From the daily archives: Sunday, March 7, 2010
Whether it was a misspelled word, the wrong prefix on a word, or fragmented sentence, many hiring managers have a zero tolerance when it comes to resume mistakes. Following are more writing tips for Professional Resumes and Executive Resumes inspired from things seen on peopleâ??s resumes during my career in human resources.
Tip 1: One goal of a well-written resume is for it to be easy reading. When formatting your resume, one way to make it readable is by:
â?¢ Write primary points without use of conjunctions. Not appropriate to use in all formats, but in some industries it is fine. Example: â??Maintained effective, regular communications with all parties involved.â?
â?¢ The KIS approach (Keep It Simple) certainly applies when it comes to most resumes. Keeping resumes visually simple; spacing the points so they can be easily read; using a commonly accepted business-oriented font; and making selective use of â??boldâ? or italics to highlight only very important points.
Tip 2: Be careful in using words that sound alike but have different meanings. Examples include:
â?¢ â??Elicit,â? meaning to draw or bring out, versus â??illicit;â? which means illegal;
â?¢ â??Cite,â? meaning to quote, versus â??sight,â? which means vision; or â??site,â? meaning a position or place;
â?¢ â??Taught,â? meaning past tense of teach, versus taut, which means tight;
â?¢ â??Capital,â? meaning a seat of government, versus â??capitol,â? which means a building in which a legislative body meets.
Colloquial or conversational word usage refers to types of speech or to usages that are not on a formal level. Words that are used in easy conversation, without strict attention to set forms, describe ordinary, everyday language. It is common to see advertising signage with words purposely spelled differently to attract attention. No matter how trendy or common the usage, please resist the temptation to use words in their misspelled forms. Examples include:
â?¢ â??Kleenâ? instead of â??clean;â?
â?¢ â??Boyzâ? instead of â??boys;â?
â?¢ â??Riteâ? instead of â??right;â?
â?¢ â??Niteâ? instead of â??night;â?
â?¢ â??Quik,â? or â??kwik,â? instead of â??quick.â?
Even when spelled correctly, it is inappropriate to use slang in any form. â??Whateverâ? and â??you knowâ? are easy examples.
Tip 3: Do not use abbreviations. It is better form to spell out words instead of their commonly accepted short versions. For example, write â??Saint Louisâ? instead of â??St. Louis.â? An exception to this occurs within legal circles, when referencing court cases, it is acceptable to write â??v.â? instead of â??versus.â?
In this competitive job market, many people are making use of professional resume writers. Professionally written resumes guarantee freedom from technical issues, and are rich in words that set you apart from others applying for the same position.
Do not let such easily correctable items stand between you and your next career assignment. If word tense, grammar or the turn of a phrase is not your forteâ??, consider hiring a professional resume writer. Such people write resumes daily and the good ones guarantee their work. Landing the job makes such a move well worth it.
Gordon Walter is a professional resume maker / Resume writer with Reliable Resumes. Reliable Resumes is a Resume Service providing resume writing services for Professional Resumes and Executive Resumes. The original article is available at: www.reliableresumes.com/blog/2009/10/3-more-resume-writing-tips-that-pay.
Every day people find themselves in financial hardship due to unfortunate circumstances outside of their control. Before long they fall behind on their house or car repayments, are unable to pay the credit card bills, or struggle with other commitments such as council or water rates which can result in a writ or court judgment filed against them and listed on their personal credit report.
Non conforming home loans are a new range of home loan products that have come into vogue over the last few years. Essentially they are an extension of private funding that was arranged by mortgage brokers for their client. The broker would arrange a funding source and offer more flexible funds to the borrower without the traditional credit scrutiny.
Non conforming lenders have packaged and put processes in this style of funding that now allows many more people access their suite of products that are tailored for people whose situations are outside the norm.
Bad Credit Home Loans
Through a Non conforming lender a borrower may purchase or refinance their home even if they had some blemishes on their credit history or have mortgage arrears. Previously the borrower would have had no option and in many cases had their homes sold from underneath them.
Specialist Situation Home Loans
Although some banks have relaxed their need for the borrower to have 5, 10 or 20% deposit, the mortgage insurer would still ask for some form of savings history before they would approve the loan. With non conforming home loans the deposit can come from any legal source. Another instance might be where someone is short term employed, banks and mortgage insurers will require the borrower to be in their job for 6 months at least and preferable in the same industry for 2 years.
Non Conforming Low Doc loans
Low doc loan is a loan where the borrower is self employed and does not have completed tax returns necessary to prove income for the loan. Many banks now have low doc loans but with non conforming lenders the borrower can also have a bad credit history, mortgage arrears and also go up to 90% LVR where traditional lenders will only go to 80% LVR (Loan to Valuation Ratio).
How can non conforming lenders do all of this I hear you ask…
Non confirming lenders do not have mortgage insurance; this is a big part of the equation taken care of. Non conforming lenders cover the risk by rate, the more risk for the lender and the higher the LVR the higher the interest rate. Non conforming loans have allowed many people to take back control of their finances via a debt consolidation loan and put them back on track through refinancing all of their debts into one monthly repayment.
If you fit into one or more of the following categories a non conforming home loan may be the ideal solution to assist you with your mortgage:-
• Mortgage arrears
• Less than perfect credit history
• Self employed
• Rejected by mortgage insurers
• Incomplete or no tax returns
• Short-term employed
• Irregular income
• Limited savings history
• Existing loan arrears or defaults
• Government Allowances
• Previously bankrupt
• Pensioner
• Rejected by another lender
• Foreclosure
Non conforming home loans are an exciting and necessary part of the current financial landscape and with a loan to suit most circumstances non-conforming lending may be able to help you.
© Rob Donald, Altrust Finance Group 20th November 2007
www.altrust.com.au
Rob Donald is a Mortgage Broker with over seventeen years experience in helping people arrange their finances. Rob is the business owner of Altrust Finance Group, a mortgage manager and trainer in the financial field he is regarded as one of the most knowledgeable mortgage brokers in Australia.
With a Diploma in Financial Services, Rob Donald draws on a wealth of experience in all facets of the lending arena. During his early years with finance Rob concentrated on arranging finance for first home buyers. Now with the changing marketplace Rob Donald is one of the leading non conforming brokers in Australia and has built a successful business with Altrust Finance Group providing a range bad credit non conforming loans both low doc and fully verified lending in Australia.
In fiction writing, events occur in strict chronological order. If you would like to know what this means, please read on!
In previous articles I’ve used my fictional tongue-in-cheek character Detective Jake Bullett to help me along. Jake’s tough and gets into a lot of scrapes where things happen quickly. Let’s see what a sample could be like:
‘Jake lashed out and the gunman fell over, taking Jake with him. At the same time Sally screamed ‘Look out, Jake!’ and Jake saw another man pulling a gun as he scrambled free.’
Jake’s in trouble, and so is this snippet. Yes, it’s how things happen in real life – it all happens at once – but this is not real life; it’s fiction. In any fictional piece, be it short story or epic novel – things happen one at a time. It’s a convention in writing and it sure makes life a lot easier for the writer!
The above snippet would be written something more like this:
‘Jake lashed out. The gunman fell over on top of Jake. Jake scrambled free from beneath the gunman. Sally screamed ‘Look out, Jake!’ Jake saw another man pull a gun out.’
Yes, it’s wooden, but it’s just an illustration of chronological writing. One thing happens, THEN another, THEN another, until the sequence of events are over. If you are writing in an active mode – i.e., things are occurring at the moment, this is how it’s done.
In this type of writing, words such as ‘while’, ‘as’, and phrases such as ‘at the same time that’ are not to be used. Beginners, in their efforts at total realism, use these words a lot: ‘She screamed as the shark bit her leg.’ Wrong. ‘The shark bit her leg. She screamed.’ is correct because she woudn’t scream BEFORE the shark bit her! Similarly, you wouldn’t write ‘He laughed as the man fell over.’ It would be ‘The man fell over. He laughed.’ It’s cause and effect.
Let’s look at that shark again. Could the sentence ‘She screamed as the shark bit her leg’ also have been written ‘She screamed AND the shark bit her leg.’? (Okay, maybe the shark bit her because she screamed but for this example it didn’t happen that way. No startled sharks on my watch!). Of course it doesn’t sound right at all, does it?
This is because the two events did NOT happen at the same time. As I said, until the shark bit her, she had no reason to scream. So – bite=action, scream=reaction. That is how it works and, if you can remember this simple rule ‘action then reaction’ you will find your active writing sequences read a whole lot better.
So don’t think that trying to describe events as they occur in the real world works in fiction. It doesn’t. Remember that a thing has to happen before it is reacted to. If things really do have to happen at the same time, and it’s important to show this fact, use ‘-ing’: ‘Keeping his hand steady, Jake squeezed the trigger.’ is a correct example, NOT ‘Jake kept his handy steady as he squeezed the trigger.’ The difference is subtle but important.
Another point to remember when you’re in the thick of an active sequence is: don’t summarise. Don’t say things like ‘Jake told Sally what had happened.’ Show it happening, as it happens, one thing after another – or leave it out altogether.
There are no tricks to writing in this style – and it’s a great way of writing really explosive action pieces as well as tense, nail-biting scenes. Master the simple art of chronological writing and you will see your work improve immensely.
Steve Dempster writes fiction, copy and informative article such as the one above. For more information about writing in general, try visiting his website I Want To Write!
Lately I have been concerned about, and have been hearing more and more about duplicate content on the internet. Particularly if you run your own online business like I do, you definitely want to have good quality content on your site to attract not only visitors and buyers, but to get the attention of the search engines that look for unique content. Article writing is one of the best and most cost-effective ways to put content on your site, and to market your online business these days. The problem is that the same, or very similar content is showing up more and more on different web pages, much to the search engines’ chagrin – and they will penalize your site for it! Here are some ways to write and use articles in such a way that you can skirt the duplicate content penalty:
As far as article writing goes, there are different ways to get content onto your site. You can write your own articles, you can hire a ghostwriting service to write articles for you that you can put your own name to, or you can use other people’s articles on your website and blog to add fresh content to your site. I’m going to discuss each of these in greater detail so that you can compare each, and learn some new tips on how to avoid duplicate content using these methods.
If you choose to write your own articles, you are doing the best thing for your business and for the search engines because you are making your site stand out from the rest by making it your own. You may find it difficult to come up with your own content, but I find that the more you learn about your business, or website topic, the more you will have to write about. It’s easy in internet marketing to come up with a topic, as the learning truly never ends in this field! Your task becomes even easier when you consider writing one original article, submitting it, and then changing or re-writing it. There is nothing wrong with modifying your own articles and re-submitting them!
It’s true that other people may use your original article on their websites and make you wonder about duplicate content. You may also wonder about submitting your same, original article to thousands of publishers through article distribution services. At first, this may seem the ultimate compliment to you that your article is being used, and so it should be! You also want your articles to be displayed in multiple places to grow you back links. But I have heard of instances where your article shows up in thousands of different places, the search engines see it as duplicate content, and then suddenly you no longer have a listing for your site in relation to your own article! The fact is, duplicate content cannot really be avoided on the net, and you should only get banned if you have a spam site with no valuable content. These are things I wouldn’t really worry about.
Ghostwriting services can make your life easier by writing good articles for you for a reasonable price. This is a good option if you want to send out many articles at once with your name and links attached. It saves you time, energy, and work, and the articles put out are usually good quality articles. The problem is that many other people might have very similar content to yours. A way to avoid duplicate content here is if you just change a few things about the articles you get. For example, you may want to change the article title, or add headers to separate paragraphs. You can change some of the wording around, mix up the paragraphs a little, or even bold or italicize some text to make it more unique.
If you use other people’s articles on your site, it may be best to ask for the author’s permission to change the article slightly as well, or to simply quote bits and pieces of the article, surrounded by your own commentary. I personally like to use other people’s articles on my blog to show that I am not the only authority on the subject areas in my niche. On days when I have writer’s block, this method comes in handy as well. Lately, I have been trying to avoid duplicate content on my blog by adding an introductory paragraph before posting the article by another author in its original form. I haven’t yet added concluding remarks following the author resource box, but this is also an excellent way to avoid duplicate content and I plan to do this in the near future.
Hopefully these article-writing tips will help you avoid the nasty duplicate content penalty. No one wants their site to be banned from the search engines, so it’s a good idea to write your own articles, make slight changes to other articles if you have permission to do so, and add an introduction and conclusion to your blog if adding other’s articles to your blog.
Liane Bate owns a Plugin Profit Site web business, is a member of Success University, and the IAHBE.
Visit: http://www.HonestMoneyMaking.com
A writer-client recently sent in a manuscript which left what he called an “open” ending, meaning no end or conclusion at all. He had some great rationalizations for this approach and, yes, there are critically-acclaimed books that leave readers needing to decide, for themselves, how the story really ends. But does that mean publishers like this approach? Or that readers enjoy them? Not necessarily.
Sometimes an established author can pull off an end-less book, mostly because they already have a readership willing to buy their book. But for newer writers, consider the value of the conclusion to any book. This pertains to both fiction and memoirs.
WRITING FICTION: In fiction, one of the prime reasons reader spend their precious few spare hours reading is to enjoy a sense of completion in something in their life. Let’s face it: too much of our lives are already without ends, incomplete, and tediously endless. In fiction they SEEK something that gives them an “Ahhh” satisfaction on that final page.
WRITING MEMOIRS: As for memoirs, I fully understand the desire to not “finalize” your life’s story. Life doesn’t fit neat niches anyway and there can be seemingly too much to summarize, or to admit to, or to bask in. I agree that the last thing you or the reader wants is a sense of apology or rationalization of your life. Gosh, if regrets were food we’d all be fat as hogs! An ending, however, doesn’t have to be “I now realize this and that and my purpose in life is this.” A better and more truthful and touching (to readers) ending is to admit that you DON’T understand all the bits and pieces but that you do see the pattern or fabric that these threads of experiences have created. Then look for a single sentence somewhere in the manuscript that serves as a rounding out of the story as a whole and consider making that part of the final statement.
THE AUTHOR’S PROMISE: Allowing readers to form their own conclusion, whether in fiction or memoir, is kind of an excuse (oops, sorry about such blatant honesty) for not fulfilling an important part of the pact an author enters into with the reader: When readers start any book, they agree to read to the end — and you agree to give them one. And, yes, they will STILL draw their own conclusion, no matter what you end with. But at least you will have fulfilled your part of the bargain.
In conclusion (yes, articles, too, benefit from conclusions!), writing is about communicating an idea. And without a conclusion of some sort, the idea remains incomplete, no more than a dangling bunch of words that float off, leaving the audience dissatisfied.
Sandra E. Haven has had her writing published in the U.S. and Europe–from short fiction to articles, mainstream to genre. Since 1990 she has provided editing services specializing in content, characterization, plot, tone and continuity. She deals in most fiction genres with an emphasis on mysteries, fantasies, and stories for children as well as memoirs. For more information see Bristol Editing Services.
Non-status mortgages are designed for people who either cannot prove their income or who suffer from adverse credit. â??Non-status mortgagesâ? is a term that is loosely used to describe all mortgages that are not standard high-street mortgages.
Non-status mortgages for self-employed workers are also known as â??self-certification mortgagesâ?. This category of non-status mortgages require individuals to state their income to the lender without having to provide proof in the form of pay slips and other records of earnings.
The self-certification type of non-status mortgages usually require the borrower to fund a larger deposit that for standard mortgages. They are also known to attract slightly higher interest rates than standard mortgage products. In recent years, however, with non-status mortgages becoming increasingly popular, the interest rate disparity has lessened.
Borrowers who suffer from adverse credit may also apply for non-status mortgages. Adverse credit mortgages are a different type of non-status mortgages than self-certs, however they normally still require a deposit and attract premium interest rates.
The amount of interest charged on this type of non-status mortgages will depend on the level of adverse credit the applicant has on their credit history. Light-adverse applicants may only be required to pay a slightly higher interest rate than borrowers of standard mortgages, while heavy-adverse applicants may be required to pay an interest rate several percentage points higher than people with a clean credit file.
The non-status mortgage market has expanded considerably in recent years and borrowers can now choose from a full range of variable rate, fixed rate, capped rate, discount, and flexible mortgage products.
This is due to the fact that the demographics of the general population have changed considerably over the past decade meaning that fewer people than ever before qualify for standard mortgages.
There are more people than ever before working on a self-employed basis and who are unable to fully prove their income with pay slips. There is also a large, and growing, portion of the population who are subjected to some form of adverse credit on their credit files.
Mortgage lenders are therefore being forced to take notice of the non-status mortgages market to ensure they do not lose their customer base.
If you are looking to apply for any type of non-status mortgages contact an independent mortgage adviser for impartial advice.
UK Mortgage Source provides up-to-date information
on Non-Status
Mortgages
As an internet marketer, the best way to get more consumers to visit your site and increase your chances of converting them to buyers is to get your site included among the highest-ranking in search engines. To be able to do this, the search engine spiders must detect your site. And how do you do that? Provide great content! Search engines love this. If you keep your site constantly updated with fresh, interesting and relevant content, it would surely rank high in search engines. Of course, you can outsource the writing aspect to professionals, but that would cost you. Why do that when you can do it yourself? The following article writing tips will help you write great articles for your website. Follow them and you would definitely be on your way to success!
Clearly state what the article is about in the first paragraph. The first paragraph in standard journalism involves answering the questions what, where, who, when, and how. In internet article writing, however, the author usually states a problem. For example, this problem is how to earn money at home. Then, explain briefly how the entire article is going to provide a solution to this problem by giving a step-by-step method.
Before you begin writing the rest of the article, think beforehand of the points you wish to convey to your readers. You should at least have a draft of an outline of the things you want to say in the article. Organize your material so that you get to optimize your time.
You also have to remember that internet articles are not meant for a literary society or a scientific institute. Thus, do not waste your time trying to come up with big words and technical, formal sentences. Write in a simple and easy-to-understand style. Informal writing is acceptable as long as you are able to get your message across. Readers would not want to read something that requires a lot of understanding. Put them at ease by writing in a simple and concise style.
Furthermore, try to break down your article in a number of short paragraphs instead of a few long blocks of text. Readers would not be enthusiastic in reading an article of 3 paragraphs that look like thick, long blocks of solid text. Usually, 4-5 sentences would suffice for a single paragraph.
If you can, it is better to use bulleted or numbered points. Not only does this look easy to read, it also sums up the article in just a few lines of text. This is perfect for readers who simply do not have the time to read through lengthy articles. Most of the people in the online community will simply scan the article. Therefore, you must make it possible for them that with just a quick scan, they will be able to gather a handful of information.
Use examples and personal experiences to support your points. Give an example of a problem you have personally experienced and explain how you solved it.
Finally, remember to keep within the beginning part of your article all the most important information and summarize it as it gets to the end. You can find many other article writing tips online but they would probably contain the same information presented in this article. It would not hurt to check them out as well though.
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There are several aspects to writing fiction. Rendering what John Gardner in The Art of Fiction describes as a ‘vivid and continuous dream’ is a complicated affair. Story is created from the imagination of a writer, who in turn must translate it onto a page of symbols so that another person can read, absorb, and experience the story in a similar fashion. It’s a remarkable process when you think about it. So, are you up for the challenge or is the writer’s quintessential question nipping away inside: Do I have the talent?
We imagine talent as some huge reservoir of subconscious knowledge that some lucky people are born with. We think of Shakespeare and Mozart and Einstein. But the truth is we all have talents of many kinds and measures. Think of your family and friends, and assuredly you can name many of their strengths unique to them. Talent is nothing more, or less, than an individual ability. And while there are gifted writers, I do not believe that having an innate talent is imperative to become an author.
Fiction demands a working knowledge of many points of craft. And while mastering craft can be daunting, each one of us has skills to meet the challenge. If you have an analytical mind, cause and effect will be solid. If you are intuitive, your story will take imaginative twists. If you are emotional, you will have a true internal compass to tell a riveting story. If you are a global thinker, you will see the whole. If you are a detail person, your story will be tight. If you are a visual, auditory, or tactile person, your story will be vivid. If you are curious, writing will never bore you. If you are empathic, your characters will be believable. If you’re old, you’ll bring a wide array of experience into the process. If you’re young, your story will be fresh. If you’re stubborn and relentless, your story, at last, will be finished. So what’s your talent? Most likely you have many, some not even touched upon.
Before going further, I propose that writing can be both taught and learned. I also submit that the quality you need most is neither talent nor knowledge but the mad, unrelenting desire to tell a story.
And with this passion, walk to the end of the diving board, loosen your shoulders, and take the plunge.
Linda is the author of Composition: A Fiction Writer’s Guide for the 21st Century Download for $3.75
Linda Lavid is an award-winning author of fiction and nonfiction. Her latest book is Composition, A Fiction Writer’s Guide for the 21st Century. Reviewed as a “priceless gem”, this book discusses the craft of writing fiction and the art of self-publishing. Linda’s Website
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