Ways to Improve Your Resume and Job Search With Expert Cheryl Palmer

Ways to Improve Your Resume and Job Search With Expert Cheryl Palmer During her time at the Department of Labor, Cheryl Palmer saw the need for resume writing and career coaching in the wider workforce. So, she founded Call to Career, a premier resume writing and career coaching service, to fill that need. She spoke with us about job hunting and resume writing. What are some common misconceptions about hiring that you see?One misconception is that if you are over 50, you won’t get hired. Even though age discrimination still exists, it is far too pessimistic a view to think that people over 50 aren’t being hired. People in all age groups, even highly experienced workers, are being hired every day. Much of a job hunter’s success depends on attitude. If you think you will get hired, you will. If you think you won’t get hired, you won’t.Another misconception is that sometimes job hunters think that a recruiter will get them a job. The truth of the matter is that recruiters work for the employer, not for the job seeker. C ertainly recruiters can be helpful in the job search process, but that is only true if they have an opening for which the job seeker is highly qualified. Job seekers need to use a variety of job search methods, including using recruiters, to find that next position.Where do job seekers get â€Å"stuck,† so to speak, in their search? What stumbling blocks are out there?Some job seekers get stuck because they do not clearly define their job target. It’s easy to get stuck if you don’t know what you are looking for. You can’t expect a potential employer to be your career coach. You must decide for yourself what you are looking for, and all of your job search tools need to reflect that goal.Another stumbling block is that it is easy to get sidetracked with other projects you didn’t have time for when you were working. Men especially are prone to get stuck doing their â€Å"honey-do† lists instead of focusing on the job search.What’s the on e thing we should never, ever do on our resumes?Job seekers should never, ever lie on their resumes. For some job hunters, it may seem as though this is the best thing to do, but it is very dangerous. The consequences for a job seeker can be severe. Most organizations will terminate an employee immediately if they find out the person lied. This is true even if the organization finds out years after the fact.Many job seekers feel compelled to lie because they think it is the only way to compete. They may state they have a degree when in fact they never completed college, because they see so many vacancy announcements require a college degree. Or they may take credit for something on the job that they didn’t do because it sounds impressive.But lying is not worth it. If you are found out, not only can you lose your job, but if you are in a field where everyone knows everyone else, you can also be blacklisted.Why is interview coaching so important? What’s changed about int erviews in the past few years?Interview coaching gives job hunters critical feedback on how they are coming across. Many people may think they interview well, but they may not know how they are being perceived. An interview coach can help job seekers fine tune their answers for commonly asked questions and analyze their nonverbal responses.One major change in how interviews are conducted in the last few years is that job seekers can expect at some point in the job search to be interviewed via videoconferencing. Skype is one of the most popular videoconferencing services. Job seekers should prepare to be interviewed through this new medium. There is a different feel with video interviewing than with face-to-face or telephone interviews.

More Names of Plants, Food, and Drinks Formed by Folk Etymology

More Names of Plants, Food, and Drinks Formed by Folk Etymology More Names of Plants, Food, and Drinks Formed by Folk Etymology More Names of Plants, Food, and Drinks Formed by Folk Etymology By Mark Nichol This post lists words derived from words in other languages as a result of folk etymology, a process by which speakers adopt the foreign terms after revising them by using existing elements from their native language. acorn: This word is descended from the Old English term aecerne, meaning â€Å"tree nut† but originally referring in various forms in Germanic languages to the trunk of a tree; by folk etymology, the current spelling derived from a false association with ac (â€Å"oak†) and corn (â€Å"grain†). (The word is, however, related to acre.) ketchup/catsup: Ketchup, which stems from various spellings of a Malay word probably based on the Chinese term koechiap, meaning â€Å"brine of fish,† originally referred to a fish sauce but now generally pertains to the tomato-based condiment; the word became a catch-all term for a variety of sauces and gravies, of which the most predominant in the United States, by the early nineteenth century, was tomato based. The variant catchup was eventually altered, perhaps from the influence of sup, to catsup, but ketchup predominates. chestnut: The name of a type of tree, the wood harvested from it, and the edible nut it produces stems from the Latin term castanea (probably itself borrowed from a language of Asia Minor) by way of Old French and Middle English. By the early 1500s, it was (redundantly) called a chesten nut; that word developed into the current form. couch grass: This term for various types of grass has nothing to do with furniture. The word couch, and variants quack, quitch, twitch, and witch, are all corruptions of the Old English word cwice, meaning â€Å"alive† and also the forebear of quick, meaning â€Å"alive† in addition to its primary sense of â€Å"fast† (as in the phrase â€Å"the quick and the dead,† which alludes to contrasting states of being). dogwood: The first element of these names for various trees and shrubs and wood produced by dogwood trees, and the berries they produce, has nothing to do with canines; dogwood is a corruption of dagwood, with the same first element as dagger. (The very hard wood of the tree was used for making arrows and skewers.) gin: Gin, the name for a liquor flavored with juniper berries, is a truncation of genever, related to the Old French term genià ©vre and the Dutch word jenever, all of which derive from the Latin word juniperus. gingerbread: The name of the molasses- and ginger-based confection has nothing to do with bread; the term derives from the Old French word gingembrat, a variation of gimgembre, meaning â€Å"ginger.† Gingembrat, and its Middle English derivation gingebred, referred originally to a ginger paste used both in cooking and medicine. gooseberry: This shrub and its berry have no association with waterfowl; the first element may be a corruption of the Old French term grosele or the German word Krausebeere. jerky: The name of the dried meat is from the word ch’arki, from Quechua, the language of the Incas, by way of the American Spanish term charqui, meaning â€Å"jerked meat.† (Jerked means â€Å"sun-dried.†) Jerusalem artichoke: The name of this sunflower and its edible tubers has no association with the Middle Eastern city; the first word is a corruption of the Italian term girasole (â€Å"sunflower†). (The second element of that word, which was adopted directly into English, is from the Latin word sol, meaning â€Å"sun.†) rosemary: The name of this herb has nothing to do with the rose or the name Mary; it is a corruption of rosmarine, from the Latin term rosmarinus, meaning â€Å"dew of the sea,† alluding to the flourishing of the plant near coasts. (Marinus, from which marine is derived, means â€Å"from the sea.†) sandalwood: Various types of wood have been used to make sandals, but sandalwood is not one of them. Sandal, in this word, derives from the Sanskrit term Ä andana-m, which may have alluded to its use for burning incense. (That Sanskrit word, which passed through Greek, Latin, Old French, and Middle English in various forms, may be related to the Latin word candere, meaning â€Å"glow† or â€Å"shine,† from which candle is descended.) shamrock: There’s no connection between the clover and the notion of a fake stone; shamrock is merely the Anglicized spelling of the Irish word seamrog. spare rib: This term for a cut of pork ribs alludes to its scarcity of fat, but the source is the Middle Low German word ribbesper; sper meant â€Å"spear† or â€Å"spit† and referred to the method of roasting the meat on a spit. (Spear, spar, and spire are all related.) (This post is a sequel to a previous post.) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:85 Synonyms for â€Å"Help†Abstract Nouns from Adjectives50 Tips on How to Write Good