One of the most important things that go into getting a job is your resume. Your resume needs to show off a number of different things to illustrate to a hiring manager that you can do the job. The importance of a resume cannot be overstated.

Source: themogulmom.com

However, sometimes simply listing your skills and experience isn’t enough. There are some crucial resume updates that you should be making in order to give yourself the best chance of success.

Whether you are a single mother, a parent juggling your job search with childcare or a student fresh from university, these resume updates can help you out. Without any further ado, let’s look at a few resume updates that will help you land that job.

Change Up the Format with a Template

One thing that could potentially be holding your resume back without you even knowing is your template. There exist hundreds of different resume templates out there, and each may be the best choice in a certain situation. Take time to look and see if your resume is as optimized as it could be.

Unfortunately, completely reformatting your resume or making up a template by scratch isn’t always easy. This is especially true if you are a busy mom or someone who is not that technically savvy. Thankfully, there is a solution. If you visit ResumeBuild, you will find a resume maker resource that can help you choose and discover a new format for your resume with ease. It can also help you out with great examples of how to best design your resume.

Keep the Most Impressive Things Above the Fold

When looking at a resume, either physical or digital, people’s eyes start at the top of the page or screen. As a result, you should keep your most impressive feats and skills above the fold. This essentially means keep it high enough on the resume that people don’t need to scroll down or turn a flipped page to see it.

The global attention span appears to be shrinking, so if you can’t wow the hiring manager with the initial part of your resume, they are likely to look elsewhere. Keep this in mind when deciding how to organize the info on your resume.

Shorten it Up

How to shorten your resume

As mentioned before, people have less patience than ever before. Many hiring managers simply don’t have the patience to read through a resume that is three, four or five pages long. If you want to give your resume the best chance of being seen and fully-read, consider keeping it short.

Generally, one page for a resume is recommended, with two being the maximum in many cases. If you are struggling to shrink your resume, be sure to look online as there are several great examples of professional one-page resumes. Or, perhaps you can also submit a CV, which is a more detailed and thorough look at your education, experience, and skills.

Provide Numbers and Data if Possible

While it is great to list off your skills and experience, many hiring managers want to see a little more. In particular, many of them want to learn exactly how you were able to help your last company succeed. Any time you include a general skill or type of experience, try to provide some type of data or numbers to back it up.

For example, instead of saying that you “helped train new staff”, you could say that you “educated and mentored hundreds of new staff members through a training course that I created”. Anything that can give more detail to your claims or skills will be a welcomed addition to your resume.

Use Important Keywords in Your Resume

In any job description or posting, you will likely notice several different keywords that appear quite frequently. Instead of simply seeing these and moving on, consider adding them to your resume. Of course, you shouldn’t overdo it, but a few select keywords here and there can help signal to the hiring manager that you can be what they are looking for.

In addition to helping you target your resume to a specific job, it can also help your resume get noticed. Many companies use applicant tracking systems that automatically sift through resumes based on their content. So if you include some of the keywords in your resume, there is a good chance it will get noticed by the system.

Use White Space Successfully

When creating a resume, white space is your friend. It can help break up sections, as well as make it easier to skim. Most people read resumes a few seconds at a time, so if it is a wall of text, it will be much harder to get through.

This helps to keep your resume simple and elegant, as well as very easy to read. Trying to fit too much information on one page can make a resume look cluttered and overloaded with information.

In conclusion, keep in mind the advice given here and be sure that the resume updates you decide to implement will be able to help you land that job.

Setting up multiple income streams for your online business is one of the best moves you can make for your financial future.

Original source: mompreneurmoney.com

Simply put–if you only have one income stream, you’re putting all your eggs in one basket. If that one basket gets obliterated for any reason, well, so does your income.

It’s really easy to become dependent on one main source of income, especially if it’s well-paying.

However, no matter how safe or reliable it may seem, it can disappear in the blink of an eye leaving you with zero…zilch…nada.

This is the precise reason that I built a business that encompasses a wide variety of revenue streams that come in from different sources.

My income is not dependent on any one thing (even though some income streams bring in more money than others).

How can you diversify your income as a mom entrepreneur?

While there are certainly many ways to diversify your income (coaching, freelancing, etc.), I thought it would be most appropriate for me to discuss my top three income streams with you.

1. Passive Income with Affiliate Marketing

Some people get immediately turned off when you start talking about affiliate marketing.

Either they think it’s too time-consuming or they don’t really look at it as a valid business model because you’re promoting someone else’s products rather than your own.

But I know plenty of people making a full-time, hefty income promoting other people’s products. Believe-you-me, it’s as real a business model as any…with real pay.

Here’s how I use affiliate marketing as an additional income stream:

When I really like a product or service that I am already using, I look into becoming an affiliate for that product or service and sharing it with others.

It’s typically a very natural flow for me to promote it because I can speak about the benefits from a first-hand perspective.

In most cases, I can even show a live tutorial of how I use the product and how it benefits me.

This further builds credibility for the product and makes the sale more likely.

RELATED POST: 6 Affiliate Marketing Tips from a 6-Figure Blogging Boss!

For instance, I promote the web hosting provider I use, the email marketing service I use, and even the website theme designers that I love…just to name a few.

There’s nothing wrong with promoting other people’s businesses and getting paid for it, especially when it’s a product or service that you truly have faith in and believe that others can benefit from as well.

Get started with my Printable Affiliate Marketing Income Planner:

2. Publishing Books as an Income Source

Making money from published books is a great income stream and typically an easier one that you can tackle as an entrepreneur.

Seriously. You can knock out a good non-fiction book in as little as a week if you focus. I’ve done it before:)

But did you know that this income stream can be diversified even further? Here’s what I mean…

As a self-published author, I have the capability to publish multiple different formats of my books to be accessed by different people with different learning preferences. I can publish:

• ebooks
• paperback books
• hardcover books
• pdf books
• and even audio books

Here’s an example of one of my books in 3 different formats: Audio, E-Book, and Paperback…

I get paid for the e-book version when readers purchase it flat out or borrow it from an electronic library.

Then, I get paid a separate payment from those people who opt for the paperback version of the book.

And yes…I also get paid when someone decides to listen to the book on audio.

RELATED CONTENT: How to Overcome Writing Barriers and Write Your Book!

Just a few years back, most of these options would have only been available to those with traditional publishing contracts.

It was either that or you needed ridiculous amounts of expendable income to spend on third-party services to make it happen.

Now, there affordable which allow self-publishers to diversify our income and better serve our readers with multiple formats.

3. Teaching Online Courses for Passive Income

My income from teaching online courses typically surpasses my book publishing income. If this surprises you, let me quickly explain why this is the case.

Generally speaking, an online course has a higher perceived value than a book.

While you may get away with charging $20 for a book, there are other people willing to pay $50 or $100 for the exact same content presented in course format.

This is because they believe that the value they will receive from the course will be much higher due to a higher engagement level.

While publishing books can give you credibility and authority in your niche, teaching is a fantastic way to build trust and better interactions with your customers/readers.

As an online course creator, I often see a much higher engagement level with my online students than I do with those who purchase my books. I enjoy this interaction!

Here are some reasons online business owners avoid creating an online course:

• Think it’s too difficult to get started
• Believe creating their own course will be very expensive
• Don’t believe they have anything worth teaching.

I can nearly guarantee you that getting started is easier than you think.

The startup cost for creating your first online course can be extremely affordable depending on what resources you tap into.

And furthermore, we all have something that we know that we can teach to others.

I tell my students this: You only have to be one step ahead of the person you are teaching to add value. One step ahead can make you the expert.

Platforms like Thinkific, Teachable, Skillshare.com, Udemy.com,  and countless others make creating and publishing an online course easier than it’s ever been.

If you’re interested in learning how to create your first online course, check out my Epic Instructor Lab course.

Are you ready to create multiple income streams?

If you’re not already doing this, it’s time for you to diversify your income as a creative entrepreneur and scale up your business!

While I do believe in having multiple income streams, I must acknowledge that juggling too many income streams at once can become quite overwhelming. This is even more true when you factor in the tax implications associated with your newly-generated income, especially with all of the tax law changes that have taken effect.

Monitoring and maximizing each stream of income takes time. Start with one main income stream and one supplemental income stream. Master those, and then scale up from there.