New Service - Career Coaching Is Available!

Career Coaching is now being offered through Ashton Executive Search

For most of us, today’s job market is not at all what it was 5 years ago. Many positions don’t ever make it to job boards, classified ads or web pages. Not only are your abilities to network key in this type of environment, but your ability to position yourself to showcase your skills, talents, achievements - in an hour - may be the beginning of a lasting and successful career.

We are now offering assistance in three primary categories to candidates who desire to make the best of there career search:

Resume Tune-Up – For many of us, it many have been some time since we objectively reviewed our resume and viewed it with a critical look. Our resume “tune-up” offers you a fresh look at your resume. We will offer you a review and make suggestions to make your resume stand out in a crowd.

Job Search 101 – Why is the job search so hard? In this market, are you doing everything you can to separate yourself from the crowd. How does one approach this job market and successfully land the best positions – we have some eye opening suggestions to get your foot in the door.

Interviewing Skills – Finding the openings is only the first step, interviewing and leaving a lasting impression is the rest of the story! Learn the fundamentals of making your first impression a lasting one.

Thomas King, President/Owner of Ashton Executive Search can provide you with the techniques that have helped many of his candidates put their best foot forward in their successfully completed job searches! With over 16 years of recruiting experience and over $2M in personal production – Tom is aware of what sets candidates apart in this job market. Contact him today to arrange for your consultation! (913) 829.4480 or tking@ashtonsearch.com.

Let’s get you on the road to a successful job search today!

Writing an eye grabbing resume is easy when you follow a few good tips. The following is a list of things you want to do when writing a reader friendly resume:

DO:

• Make your resume easy and inviting to read, with lots of white space.
• Use 1-inch margins on sides and at least 1-inch on top and bottom.
• Use traditional, serif-type fonts (e.g., Times New Roman), not sans serif (e.g., Arial). Studies have shown that the little extra strokes and tails on the letters actually improve readability.
• Use the same font throughout the resume - don't mix fonts.
• Use a type size of 11- or 12-point, nothing smaller.
• Left-justify everything, to make transfer into the database easier.
• Use a "Chronological" resume - where all relevant experience and accomplishments obtained at each job are easily associated with that job, in descending order from most recent.
• State months and years of beginning and ending employment dates.
• State all education received, even if a degree was not completed - but don't make it look like you have a degree if you don't.
• Put all contact information on both the resume and the cover letter, including home, office, voice-mail, cellular, and pager numbers as well as private e-mail address.
• Fill up the entire page, separating ideas horizontally (not in vertical columns), with as much appropriate experience and as many keywords as possible.
• Put a short statement describing a company under the name if what they do is not evident.

Troubled Times or An Opportunity?

In these tough economic times, it is common for employed people to think to themselves, " I would be nuts to consider leaving. Why would I want to leave now? What advantage is there is talking to a Recruiter now?"

While these thoughts are common, they are not always the right approach! Beginning conversations with a few, well matched Recruiters during times when the economy is tight is a good idea for the passive candidate. Tough times are generally followed by a rapid upside when the markets begin to turn. Some of the best employers begin slightly ahead of the economic curve in adding quality people to their roles coming off a tight economy. It is a good time to be connected to a quality Recruiter who can keep you informed as these positions become available.

Just because you open a dialog with a Recruiter doesn't mean you are "active" in a job search! Good Recruiters are all about developing contacts and learning of quality candidates who, under the right conditions, would be interested in learning more about other opportunities.

Now is the time to reach out to Recruiters. With better economic times coming, would you want to be aware of what the developing market might have to offer?