9 Companies That Can Make or Break Your Career

9 Companies That Can Make or Break Your Career9 Companies That Can Make or Break Your Career You may think its all about what you do that helps you climb the corporate ladder or keeps you on the bottom rung. But where you work and whom you work for also play a large part in the success- or lack thereof- in your career. In other words, there are companies that can make your career- and there are ones that will break it . To help you know the difference, here are nine you should work for or run from.Dont shy away from a small company, or one run by a family. What it may lack in industry heft, it may make up for in more personalized relationships and career development at a mom-n-pop outfit, you may find you get more face-time with your boss, whos willing to teach you the ins and outs of the business. Or maybe youll the weg to move up more quickly through the ranks. Either way, it might be worth it.When youve got careergoals, its only smart to hitch your wagon to a company thats on the rise. A fast-growth outfit is headed up theyre hiring for all the right reasons, creating new positions, earning new clients, and finding other ways to expand- all of which meanthat theres ample opportunity for you to really spread your wings here. In a fast-growth outfit, you dont feel the need to leave, because a new opportunity could be just one door down.3. The Business With a Great LeaderAs they say, success trickles down from the top. When you work for a company with a great leader - one who leads by example, whos willing to mentor and teach , who cares about your success as an individual as much as he cares about the success of the company- you cant help but shine and move quickly up the corporate ladder. Some places set the standard for the whole industry, and those are the companies for which you want to work. Theyre the best of the best , and who doesnt want to learn from the best- and put the best on your resume? You dont have to stay in this k ind of company forever but stay long enough to learn the ropes and earn bragging rights for your next gig, which will appreciate benefitting from all you learned there. A company with a high-turnover is a big red flag . Think about it if its employees are constantly jumping ship, that doesnt say anything good about the management or the company itself. And if the company is always firing its employees, you wont be able to work without fear that youll be the next one on the proverbial chopping block- and working in a state of anxiety wont exactly inspire your best performance. Aim instead to work for a company people would hate to leave because its that great.Theres a difference between working for an inspiring leader , which can make your career, and working for a leader who wont share his or her success with the rest of the team. In top-heavy companies, leaders snag the credit for every single success while passing the blame to their employees for every single thing that goes wrong. Thats bad for a few reasons it can be difficult to rise through the ranks in this kind of company, and it can be tough to build up a resume with a boss who wont admit you ran a stellar campaign or brought in new business. Try instead to work for a company with a leader unafraid to recognize your good work and help you improve.When you think of a company with poor work culture , you might picture those with drama thats played out in newspapers or on TV- the kind youd be embarrassed to keep on your resume. And thats something that can break your career. But even if a companys culture hasnt made it to the news- or the ears of industry insiders- it can still hold you back. Thats because a company with a negative culture can leave you frustrated, uninspired, and unmotivated- which wont help you move up in this company or move on to the next. Instead, you should want to work somewhere that inspires all its employees to do their best - and that will reward them for hard work.Yo u could waste years of your career at this kind of company- the kind that always promises a promotion or a raise but never, ever delivers. Perhaps they drew you in with the promise of increasing your compensation after a review- but they always have an excuse for never scheduling it. Or maybe they told you that most employees move into new, better roles after a year- and youve been in the same position for three years now. Either way, youre going nowhere fast. Work for a company with a proven track record of keeping its promises, and you can make your career instead. You may be long done with college, but your education should continue throughout your career- and its key to find an employer whos willing to help facilitate that continued education, in the form of supporting you on conferences, classes, training, and other development opportunities. If a company is content to keep you stagnant, youre in a job, that will ultimately be a dead end, and you may find yourself looking f or a new job ASAP. So when or if you do, look for companies that value education.

Customize this Outstanding Office Clerk Resume Sample

Customize this Outstanding Office Clerk Resume SampleCustomize this Outstanding Office Clerk Resume SampleCreate Resume Jasmine Cooper100 Broadway LaneNew Parkland, CA 91010Cell (555) 987-1234example-emailexample.comProfessional SummaryHighly detailed office clerk with strong aptitude in communications and use of varied office equipment. Extensive history of administrative clerical work in multiple departments of small to medium-sized businesses. Experienced in Microsoft Office software and other key programs within both PC and Mac environments.Core QualificationsProfessional demeanorExcellent communications SkillsEarly adapter and learnerOffice software excellencePolished personal appearanceAttention to detail60 WPM typing speedExperienceMarketing Office Clerk, May 2007-May 2015SMA Marketing Agency New Cityland, CAProvided administrative support to growing marketing agency.Converted over 2600 traditional office files to electronic system.Ensured complete and concise documentation of client meetings.Provided typing support to copywriters during brainstorming and creative sessions.Completed all sales and marketing correspondence mail merges, ensured 100% deliverability and appropriately routed client replies.General Office Clerk, January 2000-April 2007Administrative Associates of New Cityland New Cityland, CAPerformed interim, backup and seasonal administrative support to contracted clients on an as-needed basis.Developed consistent kusine of clients specifically requesting repeat services over other contract providers.Ensured client satisfaction for all completed administrative work during contract term.Education1999 Bachelor of Arts, Creative WritingUniversity of California New Cityland, CACustomize ResumeOffice Clerk Resume Questions1. Which skills are the best to list on an office clerk resume?Office clerks rely on a specialized suite of skills to be effective at their job. Your resume needs to bring those skills front and center to leave employers with no doubt of your qualifications. Use your opening summary, bulleted skills list, and work history to work in a strong mix of keywords that demonstrate the skills valuable to an employer, just as our office clerk resume sample demonstrates. Such skills can include filing, correspondence, project support, scheduling, meeting management, expense tracking, and many more. Use your target jobs to identify what skills employers seek, and integrate them into your resume.2. Whats the best length for an office clerk resume?Your best bet for a resume is to keep it short and simple. That means keeping your resume to one page in length, segmented neatly into your summary, skills, work history, and education. Avoid bogging your resume down in too many unnecessary details. Keep yourself focused on high-level statements.If youre struggling to keep your resume at one page, use our office clerk resume sample as a guide to demonstrate how its done. leise need help? Our resume builder lets you create a resume in minutes, producing a dazzling one-page document.3. Whats the best resume template to use for an office clerk resume?Just as with the length of your resume, simplicity is key in choosing a resume template. Employers want your resume to reflect the organization skills youll use on the job, so choose a template with a clean, modern look that minimizes embellishments and focuses on content above all.4. How can you separate your office clerk resume from other candidates resumes?The formatting you use to differentiate resume sections will contribute greatly to the attractiveness of your resume. Review our office clerk resume sample to understand the best ways to format the blocks of your resume for a well-structured document.You want employers to know you as a candidate who rises above and beyond to meet the challenges of the job. Thats why you need to announce your accomplishments in your resume. Dont be shy about discussing how your efforts made a difference to your past emp loyers.5. What should you do to make sure your office clerk resume makes it past an ATS?An ATS, or applicant tracking system, is a type of screening tool employers use to cut down on unqualified applicants using automated matching algorithms. These algorithms scan your resume for key phrases and determine if you score a high enough match for desirable skills to progress to the next stage.To increase your match percentage, use a skills section like the one in our office clerk resume sample to include keywords taken directly from your target jobs description. Include them throughout your work history and summary as well.

Salary Negotiation Tips Compensation Potential versus Reality

Salary Negotiation Tips Compensation Potential versus RealitySalary Negotiation Tips Compensation Potential versus RealityIs there a way to renegotiate when you believe you are under-compensated?Editors note Salary expert Jack Chapman and Ladders want to help you negotiate the best deal you can. You can e-mail us your salary negotiation questions or situations or use salaryQ to submit them via Twitter. Due to the volume of inquiries, we may not be able to respond to all questions submitted.Q Im in a tough spot. I was hired by a small business to sell a very custom product. Led to believe there was great potential, I accepted a cousine and commission rate that changed every six months, which should have amounted to a number that was satisfactory in the first year. It was obvious by the third month that the potential was overstated. Now in month seven, my employer wants to add responsibility/opportunity from other areas of his business to retain me and attempt to increase sales.I appre ciate his efforts, but I am practically at my bottom-line number now and the new proposed package is much leaner in all areas. The additional responsibility includes selling a service with a sales cycle that is likely to be three to six months at best. I have no immediate opportunities. I had also previously negotiated perks such as a four-day work week and a car allowance. I am paid twenty-five cents per mile at the moment, but my employer intends to remove that. What do you recommend that I negotiate now? Id like to keep my job, but feel incredibly undercompensated.A Every time you turn around your compensation goes down. Twenty-five cents per mile is way less than the IRS guideline at the moment. Your compensation both in base and commission are also being reduced.I dont know enough about the company youre working for to know whether they are wildly profitable are not. If the company is having a hard time making its own profits, it makes it all the harder for employees to negotia te better compensation. If the well is dry, the well is dry. So looks to me like it may be time for you to find another employer.You dont need to give up on this completely, however. You want to have the possibility of a discussion with your boss, and you want to do it in a way that leaves the lines of communication open. You can start with trying to find common ground I think we are both aware that the targets we had for compensation started out close, but the reality is turning out quite different. Then you want to state what your ideal compensation looks like, and ask your boss if you can discuss whether theres any way in the foreseeable future that you can achieve the kind of compensation youre looking for. If you can turn this into a venture where both of you are working towards getting you the compensation you need, then there is some likelihood that this strategy will succeed.