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Support a charity

Customers love socially conscious businesses. You can use social media to promote noteworthy causes or share information about various charities. Better yet, hold a contest where you donate to a selected charity in exchange for engagement with your social media page. Social media users who aren’t your followers will be lured to follow you because of such charitable initiatives.

Does your business have a logo, mascot, or perhaps a pet representing your business? You can use that as a recurring character on your social media. It will help supporters to recognize and connect with your brand. Also, it would help customers relate with you better, creating a sense of familiarity.

Always make your followers a top priority, and ensure that your strategies align with their interests. Keep up with changing trends to make the most of your social media. And, follow the ideas mentioned above with some useful digital marketing tools to grow your audience and attain your business goals faster.

With the growth of social media, it has become a difficult task to manage your activities. This is where SocialPilot can help you efficiently manage social media marketing. Take up its free trial to be a social media marvel.

Frequently Asked Questions

🌟 What is social media marketing promotion?

Social media promotion refers to branding various social media platforms to showcase your offerings to a global audience. It lets you promote your brand for free. You can employ sponsored ads at a low cost to widen your branding reach.

🌟 Which social media is best for promotion?

Your promotion on social media largely depends on your business type. If your target audience is younger demographics, then Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat would be ideal for you. On the other hand, if your audience consists of working adults and senior professionals, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter are best for your social media promotion.

🌟 Why is social media good for promotion?

Social media is good for promotion because of its large user base. More than half of the world’s population is already on social media. Hence, reaching out to the audience becomes incredibly easy. With the help of personalization and targeting strategies, you can get in touch with potential customers and increase your revenue.

🌟 What is the role of social media in promotion?

Social media plays a vital role in promotion. For example, a new website visitor would like to visit your social media handle to check out your followers and valuable testimonials before purchasing. Social media provides social proof of your brand loyalty and boosts your awareness of your quality service.

🌟 What are some of the important social media marketing tools?

🌟 Which is the best marketing tool?

SocialPilot is one of the best marketing tools as it allows you to manage multiple accounts on top social media platforms at once. This affordable tool lets you curate content, design posts, and schedule your social media posts at the best time to get more visibility and engagement.

Martin Ochwat is a leading writer focused on digital marketing and e-commerce. He is passionate about writing vibrant content that’s easy to read and inspires readers to take action. Martin is currently working on a zero-waste brand Wellow and digital insurance brokerage Dundas Life .

Promoting Products and Driving Sales on Social Media

In this second section, we’ll take a look at a few ways you can promote your accounts with an end goal of driving sales. Depending on your business, these sales can be captured directly from social media or show up as referral links in your website.

6. Create Targeted Ads

Take advantage of Facebook’s audience data to target interest groups. If you’ve recently shopped online for shoes, you may notice that you’re receiving more shoe ads than before. That’s because Facebook noted your shopping habits and added you to that interest category.

7. Tag Products to Your Posts

A feature available on Instagram and Facebook, shoppable tags are a must for retail brands. They identify your products to your customers and customers can easily purchase from your website through the tag.

8. Provide Social-Only Discounts

In traditional advertising, you see weekly deals in the newspaper or receive discounts in email. Social is no different. These discounts are served to a certain segment of your audience and end after some time.

Driving Brand Awareness with Social Media Promotion

In this third part, we’ll address a few social promotions you can take on with a goal of getting your brand in front of as many people as possible. Your success metric here is usually the number of impressions.

9. Contests & Giveaways

These are a no-brainer for brand awareness. Setting up a low-barrier contest for your brand is simple and there are many examples of successful contests. The easiest giveaways are those where the fans have to do very little to enter. These are also the highest in engagement. If you’re just starting out on contests, we would recommend this route.

If you want to up your game, try a user-generated contest where there’s a hashtag specifically for the event. To monitor and respond to entries, use a hashtag tracking tool like Sprout Social. Our reporting feature will also track how successful the contest campaign was.

10. Alter Your Approach Per Network

Writing the same copy for every network won’t get you the best results. Your audience on LinkedIn is likely not the same as the one on Facebook and that’s okay. You may use the same photos or videos but your copy should change.

After examining how your audiences are different, experiment with various tones and vocabulary. If your sales partners are mostly on LinkedIn, then your copy will be more sales-oriented. If your audience on Snapchat is younger, then you’ll use more gifs and memes.

11. Get Your Employees Involved

Employee advocacy is quickly becoming a major source of content amplification for brands. With the help of your loyal staff, you can encourage them to promote specific and tailored messages directly to their social channels for further reach.

12. Create an Ambassador or Loyalty Program

The entire idea of an ambassador program is based on brand awareness. You work with passionate customers who want to talk about your product to all their friends. It’s naturally designed for brand awareness.

Creating and supporting an ambassador program takes time and patience. If you don’t have the resources, consider setting up a loyalty or referral program instead. Hand your loyal customers some referral codes and reward them with a discount when their referral purchases. Once this has launched, you can announce this on social media and let customers know when you comment on their posts.

Jenn Chen is an SF-based digital strategist, photographer, and writer who works with specialty coffee companies to make them look awesome online. She also has a penchant for cake donuts. Connect with her online @thejennchen & at jennchen.com.

Frequently Asked Questions for Social media promotion

1. Which social media is best for promotion?

These sites are used by almost every other individual worldwide. Facebook and Instagram are the industry leaders with 2.6 billion and 1 billion monthly active users respectively. They allow you to engage with your audience and run targeted advertisements to promote your products and services.

2. Why is social media good for promotion?

Traditional marketing went out of the window a long time ago, and for good reasons. In today’s digital world, brands that are not present on social media, don’t practically exist. People (especially the younger generation) tend to search for a brand on social media before making an online purchase or paying a visit to their store.

Social media platforms help businesses to connect with customers, increase brand awareness, and boost leads and sales. With more than 3 billion people using at least one social media platform, the potential for growing your business is immense.

3. How much does it cost to do promotion on social media?

Depending on your business and social media strategy, you can allocate a lower or a higher budget for running paid advertisements on social media. Below is the list of lowest possible ad spend across the most popular social media platforms.

4. How can I promote my business on Facebook without paying?

5. What are good promotional ideas?

Resources:

https://www.socialpilot.co/blog/social-media-promotion-ideas
https://www.webfx.com/social-media/learn/social-media-promotion/
https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-promotion/
https://blog.wishpond.com/post/115675437188/social-media-promotion
https://recurpost.com/blog/social-media-promotion/

How to win friends and influence people

In 1936 Dale Carnegie wrote How to Win Friends and Influence People after intense study of effective leadership, the psychology behind why people like each other, and how to approach tough situations without giving offense.

Far from being sneaky ways to get what you want, or sleazy selling tactics, the ways Carnegie describes how to properly interact with others would make the world a better place if universally adopted. You could recognize one of these tactics being used on you, and still feel no ill will towards the person employing it.

This is an overview of the key takeaways from How to Win Friends and Influence People. Read the whole book to get the most benefit from Carnegie’s lessons, and bookmark this page for a quick reference.

“The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.”

Even when you “win” an argument, the other person generally reverts back to their old opinion as soon as you part ways. From the get-go, an argument actually makes us dig in because we feel like we have something on the line and can’t admit we were wrong. When you disagree with someone, take the opportunity to sincerely reflect on why, and welcome hearing about the new perspective. You never know, maybe cats are better than dogs after all.

If you are right more than 50% of the time, then why don’t you work on Wall Street? Ask questions if you truly think you are right, and the person will usually come over through their own thought processes. Allow yourself to understand the other person, even (or especially) if they are wrong.

“The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.”

Even when you “win” an argument, the other person generally reverts back to their old opinion as soon as you part ways. From the get-go, an argument actually makes us dig in because we feel like we have something on the line and can’t admit we were wrong. When you disagree with someone, take the opportunity to sincerely reflect on why, and welcome hearing about the new perspective. You never know, maybe cats are better than dogs after all.

If you are right more than 50% of the time, then why don’t you work on Wall Street? Ask questions if you truly think you are right, and the person will usually come over through their own thought processes. Allow yourself to understand the other person, even (or especially) if they are wrong.

Principle 27. Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement

Be “hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise.”: When criticism is minimized and praise emphasized, the good things people do will be reinforced, and the poorer things will atrophy for lack of attention.

Dale Carnegie said we should admit to our mistakes instead of defending them. Why?

Mistakes are often misguided acts of judgment, and most times the mistake happens without our wish and out of our control. Dale Carnegie said it is better that we admit to the mistake, instead of hiding, as it helps us to progress and we can learn our lesson from it.

Is How To Win Friends and Influence People still relevant?

More than 80 years later, the book is still very relevant. The principles that Dale Carnegie taught in the book like, be a good listener, encourage others to talk about themselves, talk in terms of the other person’s interest and make the other person feel important sincerely; are things we can apply today and get results.

Explain: Do not criticize, condemn or complain.

It was Dale Carnegie who said, “Any fool can criticize, condemn, or complain.” It was the first principle in his famous book on How To Win Friends and Influence People. Criticizing people around us only makes us enemies and creates negativity. Complaining and condemning only puts negative points in the debit column of our personal and professional relationships.

What are the 6 ways to make people like you?

According to Dale Carnegie, there are 6 ways to make people like you. He wrote them in the book How to Win Friends and Influence People. They are: Become genuinely interested in other people, smile, remember people’s names, be a good listener, talk in terms of the other person’s interest and make the other person feel important.

How to criticize according to Dale Carnegie?

Dale Carnegie teaches us not to criticize but if you must do it, here’s how he proposes you go about it. Make constructive feedback by starting with praise and honest appreciation. Indirectly call attention to people’s mistakes and talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person. Ask questions instead of giving direct orders so the other person can save face.

Resource:

https://www.thedailybell.com/all-articles/news-analysis/30-pillars-of-how-to-win-friends-and-influence-people/
https://www.thedailybell.com/all-articles/news-analysis/30-pillars-of-how-to-win-friends-and-influence-people/
https://bookanalysis.com/dale-carnegie/how-to-win-friends-and-influence-people/30-principles/

Pick a Niche

When I was a journalist, my freelance writing niche technology stories, I didn’t pick this niche because I was interested in technology journalism (although that helped). There were relatively few technology journalists in Ireland at that time.

When starting off as an aspiring freelance writer, it’s fine to try different niches and charge a lower rate until you gain appropriate experiences. Copywriters follow this approach at the start of their writing career too. However, as you acquire more knowledge and skills, focus on one or two niches and increase your rates.

Tip: Combine a niche with a popular content format. For example, I know a copywriter who specialises in producing case studies and creating videos for large technology companies.

Big tips

• Freelance writing is a real, viable career. Not a myth.
• There are no hard-and-fast rules in freelancing — experiment and see what works for you.
• There are no ‘going rates’ — every client situation is different. ‘ or to be an expert.
• No one can predict how much you’ll get paid to write, or how quickly. It’s up to you.
• You don’t need ‘contacts’ — you can write your way in the door.
• The answer to many of your questions is, ‘It depends.’
• Take your goals seriously — even if others in your life don’t.
• Don’t worry about finding the best apps or tools to use in your freelance biz. Instead, focus mostly on getting clients.
• In general, fiction, poetry, and personal essays are not the basis of a bill-paying freelance career (you can get paid to write poetry, but don’t expect it to be a full-time career). The money is in reported articles and writing for businesses.
• Pitch more and worry less about whether you’re ‘doing it right.’
• To make this go faster, find a writer community and ask peers what works.

The number one thing that stops aspiring freelance writers is their own fears. It won’t matter what nuts-and-bolts knowledge you have, if you’re too scared to go out and get clients.

A: Ultimately, you’ll only find out by writing for clients. But if you’re truly a bad writer, you don’t usually try to make it your career. The problem generally is lack of freelance marketing, not lack of writing craft.

A: That’s why you need an accountability buddy — find another freelance writer newbie you can call weekly, to keep you working on your goals. In my experience, newbies with a buddy have a much higher success rate than newbies with no buddy.

A: This worry stems from thinking you need to know something besides how to write well, to become a freelance writer. You don’t. You can ask experts, research, and learn things. Your strong writing skill is what you bring to the table.

Set up your business

A: No one can make you, but it’s a real good idea. If you want to write off your business expenses, being registered with state and city tax authorities helps convince the IRS (or your national tax body) you’re a real business.

A: Just starting out, your own name is fine. You can always choose another name later, or ‘do business as’ another name. For instance, TiceWrites is my business name, but I do business as Make a Living Writing, Freelance Writers Den, and more.

If you want to be fancy and have serious branding for your freelance writing biz, I recommend choosing a name with keywords that would help clients find you, like: “Healthcare Writer Dana.” Avoid meaningless words and phrases such as ‘communications’ or ‘solutions,’ that don’t really say what you do.

A: Not usually, no. Noms de plume are for fiction authors. You’ll need to reveal your real name when you get paid to write, anyway — and having a fake identity will make editors wonder what you’re hiding. There’s a legit exception to this if you’re a woman with a stalker…I’ve known people in that sitch, and editors do understand. But otherwise, no.

A: No. I operated as a sole proprietor for many years. An LLC does provide a layer of liability protection between your personal assets such as a home or car, and your business. If you don’t lie or make stuff up, you’ll likely never be sued, so it’s not a big concern, especially just starting out.

A: Beyond a computer and the Internet, the rest is optional. I kept a paper income/expenses ledger for years — but if you want to be more pro, choose a solution such as Freshbooks (which I use and recommend) or Harvest. As I mentioned in the Big Tips, most would-be freelance writers spend way too much time wondering if they need a grammar app, and not enough time trying to find clients.

A: Not much, the first year. You’ll just pay what you owe, end of the year. Set aside a portion of your freelance income for taxes that’s similar to the tax bracket you had last year, as a guesstimate. In the U.S., once you hit the level of owing 800,000 or more in annual tax as a self-employed person, you’ll make estimated quarterly tax payments, based on the previous year’s income.

A: If you’re leaving a job and taking the plunge into freelancing, you’ll want to make sure you have health insurance. The good news is there are numerous viable self-employed health insurance plans available for freelancers.

Find a hassle-free way to get paid

One of the sure ways on how to make money as a freelance writer is to use a seamless payment platform. Clients love to work with freelance writers who have a hassle-free payment platform that won’t turn getting paid into a never-ending administrative nightmare.

Getting paid is super easy with Xolo Go. All you need to do is sign up, and start invoicing clients across borders. Using Xolo Go is a competitive advantage because you can use their unique partnership framework to invoice clients as a business, rather than an individual. This makes it much easier to streamline your freelancer financials, makes tax time less of a headache, and helps you look much more professional to new and prospective clients.

The best way to get clients as a freelance writer? Prioritize testimonials

Not being assertive about collecting testimonials was one of the major mistakes I made when I was first starting out as a freelance writer. I wrote for clients but never bothered asking for a testimonial.

My advice to you? Don’t make the same mistake — take testimonials seriously. Testimonials matter because prospects want social proof — they want to know what previous clients say about working with you before trusting you themselves.

Testimonials dissolve doubts, sell you more effectively, and supercharge your credibility. So don’t be shy about asking for testimonials from clients and adding them to your website. You can also get testimonials from your LinkedIn connections as LinkedIn recommendations on your profile.

You’d be shocked at how many people read testimonials on your website/social media accounts before reaching out to you! If you don’t believe me, try it for yourself and let me know how it goes!

Source:

https://becomeawritertoday.com/become-a-freelance-writer-today/
https://makealivingwriting.com/become-a-freelance-writer-guide/
https://blog.xolo.io/how-to-become-a-successful-freelance-writer

Resume Tip: There are several studies that theorize relationships between resume cues and the applicant’s personality and hireability, further impacting hiring judgments through resumes. Be careful which info you choose to include!

Tips for Creating a Great Resume

With the current labor shortage and low unemployment rate, job seekers are at an advantage when it comes to applying for jobs. However, that’s not to say that you don’t need a professionally written resume. Employers still want to find and hire the best employees for each open position, and resumes are the first step in that search. There are several strategies you can use to make your resume stand out and demonstrate that you are the best candidate for the job.

Your resume is the most important document you’ll submit in your job search. It’s your frontline fighter, so to speak, as it’s your first opportunity to present yourself to a potential employer. Hiring managers and recruiters look at resumes for an average of only six to seven seconds each, so it’s important that you make every second count. A strong resume can help you stand out from the crowd, but a weak resume can remove you from the running.

Simple resume writing tips to help you stand out

It can be difficult to succinctly present all of your experiences and qualifications on one page, but there are many ways to spruce up your resume without going overboard. To help you land an interview, we rounded up some of the best resume writing tips.

1. Keep your resume short and direct.

The No. 1 rule of writing a resume is to keep it short and to the point. The general rule is no more than one page unless you have a very good reason for it to be longer, like an extensive career or a lot of highly applicable work experience.

An easy way to keep your resume concise is to include only recent, relevant experience. While that yearlong first job might have taught you a lot about the field, it’s not always necessary to include every detail from your entire career history.

Most experts recommend including jobs from the previous 10 or 15 years only, although this time frame may be shorter if you are new to the workforce. Including too many unrelated work experiences can make your resume appear too busy and draw attention away from your relevant qualifications. Your resume should be focused, clear and concise.

2. Create an original resume template.

Employers appreciate originality. While it’s helpful to refer to a professional resume template, don’t follow it rigidly. Zippia found that more than 60% of hiring managers consider a customized resume as the top strategy for job applicants to increase their chance of landing a job.

“I often pass over resumes that match Microsoft Office templates,” Claire Bissot, SPHR and director of Kainos Capital, told us. “The templates are meant to be a guide to get started, but it should be expanded on to make it your own.”

Format your resume so that it is easy to identify your qualifications. For instance, Bissot recommended, if you advanced in a company quickly, draw attention to that growth. If you excessively job-hopped, bullet those jobs without providing specifics and detail more applicable positions. This will play to your assets.

When structuring your resume, make sure the information is presented in a logical order, said Veronica Yao, owner of CareerProse and marketing communications manager at Fonolo. “A hiring manager [will] read your resume starting at the top and ending at the bottom. However, if they don’t finish reading the whole thing – and they often don’t – you still want to ensure your strongest points come across.”

3. Highlight relevant skills and experiences.

Using the same resume for every job you apply for is not a good approach. Instead, your resume should target the specific job you are applying for. Be sure to prioritize the skills, qualifications and experiences that are directly applicable to the job you are trying to land.

Choose three or four former positions or experiences that best highlight the skills required for the position for which you apply. Employers value brevity; this is not the time to list every position you have ever held. For example, if you are applying for a marketing position, you could include your former retail experience and bullet the communication, branding and interpersonal skills you learned in that position.

If you don’t have a work history that directly relates to the job you are applying for, get creative with how you present your other experiences. Draw on the skills you used and how your contributions benefited the organization or project. [Read related article: 38 In-Demand Skills to Help You Get the Job]

4. Demonstrate results with numbers and metrics.

When you write about your previous work experience, it is always a good idea to quantify your successes with numbers. Using metrics can highlight your achievements and give the hiring manager or recruiter a clear sense of how you impacted your previous place of employment. For example, someone who previously worked as a sales representative might say that they “executed more than 50 cold calls daily, with an average 5% conversion rate.”

5. Craft a career snapshot.

“With the career snapshot, you present a branding statement that briefly explains your unique value as well as your skills and qualifications,” said Tomer Sade, CEO of Book a Space. “This would then be followed by a few bullet points that highlight your experience and your accomplishments. Whatever you list here should be relevant to the position you’re applying to.”

Think of your career snapshot as an answer to the question “How would you describe your work experience in one sentence?” The summary is an opportunity to sum up your most relevant and important skills, experience, or assets right off the bat.

6. Optimize your text.

If a company uses an applicant tracking system (ATS) to collect and scan resumes, a human hiring manager may never even glance at any application that doesn’t fit the job criteria they’ve entered. Trish O’Brien, vice president of human capital operations at PSI Services, emphasized adapting your resume to the position to increase your likelihood of passing the first level.

Resume Content – What to Mention on Your Resume

Contact Information

Resume Summary or Objective

The same applies to your job search – the HR manager spends around 6 seconds scanning each resume. Yep, your carefully-worded, hand-crafted resume only gets 6 seconds of attention. Unless, of course, you manage to leave an amazing first impression.

What’s a Resume Summary & When to Use it

A resume summary is a 2-3 sentence summary of your career. You should use a resume summary in basically any situation, unless you’re a recent university graduate or switching careers (in that case, you use a resume objective. More on that later!).

What’s a Resume Objective & When to Use it

Work Experience

How to List Work Experience in a Resume

• Job Title/Position – Your job title goes on top of each work experience entry. When the HR manager scans your resume, you want them to know, at a glance, that you have relevant work experience for the job.
• Company Name / Location / Description – Then, you mention the name of the relevant employer, as well as the location of the office you work/have worked in. In some cases, you may also want to briefly describe the company, if the organization is not a famous household name.
• Achievements and Responsibilities – This is the core of each work experience entry. Depending on your field, you want to list either your achievements or responsibilities. We’ll get more into the how’s and why’s of this in a bit.
• Dates Employed – The timeframe of your employment in each company. Not sure about the exact dates you worked somewhere? Don’t worry – you don’t have to be accurate by the day, as long as it’s close. The standard format expected by recruiters and employers is mm/yyyy (this is especially important when your job application will be parsed by an Applicant Tracking System).

List Achievements When Possible

Tailor Your Resume to the Job

So, let’s cover a simple example on how to do this. Let’s say that after reading the following job ad for the position of a digital marketer, you discover that the most critical requirements for the job are:

How much work experience do you include in your resume?

If you’ve got over a decade’s worth of work experience, you’re probably confused about how much of it you mention in your resume. After all, If you had to list everything you’ve ever done, you’d end up writing a mini-novella.

How to List Education on Your Resume

Emphasize Your Know-How with the Skills Section

Soft Skills (Personal skills). These are a mix of social skills, communication skills, personal traits, career attributes, and so on. Leadership, critical thinking, management, and communication, just to name a few.

How to List Skills in Your Resume

Expert – You’ve applied this skill in more than a handful of different projects & organizations. You’re the go-to person for advice about the skill, not just in your office, but even amongst some of the best professionals in your field.

Imagine your first task at work as an Illustrator – to create a graphic vector to go nicely with an article. If you end up delivering a hastily drawn stick figure colored with a paint bucket tool in Microsoft Paint, you’ll be out of the job before your probation period ends.

Step #2 – Tailor Your Skills to the Job. You might have some super rare, awesome skills, but they’re not always going to be useful. For example, it’s awesome that you know accounting, but would you really need it at your new job as a line cook? Exactly!

Perfecting Your Resume – FREE Checklist

1. Does your contact information section have all the must-have information?
2. Is your contact email professional? E.g.: [email protected]
3. Are you using the right resume format?
4. Is your resume 1-2 pages?
5. Did you include all the must-have sections in your resume?
6. Did you list only the most relevant work experiences?
7. Did you list achievements instead of responsibilities?
8. Did you tailor your resume to the job ad you’re applying for?
9. Did you mention the right amount of work experience in your resume?
10. Did you list your education in your resume?
11. Did you list all the right skills for the position you’re applying for?
12. Did you add any other important resume sections?
13. And finally, did you proof-read your resume? We’d recommend asking a friend or using software like Grammarly.

If you ☑’d all the points? Congrats! You’ve mastered all there is to know about how to write a resume, and you’re good-to-go to move on with your job search! If you missed some points, though, just go through your resume one more time and perfect it as much as possible.

Frequently Asked Questions about How to Make a Resume for a Job

How to make a resume for a job?

First, read the job ad carefully to pick up keywords for your resume that you’ll target to pass the Applicant Tracking Software test. Next, create resume sections necessary to present yourself, your qualifications, and your strengths. The sections are:

Depending on the industry and experience, you’ll have to think about which additional sections work best. But you definitely can’t write a resume without the other five. You can spare yourself the worry by using our resume maker.

How to write a resume for the first time?

Write your first resume with transferable skills in the skills and resume objective sections. In the work history part, add accomplishments examples that prove your qualities of a valuable employee, such as curiosity, eagerness to learn and assist, and developed communication skills. Internships and volunteering placements fit there perfectly. And most importantly—put your academic achievements right below the objective to highlight your educational advancement.

How to make a good resume that will impress recruiters?

An impressive resume is a resume that reads well and looks so, too. So before you get down to writing the nitty-gritty details of your professional and academic achievements, take care of the resume formatting and layout.

Only then move on to adding the biggest successes under each section: resume profile, experience, education, and skills. But—additional parts make the strongest impression, so don’t forget to include awards, certifications or licenses, or extracurricular activities to your resume. Say you’re an achiever, not a doer.

What is the format of a resume?

The chronological format is the most popular resume format suitable for every job applicant—an entry-level position, a specialist, or an executive. By choosing it, you decide to show off your career progression.

Combination format, aka a hybrid, is a well-blended mixture of the chronological and functional formats. It’s the most complex one to write as it includes a skills summary and an extended experience section, which is apt for senior positions.

How to make a resume in Word?

You can spare yourself the trouble and use a pre-made Word resume template. But if you have quite some experience with text formatting (and plenty of time), start making your resume in Word. Create a clean layout, choose a font that reads well, and limit the number of graphic elements on the page not to overwhelm the ATS. Then, add the main and additional resume sections in an order suitable for the resume format. Save it in a Word or PDF file at the end, keeping in mind the instructions from the recruiter.

What does a good resume look like in 2022?

In 2022, you need to make even a stronger impression than in the previous years. Use a modern resume template and include the most important sections: personal information, summary or objective, employment history, education, and skills. Add your best achievements under each section and quantify them. Show your future employer that you’ve had an impact and will continue to bring results.

Sources:

https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/3207-resume-writing-tips.html
https://novoresume.com/career-blog/how-to-write-a-resume-guide
https://zety.com/blog/how-to-make-a-resume
Resume writing

The website Resume Genius claims you can "create your professional resume in 15 minutes." (I tested it out, and indeed had a solid first draft of an easy resume completed in about 10 minutes.) First, select one of 17 different template options, and then move through a series of questions (i.e. "Do you have work experience?" and "What’s your highest level of education?"), which lead you to then fill out boxes of additional information. It’s easy to move through, though you do have to do it in order, and fill in every text field before continuing.

Resume Writing Tips

This page is designed for undergraduate students from all kinds of majors and provides introductory advice on how to write a resume. The word “resume” comes from the French for “to summarize,” which is the purpose of a resume: to summarize your education and experience for your potential employer in a way that positions you as a good candidate for the job.

Prospective employers may receive hundreds of resumes for any one job, and their time is limited. Therefore, you want to make sure that your resume will help you stand out among all the other applicants as a good fit for the position by tailoring the information you include to your audience and to the position description. Your integrity is important, so make sure that anything you include on your resume is accurate and will stand up to questioning in an interview.

Everyone wonders about how long a resume should be. The usual advice is that, for a current undergraduate student or someone just finishing an undergraduate degree, usually one page is enough. As you accumulate more experience your resume will get longer. We recommend asking a career advisor, professor, or professional in your field about the appropriate resume length.

In fact, you should consult with faculty and career advisors in your field no matter what, but here are some basic principles designed to help you get started. Click on the links below to be taken directly to a certain section of the page, or scroll down to read about all of our tips.

Types of resumes

Chronological

The chronological resume lists past and present experiences in reverse chronological order. Present experience is usually listed first, using present tense verbs, then all other experience is listed in reverse chronological order using past tense verbs. This is by far the most common type of resume.

Skills-based

Skills-based resumes base resume sections around specific skills related to the job. For instance, if you are applying for a teaching job and you have relevant teaching experience, plus other work experience unrelated to teaching that would make you a good fit for the job, you might include a section on “Teaching Experience” and a section on “Other Work Experience.” This method helps clearly highlight relevant experience using section titles in addition to job descriptions, and is a great way to pull out keywords.

Skills-based resumes can also allow you to combine related work and other experience through the skills-based headings. In the above example involving a resume for teaching, you might list your extracurricular tutoring experience in the “Teaching Experience” section instead of in the “Other Experience” section of a skills-based resume.

Skills-based resumes prioritize experience description order based on relevance to the job, rather than chronology. Use a skills-based resume if your previous job experience does not necessarily fit with the job you are applying for. The sections labeled with skills will help show your employer how your past experience is relevant to the job.

Combined

The combination resume is the type of resume we most commonly see in the Writing Center. Combination resumes might include some skills-based headings, but list experience in each section in reverse chronological order. Combination resumes allow you to show your audience your recent relevant experience, while also taking advantage of keywords, which is good for online resumes that might be found via search engines.

ResumeSpice

A recruiter-friendly option

Once you choose, you’ll fill out a short questionnaire and schedule a phone consultation with a resume expert to discuss your experience, job search and career goals. The expert will take that information and turn around a personalized resume draft within two business days. You can review the draft and request any changes, and you’ll get the final version in PDF and Word formats.

An entry-level resume costs $449, a professionally written resume costs $569, and an executive resume costs $689. You can also add a cover letter, LinkedIn profile, interview coaching or other services to help you be more competitive in the job market.

3. Add a resume header

Hiring managers, especially those at large companies, have many applications to review for each job opening. With so much competition, it can be tough to make sure your resume gets the attention it deserves.

Your resume introduction provides a quick snapshot of your experience, skills, and qualifications at the very top of your resume. It should be 3–5 sentences, and can be written in either sentence or bullet-point format.

1. Resume summary

2. Resume objective

Here’s the formula for putting together an effective resume objective:

5. Target your work experience to the job ad

To make your work experience section shine, target each bullet point to the specific job you want. Look carefully at the skills mentioned in the description, and showcase any of those skills you have with clear examples.

This marketing job ad features many hard and soft skills you can add to your resume.

Taylord’s Marketing Firm, Reno, NV
July 2017 – August 2018

• Collaborated with the outreach department to develop innovative marketing solutions for 6 unique products

• Developed branding materials for a new mobile app, resulting in a 14% increase in sales

• Analyzed weekly performance statistics, ensuring that effectiveness of outbound marketing activities

Not only does tailoring your experience section to the job ad make your resume more attractive to employers, but it also helps you get through the applicant tracking system (ATS) software that many large companies use.

ATS software automatically scans your resume for specific skill-related keywords to determine if you’re qualified for the role. If the software doesn’t find the keywords it’s looking for, it automatically rejects your application before a hiring manager even gets to see it.

Sources:

https://writing.wisc.edu/handbook/assignments/resume/
https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/best-resume-writing-service/
https://resumegenius.com/blog/resume-help/how-to-write-a-resume
Resume writing

With a strict deadline policy, our writers never miss a submission date and can offer drafts for pre-downloading if you wish to have a result sooner. A professional writer will always have your work ready beforehand, to avoid any issues with deadlines.

Telling Your Story

1. Don’t Put Everything on There

Your resume should not have every work experience you’ve ever had listed on it. Think of your resume not as a comprehensive list of your career history, but as a marketing document selling you as the perfect person for the job. For each resume you send out, you’ll want to highlight only the accomplishments and skills that are most relevant to the job at hand (even if that means you don’t include all of your experience). Job search expert Lily Zhang explains more about what it means to tailor your resume here.

2. But Keep a Master List of All Jobs

Since you’ll want to be swapping different information in and out depending on the job you’re applying to, keep a resume outline or master resume on your computer where you keep any information you’ve ever included on a resume: old positions, bullet points tailored for different applications, special projects that only sometimes make sense to include. Then, when you’re crafting each resume, it’s just a matter of cutting and pasting relevant information together. Think of this as your brag file.

3. Put the Best Stuff “Above the Fold”

In marketing speak, “above the fold” refers to what you see on the front half of a folded newspaper (or, in the digital age, before you scroll down on a website), but basically it’s your first impression of a document. In resume speak, it means you should make sure your best experiences and accomplishments are visible on the top third of your resume. This top section is what the hiring manager is going to see first—and what will serve as a hook for someone to keep on reading. So focus on putting your best, most relevant experiences first—and then check out these five other marketing tricks to get your resume noticed.

4. Ditch the Objective Statement

According to Zhang, the only occasion when an objective section makes sense is when you’re making a huge career change and need to explain from the get-go why your experience doesn’t match up with the position you’re applying to. In every other case? Consider whether a summary statement would be right for you—or just nix it altogether to save space and focus on making the rest of your resume stellar.

5. Keep it (Reverse) Chronological

There are lots of different ways to organize the information on your resume—like the functional resume or combination resume—but the good old reverse chronological (where your most recent experience is listed first) is still your best bet. Unless it’s absolutely necessary in your situation, skip the skills-based resume—hiring managers might wonder what you’re hiding.

6. Keep it to a Page

The two- (or more!) page resume is a hotly debated topic, but the bottom line is this—you want the information here to be concise, and making yourself keep it to one page is a good way to force yourself to do this. If you truly have enough relevant and important experience, training, and credentials to showcase on more than one page of your resume, then go for it. But if you can tell the same story in less space? Do. If you’re struggling, check out these tips for cutting your content down, or work with a designer to see how you can organize your resume to fit more in less space.

7. Consider an Online Supplement

Can’t figure out how to tell your whole story on one page, or want to be able to include some visual examples of your work? Instead of trying to have your resume cover everything, cover the most important details on that document, and then include a link to your personal website, where you can dive more into what makes you the ideal candidate.

What Are Resume Writing Services, And How Can They Help You?

Resume writing services look at your skills and experiences and help you parse out the details that illustrate why you’re a great fit for a particular position, and help you capture the attention of a hiring manager.

However, most people looking for resume writing help to land a dream job or their next executive role, are interested in a full-service option. This is where the best resume writing services will pair you with a professional writer who works with you one on one to gather information about your work and education history to tailor a personalized professional resume from scratch. For those willing to pay extra, they’ll also write you a cover letter and help optimize your LinkedIn profile.

We put together this guide to help you choose among hundreds of the best resume writing services. We spoke with industry experts and compared dozens of the most popular resume builder tools and professional writing services to determine which offered the best value to job seekers. We looked at:

Affordable Resume Writing Service Near Me Will Make Your Resume Stand Out!

What you know is only half the battle; whatever industry you are in, self-presentation is often key to success. While other resume companies might give you something from a template, our certified writers take your suggestions and create a customized resume that doesn’t just look good but really convinces employers of your unique strengths. SkillHub’s resume writing service is designed to make sure you win over a recruiter, even if they’re looking at your CV the last thing on a Friday afternoon.

Whether your resume is being looked at by a human recruiter, searched for in LinkedIn, or scanned using resume-scanning software, we offer you our top-rated resume writing service as an investment in your future dream job. What are you waiting for!

How much time have you spent writing your CV? In general, this task takes from several days to weeks. You need to research the company, write down your skills and experience, and arrange all the information in a pretty design. What if we told you, you could use a professional CV writing services instead? Placing an order with us takes less than five minutes!

Sources:

https://www.themuse.com/advice/43-resume-tips-that-will-help-you-get-hired
https://www.careercloud.com/news/best-resume-writing-service
https://skillhub.com/resume-writing-service

Step #5 — Grow an Email List and an Audience

🎁 Products

Selling an Ebook

Selling Online Courses and Training

Sell Memberships

Launching Paid Newsletter

Sell Physical Products

Software and Apps

Flip Blogs

🤝 Services

Consulting Services and Coaching

Freelance Services

Paid Job Board

And then promoting his speaking offers in his main navigation.

🎓 Step by Step Guide: How to Make Money Blogging

Step #1 — Pick the Right Niche

1. Can you find 5 small, specialized blogs ranking well on Google?

2. Can you reproduce these blogs’ monetization?

3. Is the niche growing, shrinking, or seasonal?

4. Can you realistically build a credible site?

In plain English, this means that if a writer does not have the credentials in the kinds of niches that involve big life decisions — like health, legal, or finance — Google is willing to force their rankings much lower.

5. Can you picture yourself working for 1,000+ hours in this niche?

Step #2 — Get Good at Blog Content Creation

#1. Keyword Research and Brainstorming Topics

#2. Reusable Content Formats

#3. Write Headlines That Get Clicks and Shares

#4. Onpage SEO

internally link pages properly, as our data study shows a very large correlation between number and quality of internal links and higher rankings.

Step #3 — Focus on Growing Your Search Traffic

Creating Instagram stories promoting your latest post is cool and fun, but you can’t deny one thing — according to industry insights by SEMRush, most blogs in most verticals acquired the majority of their traffic from searches.

#1. Learn How to Create a Great Site Architecture

#2. Learn How to Build Links

#3. Learn How to Grab Featured Snippets

Step #4 — Monetize With Affiliate Marketing and Advertising First

1 — Affiliate Marketing

Unfortunately, the best display ads network won’t let you in unless you have a fair amount of traffic to your website already. Which is why we tend to only implement ads after getting to about 50,000 visitors per month.

Step #5 — Grow an Email List and an Audience

1 — Collect Emails on Your Site

The good news is, if you’ve followed our guide so far, you will have a bunch of targeted traffic on your WordPress blog. And there are plenty of ingenious ways to convince people to part ways with their personal information.

Opt-In Pop Ups

Content Upgrades

Giveaways

2 — Engage Your Email Subscribers and Build a Community

Step #6 — Launch Your Own Offers and Digital Products

A — Identify Your Most Popular Blog Posts

The best way to build a product that generates daily sales on autopilot — and achieves that true passive income you’re probably looking for — is to build a course focused on the same topic as a popular blog post.

B — Build a Lead Magnet for That Specific Topic

Once you’ve identified some likely candidates, our goal is going to be building a lead magnet. One specific to the course topic so that it attracts leads that are the most interested in your potential course.

Who can make money travel blogging?

To monetize your travel blog, you must attract an audience, join the appropriate partners, and perhaps create a product or provide a service. Meeting the reader’s needs and putting your project over the top must be your priority, not the money.

The CPA model means you will earn when a visitor makes a purchase by clicking the affiliate link on your webpage, for example, buying a flight ticket, booking a hotel room, buying a backpack for travel and so on. In the affiliate market, these are called leads and webmasters get paid for generating them. To start, you must join an affiliate network. Several key players are on the market:

Travel affiliate programs

If you register with Travelpayouts, you gain access to over 100 travel brands, including well-known names, such as Booking.com, TripAdvisor, Kiwi.com, and many more. To learn more about Travelpayouts tools and how you can use them to maximize your earnings, join Travelpayouts Academy.

Join the Travelpayouts Affiliate Network

Travel CPA networks

You can work with CPA networks, such as CJ or Awin, to sell various travel products and make money with your travel blog. For example, you can join e-shops to sell clothes, power plugs, maps and so on. At this point, you should consider which products your visitors can use.

If your project is oriented toward a local market, research local players, even small ones. You may find unique opportunities for different destinations, for example, working with an exchange office and earning a commission for each traveller you attract.

Tips for increasing your conversion rate with affiliate networks

In some projects, different colours and sizes have different effects in terms of attracting visitors. For example, red can be attractive for routes to China while white is not. Some colours attract more attention but can distract visitors from the site’s content. Find a balance between your audience’s attention and comfort.

Use this information to create a content plan that covers your audience’s interests. Adjust your offers according to your visitors’ needs, which you will understand by analysing the data. Of course, don’t forget to try new things. (If, for example, you have a website about Turkey and offer “abroad” tickets such as Istanbul – Berlin, maybe your audience also needs “internal” tickets such as Istanbul – Ankara or Istanbul – Trabzon.

If you can predict what your visitors need, you can fill in the form in advance so that your visitors won’t have to think as much. The fewer steps users have to take, the higher the chances they will actually purchase the goods or services.

However, if your prediction is wrong and your visitor is not interested in the service you propose, the result may be extra effort for the visitor, whom you may lose as a result. Don’t overthink for your visitor; find a balance.

Imagine that a visitor is reading your article about travel in Japan, in which you share suggestions about where to stay. The user wants to book, but … doesn’t see an option to do so. For example, you placed a search form at the bottom of the article, where the user can’t easily find it.

In the affiliate marketing arena, many successful people make profits from travel websites. Look at their websites; analyse their advertisements, sales and placement/choice of tools. Use their successful ideas to increase your earnings.

Contextual advertising — Google AdSense

The main player in the international market is Google AdSense. If your project works with a local market in a language other than English, you can check local players such as sClick in Czech Republic, etc.

The quality of your traffic and competition between advertisers in the area affect the click outs. Average earnings in Google AdSense per 1,000 page views from the USA is $3.38, while the average click out is

Custom ads for a travel website

Another way of getting advertisers is to work on your own without an intermediary. If you have high traffic or a well-known travel blog, you can attract custom advertisers. They deal directly with you, and you earn directly from the adverts without losing commission to a middleman.

There are two ways to search for advertisers: passive and active. In the passive way, you will create a contact page on your website and wait until advertisers contact you. In the active way, you will find advertisers by sending them offers.

While sending the offers, you should individualize them for each company. It’s important to describe your website’s visitors and explain to the advertiser that your audience is right for their business. In addition, traffic statistics and your audience profile, including ages and locations, can clarify your offer to advertisers.

How much you can earn from these ads depends on many factors. However, the amount must be at least twice more than the ads on contextual advertising. You can sell not only banners but also sponsored posts. Advertisers buy them to promote their products or simply as one part of their search engine optimization strategy.

.33.

How to increase your conversion rate

A website’s traffic not only increases conversion but also has a huge impact on travel blog monetization. Let’s look at one situation. You have a blog with 1000 visitors daily. How much do you earn? Three to five dollars on a good day? If you increase the conversion rate, you could earn more from the same number of visitors.

In Google AdSense, you earn by clicks, so you must persuade your visitors to click the ads. Of course, openly persuading your visitors to do so is against AdSense’s rules. Instead, test various methods and choose the best one. Following are some ideas for improving your conversion in Google AdSense:

After testing, some affiliates see that their income level decreases. If this happens, you can return to the default conditions, as they could already be the best ones. However, do not give up right away; if you start the test, wait at least 3-5 days to get the full picture.

Conclusion

How much money can you make from blogging?

It depends. With the right monetization strategy and decent traffic, you can make between US800,000 to US$5,000 per month. If you run a high-traffic blog that gets millions of page views every month, it’s not impossible to achieve US$20,000 or above in monthly recurring income. Successful bloggers can make over US$100,000/month.

How do beginner bloggers make money?

For those just getting started, the easiest way to make money is to offer a service. For instance, if you’re blogging about marketing, consider offering marketing consultancy services to startups and small businesses (P.S. this tactic can be applied to any niche). Once you build a reputation and traffic levels increase, you can include ads, digital products, and affiliate links in your blog.

Authorship:

https://www.authorityhacker.com/make-money-blogging/
https://blog.travelpayouts.com/en/make-money-travel-blogging/
https://www.oberlo.com/blog/how-to-make-money-blogging

Allowing someone else to read your work can be brutally difficult for some writers, especially when they’re just starting out, but it’s crucial that you develop good habits from the outset and learn to accept constructive criticism about your work. Remember – writers are desperately needy creatures who need to be constantly reassured that they’re the creative geniuses they believe themselves to be, but you’ll need to develop a thick skin if you’re serious about your work, and a good editor is invaluable when it comes to toughening up.

How to Improve Creative Writing Skills: 10 Fun Ways for Kids!

Want to be a novelist when you grow up? But worried that your English skills may not be up to scratch. Or maybe you just can’t seem to find the right inspiration to get you started! Here’s a list of 10 ways to improve your creative writing skills this summer. Guaranteed to leave you inspired and ready to write your next big novel or a super sweet short story!

Before we tell you how to improve your creative writing skills, you need to know what exactly this means. Creative writing refers to fictional writing or storytelling. Take, for example, a newspaper article is not an example of creative writing, as it must include facts about a situation. While with creative writing you can use your imagination to make stuff up. Generally, the purpose of creative writing is to produce something which is entertaining, engaging and even personal.

Many writers use creative writing as a way of expressing their feelings and thoughts. It is a type of art form which uses words instead of pictures to connect with people. Examples of creative writing may include:

10 Ways to Improve your creative writing skills

1. Read everything you can find!

Let’s start with the obvious one! Read a lot! Read anything you find lying around your house from old storybooks to newspapers. While reading this stuff, pay attention to the words being used by the writer, the use of metaphors, adjectives, characters, the plot, the conflict in the story etc. If you come across a word you don’t understand, use a dictionary to find its meaning and then practice using it in a sentence to gain a better understanding of that word. For more ways to get kids reading, check out this cool article.

2. Find inspiration in everyday things.

The world around you is full of interesting events. Go for a walk and ask yourself questions, such as what is that person doing? What is that dog looking at? Why are those people arguing? Write a summary of something that is happening on the TV or a video game you just finished playing. Write about everything and anything you see, hear, smell or feel! You’ll be surprised at what pops up in your head.

3. Use writing prompts to inspire you.

There are tons of resources on the internet that can inspire you, in magazines, newspaper headlines and any other words you find lying around. Why not check out our writing prompts for kids or sign-up for our newsletter for monthly creative writing resources.

4. Criticise the work of others.

When reading a book, try to identify the flaws in that story and list a couple of improvements. Also, note down the best parts of that story, what did you enjoy while reading that book? This can help you to understand the elements of a great story and what to avoid when writing. You can aim to do weekly or monthly book reviews on the books you read. Soon you’ll be able to master the secrets of great creative writing like a master!

5. Keep a journal and write something in it every day.

Even if you think your life is boring and nothing interesting ever happens in it. You can write about your goals and inspirations or what you did for lunch today. Anything is better than nothing! One day you’ll look back at these notes and they’ll inspire you to write an awesome story – you never know.

6. Play imaginative games.

Games such as cops and robbers or pretending to be a character from your favourite TV show or movie can be really inspirational. You can use our printable Red Riding Hood paper finger puppets to role-play the story of Red Riding Hood! Link a writing activity with these games, such as writing a day in the life story for a character you are playing or sending an imaginary letter to your favourite character in the story.

7. Rewrite a famous story.

Sometimes creating new characters or a story plot from scratch can be difficult. To improve your creative writing skills you can take a well-known story, such as Cinderella or any other fairy tale and change it slightly, so it has a different ending or comes from a different character’s perspective. For example, you can write from the point of view of the ugly stepsisters and how they felt when Cinderella found her Prince Charming! Or what if Prince Charming chose the stepsisters over Cinderella, what would she have done to escape?

8. Use image prompts to inspire you!

Image prompts, such as photographs, paintings, or a picture in a magazine can be great. You can even take your own pictures when on a day out or on holiday. When you come home, for each picture you can write an interesting caption to describe it. You can even try creating a whole story from all your holiday photos!

9. Incentivise your writing!

When writing, try setting yourself some small goals. For example today I will aim to write 100 words. Once you achieve this goal, give yourself a reward. This can be anything you like, such as going out with your friends, watching your favourite film or playing your favourite game. The important thing is that you stay motivated when writing. This is most important when trying to improve your creative writing skills.

10. Connect writing with your interests.

If you love football, why not write about your favourite footballer? How would you feel if you met them? What would you say to them? Why not write an imaginary letter to them? Whatever you enjoy doing, you can link any writing activity to it!

Dissect Writing That You Admire

Find a handful of recent blog posts you really like, then print them out. Next, just like your high school English teacher did, take a red pen and highlight things you liked: certain sentences, turns of phrase, even entire paragraphs. Examine why you like these elements, and see if there are any common threads in your favored reading material. See how writers take one subject and transition into another. Apply these techniques to your own work.

Immediately, you’re hooked by Morris’ opening. You can’t not read to see what happens next. The pacing is excellent, it grabs your attention, and best of all, it keeps you reading. This piece was first published back in June, and I still remember it. Read the full post here, and see how Morris masterfully tells the story of a band named Death and how this relates to writing content.

Interesting details about setting and location

Another way of keeping your reader interested is to bring your essay to life with details about setting and location, just as creative writers do. Essays can become quite dry if you focus solely on the academic problems, but you can make them more interesting by peppering them with details. This may not work quite so well for a scientific essay, but it’s certainly relevant for some humanities subjects, in particular English literature, history and archaeology. For example, an essay about the Roman emperor Augustus could mention that he lived a famously modest lifestyle, quoting details from Roman writers and archaeological evidence that support this: Suetonius mentions his “low bed” (interesting because of what it says about accepted standards of Roman beds!) and coarse bread and cheese diet, and the relatively small and non-lavish remains of his house on the Palatine Hill in Rome back up the idea of his having lived a modest life.
Incidental details like these can actually prove to be more significant than you initially realise, and you can use them to build your argument; in the case of Augustus, for example, his modest lifestyle is particularly important when seen in the context of Rome’s troubled history with kings. As he gradually acquired more power and became Rome’s first emperor, he had to avoid coming across as being too ‘regal’, and the little details we know about his way of life are significant in light of this. So, not only have you brought your essay to life, but you’ve raised an interesting point, too.

Few writers get it right first time. Once you’ve written a first draft, read through it and think about whether the order of your points is optimal and whether what you’ve written actually makes sense. It’s easy in the age of computers to chop and change – you can simply copy and paste part of your essay into another part where it might fit better, and then make minor changes to your wording so that it flows. After you’ve finished editing, have a final read through and check that you’re happy with the wording. Don’t forget to proofread to ensure that your spelling and grammar is impeccable!

And finally… record your ideas

Keeping a notebook to hand helps you gather good ideas when they come to you.

Creative writers swear by having a notebook with them at all times, ready to jot down any ideas that suddenly spring to mind. You can adopt the same principle for your essay-writing, because you never know when the inspiration might strike. Have a think about your essay topic when you’re out and about; you’d be surprised what occurs to you when you’re away from your normal place of study.
As you can see, there are more similarities between two apparently unrelated kinds of writing than you might have realised. It is, of course, possible to go too far with the creative writing idea when you’re essay-writing: literary devices aren’t always appropriate, and your essay still needs to retain objectivity and conform to the more formal conventions of academic writing. But there are certainly techniques to be borrowed from creative writing that will help your essays stand out from the crowd and give your teacher or lecturer a welcome break from the monotony of essay-marking.

Sources:

https://www.imagineforest.com/blog/10-ways-improve-creative-writing-skills/
https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2014/08/07/improve-writing-skills
https://www.oxford-royale.com/articles/techniques-creative-writing-improve-essays/

Rather than being judgmental or hostile toward other people’s success, confident people celebrate others and feel genuine happiness for them rather than envy or comparison. They are inspired to learn what they can about how others succeed. They don’t rationalize others’ successes or their own failures.

Confidence and Behavior

Confident Behavior	Behavior Associated With Low Self-Confidence
Doing what you believe to be right, even if others mock or criticize you for it.	Governing your behavior based on what other people think.
Being willing to take risks and to go the extra mile to achieve better things.	Staying in your comfort zone, fearing failure, and avoiding risk.
Admitting your mistakes and learning from them.	Working hard to cover up mistakes and hoping that you can fix the problem before anyone notices.
Waiting for others to congratulate you on your accomplishments.	Extolling your own virtues as often as possible to as many people as possible.
Accepting compliments graciously. “Thanks, I really worked hard on that prospectus. I’m pleased you recognize my efforts.”	Dismissing compliments offhandedly. “Oh, that prospectus was nothing, really. Anyone could have done it.”

Self-confidence is vital in almost every aspect of our lives, yet many people struggle to find it. Sadly, this can become a vicious cycle: people who lack self-confidence are less likely to achieve the success that could give them more confidence.

For example, you may not be inclined to back a project that’s pitched by someone who’s visibly nervous, fumbling, or constantly apologizing. On the other hand, you’re persuaded by someone who speaks clearly, holds their head high, and answers questions with assurance.

Confident people inspire confidence in others: their audience, their co-workers, their bosses, their customers, and their friends. And gaining the confidence of others is one of the key ways to succeed. In the following sections, we’ll see how you can do this.

What Is Confidence?

Confidence can refer to a general sense of belief and trust in your own ability to control your life or it might be more situation-specific. For example, you might have high self-confidence in an area of expertise but feel less confident in other areas.

Having a healthy level of self-confidence can help you become more successful in your personal and professional life. Research has found, for example, that people who are more confident tend to achieve more academically.

Confidence can also play a role in the motivation to pursue your goals, with studies linking higher levels of self-confidence in athletes with increased motivation to practice their sport of choice. Your level of confidence even affects how you present yourself to others.

Ways to build confidence:

Figure out where your lack of confidence stems from.

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Understand what self-confidence feels like for you.

Take some time to figure out what confidence feels like in your body. A good question to ask is “How will you know that you’ve reached a satisfactory level of self-confidence?” Perhaps you will start speaking up more at work. You might finally wear that outfit you’ve always wanted to. You may even introduce yourself to your crush at your co-working space. This will be different from person to person, so it doesn’t have to make sense to anyone else. This is your personal measurement of confidence.

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Align with yourself.

If you find yourself frequently using the word “should,” (for example, I should be married by 30, I should have a house by next year, or I should have my life together by now), take a step back and reflect. Where is this “should” coming from?

Start small.

Shirin Eskandani, life coach and founder of Wholehearted Coaching, says one way to build self-confidence is to make small promises to yourself and then follow through. “And the key word is small. Do things that are a stretch but also realistic for you. So perhaps if you’re not a morning person, not committing to waking up at 6 a.m. every day to do a morning routine but instead trying out an evening routine.”

Adopt a growth mindset.

A growth mindset encourages you to explore beyond your current skills and knowledge, keeping the possibility of improvement open. Instead of using phrases like “I’m not confident,” just add “yet” to it, which transforms the old belief into “I’m not confident yet.” This adds the qualifier that you are in the process of gaining skills to become confident.

A 2019 study found that growth mindset interventions led to better math grades for high schoolers and improved even more when students were immersed in environments that encouraged growth mindset principles. So it’s worth exploring your new growth mindset with like-minded people.

Know you will fail, and that’s OK.

We live in a failure-averse culture where people mostly just talk about their accomplishments. Rarely do you ever get to hear about people’s accounts of failure. Understanding that failure happens and is a part of the process of living will help you to live more fully.

“For a lot of us, we were usually taught that self-confidence comes from achievements,” certified life coach and leadership coach Nicole Cruz tells mindbodygreen. “However, this means that when we achieve, we feel great about our abilities, but when we fail, our self-confidence takes a hit. I truly believe that self-confidence comes from our own thoughts about our abilities rather than external achievements. So that regardless of whether we succeed or fail, we have the power to retain our self-confidence.”

Stand up to your inner critic.

Sometimes you might hesitate to trust yourself because you’ve received critical feedback from authority figures earlier in life, like parents, teachers, or community leaders, and you have adopted their criticisms as your own beliefs. But there comes a point when this feedback no longer serves your current life. Standing up to those old criticisms can unlock a new level of confidence.

“Confidence can also be built by rewriting the narratives in our heads about our worthiness. This involves identifying self-limiting beliefs and reframing them,” Shanmugavelayutham explains. “Often the voice in our head that tells us we are not good enough is not our authentic voice but an aggregate of all the voices of those who have criticized us in the past. When we talk back to the inner critic enough, the confident inner-child that we lost touch with can reemerge.”

Understand that emotions and feelings are temporary.

Emotions go through a cycle of beginning, middle, and end. Although emotions can feel really intense in the moment, they are only temporary. At the very basic level, emotions are physiological responses to stimuli in your environment. If your Wi-Fi goes out right before your work presentation, you may experience an acute pang of stress. If you receive a surprise package from your sister, you may be overcome by heartfelt joy. If you get a text from your ex, you may feel a sharp streak of hot sadness. Whatever the stimuli and paired emotion, they’re all data points to inform your next action step.

In terms of confidence, any emotion like anxiety, stress, or fear that is holding you back from taking action is only temporary. Once it subsides, you can make your next move. As the saying goes, “Feel the fear and do it anyway.”

Focus on what you can control.

“A lot of times, we base our self-confidence on things we actually have no control over—what other people think, the outcome of a project, others’ reactions, etc.,” Cruz explains. “To build self-confidence, we need to release our attachment to the things we can’t control and start basing our self-confidence on what we do have control over.”

Self-confidence and self-esteem: Are they the same?

We often use self-confidence and self-esteem interchangeably because they’re closely related. Self-confidence is most genuine and durable when it derives from healthy self-esteem. While they share similarities, there are distinct differences between the two.

Self-confidence is outward-facing. It’s what you put out to the world and what people around you see. Self-esteem is inward-facing and not always noticeable from the outside. Your confidence can come from knowledge and experience, whereas self-esteem is more about knowing yourself and valuing your self-worth. Low self-esteem or low self-confidence can cause self-doubt and negatively impact your mental health, well-being, and performance.

Often, people tend to rely on their self-confidence for happiness in life. Instead of working on their self-esteem, which is about knowing and loving yourself, strengths and weaknesses, and developing an internal sense of worth, people work on their projected image and how others perceive them. This focus on projected confidence in order to seem successful can backfire without also developing self-esteem. People may not realize you have low self-esteem, but eventually, those you connect with will see through your self-confidence.

It’s crucial to note that self-confidence won’t endure without healthy self-esteem. It will be shaken when you find yourself in unfamiliar terrain. But with both, you’ll thrive. When your self-esteem is steady and your well-being is good, your self-confidence shines brighter. If you love and value yourself, you’ll embrace your strengths and weaknesses in any situation, and your self-esteem will motivate you to be a more confident person.

What are some tips to be more confident?

Be proud of yourself

You should also celebrate your smallest victories however you’d like. If a big bowl of ice cream will do that for you, go for it. As you track your progress, make sure to think back to where you started. Think about how that version of you would be proud of where you are today.

Don’t be afraid to open up

It can be scary to be vulnerable with new people and within your surroundings. But as you’re learning new things and stepping outside of your comfort zone, don’t be afraid to let yourself open up. Be present with where you are and what you’re doing. As you grow, you can acknowledge your fear and worries, but don’t let that prevent you from exposing yourself to new things.

Be specific

You have to hone in on yourself to figure out what aspects you want to be more confident in. Where do you lack confidence? Where are you super confident? Identifying these aspects will help you be specific with your goals. Once you have a plan, you won’t feel overwhelmed. Discover what would give you confidence and start making purposeful actions towards obtaining it.

References:

https://www.mindtools.com/selfconf.html
https://www.verywellmind.com/how-to-boost-your-self-confidence-4163098
https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/how-to-build-confidence
https://www.betterup.com/blog/how-to-build-confidence