use Twitter to get noticed and get access to new opportunities that are unavailable on job boards and other traditional job search resources. Twitter truly can help you get a job. I should know, I got my job through Twitter. Have other great tips on how to use Twitter to find your next job? Leave them in the comments.

Top 5 Ways to Help Your Recruiter Help You

bcoin — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:25:33 +0000

Our Resume Writers are real-time Recruiters working every day to fill job openings for hiring managers across various industries. We polled our team to see what are the Top 5 most important things a job seeker can do to help make it easy on their Recruiter to give them the best chance of landing key interviews. Here is the practical advice we received that we want to pass along to job seekers:

1- It’s the Resume, Stupid!

Now, this might sound like a push to drive business for ourselves, but this was the #1 complaint from the team and exactly why we founded Resume Donkey! In an increasingly competitive job market, your Resume is THE second most important tool at your disposal (your biggest tool is your network/who you know but if that hasn’t worked out for you, you’re likely working with Recruiters). Recruiters, in most cases, are the link between the job seeker and the hiring manager looking to interview candidates that fit their specific criteria. If your resume is not clean, easy to read, succinct and filled with action grabbing words and metrics, the Recruiter will not be able to talk you into getting an interview any more than you could yourself. So make sure your resume is outstanding. Job postings are receiving 3-4x the number of responses they were a year ago so if your resume is not well-written and easy to understand, you will be passed over, even if you have some good experience.

2- Know Yourself!

The number of qualified candidates increases with every layoff announcement. For professional level positions, hiring managers are, for example, not only looking for software engineers to fill software engineer openings, they are now looking at only hiring software engineers who have coded in the specific language they need, on the specific platforms they run, within the same industry! Your Recruiter will have a better chance of getting you placed or set up for interviews if you are realistic about the jobs for which you apply. Know your current or last company’s competitors and industry and apply for jobs specifically in this industry in which you have experience. A salesperson that has sold pharmaceuticals for Pfizer is much more likely to get an interview with GSK than is a person that has sold cell phones for Verizon. The more specific you can be in your job search the better the chances of your Recruiter being able to land you an interview.

3- Be Available

You are the one looking for us to help you land a new job. So if we need you to be available for phone or in-person interviews, please make yourself available. We understand things come up unexpectedly, but when there are candidates right now jumping through hoops to make themselves available. As soon as a hiring manager thinks your “not that interested” they have a tendency to lean towards other candidates. Help us get you the interviews you are seeking by setting aside time each week in which we can reach you and get you scheduled for interviews.

4- Be Patient!

External Recruiters, or Headhunters, make money by getting you placed in to companies. Internal corporate Recruiters get high marks in annual performance reviews and/or annual bonuses based on how many positions they fill in a timely manner. Now knowing this, Recruiters are ALWAYS looking to move as quickly as they can. However, many things limit how quickly they can move on a case by case basis. Most often, it’s the client not moving quickly (sort of a don’t blame the waiter when it might be the kitchen). Today, the average time to fill a job is much longer than it was 1, 2 or 3 years ago due to company’s being more cautious in their hiring. Follow up with your Recruiter is ok, but don’t follow up too much! Emailing or calling every day for an update will frustrate your Recruiter as they are dealing with lots of candidates. Be patient. We can assure you that if you are a strong candidate for a position that is open, we’re doing everything we can to help you get in the door. On the flip side, if a Recruiter hasn’t gotten back to you in a week or two, shame on them, as follow up is a key element of our job.

5- You’re Looking for How Much????

Most companies have a fairly good idea of what the market is paying for each job, based on the level of experience of the candidates they are looking to hire. If you are seriously entertaining looking for a job and working with a Recruiter, know your worth on the job market. If you don’t know, ask a Recruiter. One of the best ways you can help your Recruiter is to have a good idea what the market is paying for your skill-set. Also know what is most important to you in a job offer. Bigger companies often offer a bit stronger salaries, bonus plans, 401k matches and substantial health benefits. Smaller companies often offer fair salaries, little to no bonus plans, decent benefits but lots of stock options, a more nimble environment, casual dress, etc…Know what is most important to you and apply for jobs at companies that may be able to offer you the type of compensation that meets your needs. You can really help your Recruiter get you an offer that is attractive for both sides (the job seeker and the company) if you have a good understanding of the market and reasonable expectations.

Happy Job Hunting!

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SkillStorm Partners with Resume Donkey to Help Promote Resume Writing Services

Graeme — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 22:11:17 +0000

Great news! We’re excited to announce our new partnership with SkillStorm, one of the industry’s fastest-growing staff augmentation and outsourcing company. SkillStorm provides project management, engineering and IT solutions to many of the nation’s elite organizations on a contract, contract-to-hire or direct placement basis. And now Resume Donkey is powering their resume services to help their candidates look their best when heading out to an interview.

We can’t be happier to have such a great partner and the ability to help thousands of candidates stand out from the crowd with a new and improved resume.

From the release:

SKILLSTORM PARTNERS WITH RESUME DONKEY TO HELP PROMOTE RESUME WRITING SERVICES

San Diego, California (June 30, 2009) – SkillStorm today announced a partnership with Resume Donkey, an online resume reviewing and writing service. Resume Donkey offers customers the opportunity to have professional writers review and provide feedback on existing resumes or completely rewrite resumes at affordable rates. SkillStorm candidates will receive a 10% discount on all Resume Donkey services.

“We are very excited about our partnership with Resume Donkey,” said Vince Virga, Chief Executive Officer of SkillStorm. “We want to make sure that our candidates are putting their best foot forward and Resume Donkey’s services can ensure that SkillStorm candidate resumes will stand out among the many resumes circulating the job market.”

SkillStorm receives hundreds of resumes a day; this partnership will offer SkillStorm candidates fast, effective and reasonably priced resume review and writing services. SkillStorm will be promoting this partnership on their website at www.SkillStorm.com as well as direct mail and email campaigns

“As a leader in the industry, SkillStorm attracts highly qualified individuals,” said Brett Coin, Vice President of Business Development for Resume Donkey. “There are times when even the most qualified person is not considered for a position because of a poorly written resume. This partnership will give SkillStorm candidates a step up against the competition and will make a SkillStorm candidate resume difficult to pass up.”

SkillStorm has received many highly regarded national and state awards. Most recently, SkillStorm was named one of the 2009 Best Places to Work by the South Florida Business Journal, making this the second year in a row the company has received this honor. SkillStorm also won Orlando Business Journal’s 2008 Outstanding Small Business Award, received the San Diego Better Business Bureau (BBB) 2008 Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics, ranked #2 on Charlotte Business Journal’s Largest Contingency Executive Search Firms List for 2008 and ranked # 2 on San Diego Daily Transcript’s Staffing Firms List for 2008. Other accolades include being named one of the 2007 Best Places to Work in Central Florida by the Orlando Business Journal, being awarded the 2006 Governor’s Entrepreneurship Award in Florida’s Mega Market, winning South Florida Business Journal’s 2006 Technology Award in the Professional Services Category and ranking as the 13^th Fastest Growing New Company in America in 2006 on Entrepreneur Magazine and PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Hot 100 List.

About SkillStorm

SkillStorm provides diversified technical services to various organizations nationwide. The company specializes in Information Technology, Engineering and Project Management consulting, outsourcing and staff augmentation solutions. SkillStorm has an impressive client list, which includes many elite Fortune 500 companies.

SkillStorm has 15 offices throughout the United States, with corporate headquarters located in San Diego, California.

For more information on SkillStorm, please visit us on the Web at www.SkillStorm.com.

About Resume Donkey

Resume Donkey is an affordable, online resume reviewing and writing service based in California. The company is comprised of a network of leading business professionals, HR veterans and copywriters who use their writing skills and HR experience to create stand-out resumes that get noticed by potential employers. For more information, visit www.ResumeDonkey.com.

Resume Writing Tip #1

Graeme — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 02:47:53 +0000

The most important thing when writing your resume, and this goes for any resume type (whether you’re in sales, operations, marketing, technology, you name it) is that you demonstrate positive results for your former employers. This is important so I’m going to repeat it. When you write your resume you need to write it with results in mind and you need to articulate those results in a clear fashion that tells the recruiter or hiring manager that you make a positive impact at the organizations that employ you.

So how do you write your resume so that hiring managers can see your results? It comes down to measurable change that resulted from activities you participated in or were solely responsible for in your previous jobs. Sales jobs are the easiest – you simply include the dollar amount in sales that you generated and compare that to your quota (if applicable) so that you can clearly demonstrate measurable success at your previous company.

Let’s look at a best practice example of how to include results when you write your resume. Here is a sample sales resume prior to Resume Donkey reviewing the resume:

Assisted Vice-President in Phoenix Highway Product’s infancy by learning and implementing customer support skills, estimating and ordering complete construction projects and fulfilling every aspect of day to day responsibilities and requirements.

Cultivated strong customer relationships by providing support and developing a personal cliental base working in a team environment presenting product demonstrations and developing custom product solutions for various customers needs.

Closed $100,000 deal by converting a proprietary specification for cabinet equipment for the City of Tucson for an annual contract with the extension of up to 4 years.

Secured a multiple year contract with the City of Phoenix for cabinet components that met or exceeded $150,000 a year. Additionally, expanded and maintained a traffic signal contract for nearly $200,000 annually.

Continued to deliver detail oriented presentations which increased sales revenue exceeding the $2.5 Million dollar quota by 10%.

That’s not bad, but it doesn’t really show the total dollar amount and the true value that this person brought to their former employer. Let’s look at how the resume was written after receiving feedback from a Resume Donkey Resume Review:

Increased Year-Over-Year revenues from 2002-2008 by an average of $1m per year through direct and installed-base sales efforts.

Ended fiscal year 2008 at 310% of quota ($6.2m vs. $2.0m quota)

Ended fiscal year 2007 at 180% of quota ($4.5m vs. $2.5m quota)

Ended fiscal year 2006 at 110% of quota ($2.75m vs. $2.5m quota)

Closed state of Arizona statewide contract for (what kind of products?) for $300k annually over (how many years?).

Sold over $150k in new product deployments to City of xxx for xxx.

Secured multi-year contracts delivering in excess of $150k & $200k in annual revenue to City of xxx for the delivery of cabinet components & traffic signals.

Entered new market of Southern xxx in 2006 and established over $300k in net-new revenue through cold-calling and direct sales efforts.

Grew key account, xxx, by renewing annual cabinet contract by $50k per year for an additional four (4) years.

Developed new market share for various State & City customers in 2008 defining proprietary Light Emitting Diode specifications resulting in an additional $500k in new product support revenue

Lead and conduct Product Sales Demonstrations for all major accounts

Create custom sales & marketing support tools tailored for specific clients

See the difference here? The way the rewritten resume reads makes it very clear that this employee brings in tons of revenue over and over again. You can’t miss what a good sales person this candidate is with the second version of their resume.

The results are non-trivial. The first version of this candidate’s resume was receiving job interviews and offers of $40-60k per year. This is a person that had been making $100k per year at their previous sales position. With the rewritten resume this person quickly secured a new sales position for $135,000 per year guaranteed, even in this terrible economy.

Writing your resume with a focus on results, results in more dollars in your pocket.

Now you might be saying that of course, it’s easy to write for results in a sales position; but I’m not in sales. Any resume can be written to include results. If you’re in marketing, how many leads did you generate? What was the response rate? How many sales did you drive with your promotion? How many people were added to your email database over the course of your employment? Add those to your resume.

What about operations? How much money did you save with efficiencies and new processes you implemented? How did you cut costs? If you saved the company 7% a year in overhead that should be in your resume.

There is always a way to write your resume with results included. Ignore this at your own risk. Every resume should have results – no matter what your position or title.

Come Join Us – HR Meets Social Media 6/10/09

Graeme — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 06:42:02 +0000

We’ll be speaking at the San Diego Recruiters Roundtable event: HR Meets Social Media tomorrow, June 10th at Rock Bottom Brewery in La Jolla.

From the SDRR Web site on the event:

HR meets Social Media: A panel of local experts discuss finding jobs, candidates, and branding your business via social networking.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Rock Bottom Brewery
8980 Villa La Jolla Drive
5:30 pm to 7:30 pm

Join us for a great opportunity for fun and casual networking, a cocktail, and a panel of experts on Social Networking who will show us what we need to understand about this media as it relates to HR. Feeling overwhelmed, confused, or just plain lost when it comes to social media, social networking and how to incorporate it into your company’s HR or business strategy? Whether you are already a LinkedIn LION, or you still think a tweet is a talking birdie, you need to hear this panel to get all the pieces to the puzzle.

We’ll be speaking about using social media in the job search. You can register for the event at the door. It is $20 for SDRR members and $40 for non-members. Hope to see you there!

Staffing Levels Predicted to Stabilize in 3Q 2009

jay — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 00:52:20 +0000

New data from Manpower suggests that employers remain hesitant about adding staff but do plan to keep their staffing levels relatively stable during the third quarter of 2009. Based on additional data, the U.S. Manpower Employment Outlook Survey for the current quarter was revised to -2 percent and the same level is projected for the third quarter. Outside the U.S., deteriorating job prospects in the manufacturing sector across Europe have contributed to the first negative hiring forecast in three years from German employers.

“Compared to three months ago, a greater percentage of the world’s employers are willing us they will make no changes to their workforces, suggesting that the worst could be behind us. In the U.S., the cautious hiring pace will remain a challenge for job seekers as employers continue to adjust and align their workforces throughout the year to ride out this downturn and prepare for growth on the other side,” said Jeffrey A. Joerres, Chairman and CEO of Manpower Inc. “Across Europe, we are seeing a continued weaker appetite for employees in the Manufacturing sector. In Fact, in Europe’s largest economy, the percentage of German manufacturers expecting layoffs rose nine percent compared to the previous quarter.”

What to expect in the Third Quarter in the U.S.

The majority (67 percent) of the more than 28,000 employers surveyed see no changes coming to their staffing levels during the third quarter. Fifteen percent of those surveyed by Manpower anticipate increasing their staffing levels between July and September, while 13 percent expect to decrease their payrolls. Five percent indicated they were undecided about their hiring plans for the upcoming quarter.

When it comes to industry hiring trends for 3Q 2009, employers in the Construction, Non-Durable Goods Manufacturing, Wholesale & Retail Trade and Leisure & Hospitality industries all predict increases compared to the current quarter. Hiring levels will remain stable in the Durable Goods Manufacturing, Transportation & Utilities, Information, Financial, Professional & Business Services and Other Services sectors during the third quarter. Employers in the Education & Health Services and Government industries hiring to decrease slightly between July and September compared to the previous quarter.

All regions have a weaker Outlook compared to the previous year. The West exhibits a weaker Outlook in third quarter compared to 2Q 2009 while employer optimism remains stable in the South, Northeast and Midwest.

For 46 years, the U.S. Manpower Employment Outlook Survey has measured employers’ intention to increase or decrease staffing levels during the next quarter. More than 28,000 employers from 200 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) in the U.S. and one MSA in Puerto Rico participate in the only forward-looking survey of its kind.

“The data shows continued hesitancy among employers,” said Jonas Prising, president of the Americans for Manpower, Inc. “They are treading slowly and watching with guarded optimism, hoping a few quarters of stability will be the precursor to the recovery.”

Tips for naming your resume file

jay — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 21:34:35 +0000

The Internet and computers have profoundly changed how people look and apply for jobs. They have opened up job opening announcements to candidates beyond the immediate local area and facilitated potential employer/employee communication. They have also presented jobseekers and recruiters with some interesting challenges including how to name resume files so they can be easily recognized and organized.

Many jobseekers have multiple resumes: some are tailored to specific job titles, others to specific companies or organizations and some may even apply only to certain geographic locations. Employers also have multiple resumes because each job opening they advertise generates several resume from a number of different people. Both require a means of keeping track of the resumes they have on file and locating the applicable resume(s) quickly when opportunities arise. One of the best ways to organize and categorize electronic resumes is by using descriptive names for the resume files.

An unscientific survey of experts on LinkedIN resulted in the following suggestions for naming resume files:

Include your name. There is some debate over whether it is best to use First Name Last Name, First Name Middle Name/Initial Surname, Surname First Name Middle Initial or Surname first Name but what is clear is that your name is a vital component of your resume file name.
Include the word “resume”. This helps distinguish your resume from other files and materials prospective employers may have collected about you.
Spell Everything Correctly. It sounds silly but some people actually use filenames containing misspellings. Most people responding to the survey reported this was a distinct turn-off and would probably result in the candidate not being called or contacted about the job.
Include Keyword or Job Title. This suggestion was not as universal as the previous suggestions but was still popular, especially if you think you may apply for more than one job or job type within the same organization. One important note: recruiters regularly conduct boolean searches to locate prospective candidates, so using the right keywords can be crucial. If you don’t know what keywords to use, look at the job ads and descriptions you are interested in and determine what keywords are used the most then use one or more in your resume file name.
Include a Date. This was even less popular, however, including a date or at least a year may help your resume stand out, particularly if you are submitting it around the start of a new year.
Grab Attention With Descriptors. Keywords provide clues about the kind of jobs you are interested in and qualified for. But among a group of similarly titled resumes, they don’t really stand out. A few respondents suggested using descriptors, anything from “award-winning” to “best” in your resume filename as a means of sparking interest and enticing recruiters and employers to take a closer look.

You should treat the naming of your resume with the same attention to detail and results as you treat any other aspect of your resume. Maybe more. After all, in many cases, the filename is the first thing recruiters and employers see about you. And in today’s competitive job market making the best possible first impression is vital for landing a job.

5 Tips for broadening your work experience

jay — Thu, 21 May 2009 22:38:03 +0000

Ninety-three percent of the Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) interviewed by Accountemps for their latest employment survey indicate that it is important for job seekers to have gained work experience while in school.

“New entrants to the job market should bolster their resumes with internships, volunteer work and community activities – anything that demonstrates a strong work ethic, solid communication skill and technical aptitude,” said Max Messmer, chairman of Accountemps and author of Job Hunting for Dummies(R) 2nd edition published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. “Even entry-level roles, employers want new hires who can contribute immediately, particularly in light of the leaner teams many companies are operating with today.”

Here are five tips for broadening you work experience:

Consider an internship. “Companies that are not actively hiring full-time employees may still offer summer internships, which provide recent graduates a foot in the door with prospective employers and a potential path to a full-time job,” Messmer says. Internships allow you to gain hands-on experience and build your professional network, both essential to a successfully landing a full-time job.

Try part-time. Like internships, part-time work helps you gain exposure and showcase the skills you bring to an employer who may not be actively hiring full-time staff. It can also offer you the opportunity to demonstrate your creativity, versatility and determination, since most part-time employees have multiple part-time jobs. This is a great way to explore different aspects of your chosen career. As Shaka points out on Picksth.com, part-time accounting jobs are found under a range of titles from clerk to bookkeeper to accounting assistant. Office managers and even receptionists sometimes have accounting or finance duties from handling petty cash to mailing out or accepting payments.

Look for temporary options. Staffing firms frequently have temporary assignments for which students may be a match. Again, this is a great way to explore career paths and work environments giving you more confidence when you do interview for full-time permanent positions. Temporary work, like part-time work, can result in full-time permanent job offers if you and the employer are a good fit. Many tax preparation services, such as H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt, offer training programs for seasonal tax preparers.

Volunteer your services. Volunteering with community organizations and trade associations in your field can help you build your network while you get valuable work experience. They can also alert you to potential job openings before they become widely known. More than 750 volunteer accounting opportunities from across the nation are available through the Clearinghouse for Volunteer Accounting Services (CVAS).

Don’t forget your hobbies or class projects. Chances are that if you are passionate about your career field it will make its way into your personal life. If you use skills that you would use at the office, whether its determining minimum prices for items you are selling on eBay or helping family members balance their checkbooks or learn to use personal finance software, you are applying skills and theories learned in school to the real world. If you participated in a school project or competed in an academic contest, these too demonstrated the application of learning outside the classroom. They all belong on your resume.

A broad range of experience will not just help you land a job, it will help you keep it, especially during difficult economic times. A previous survey from Accountemps revealed the more than half of the workers surveyed indicated that they had taken on new projects (53 percent), gained more responsibility (52 percent) or taken on more challenging work (52 percent).

“Because of the realities of today’s business environment, firms are working with leaner teams, which has, out of necessity, given many professionals the opportunity to take on greater challenges and expand their skill sets,” said Messmer.