Here’s a few of our favourite points from the article:

Don’t be cute

Leave out any cute phraseology, pretty fonts, unnecessary anecdotes or attempts at humour in your resume and cover letter. They might strike a chord with a few employers, but trying to be cute in writing can be easily misinterpreted, and you risk alienating the very people you’re trying to impress.

Don’t hide your name

The recruiter or employer reading your CV needs to be able to easily see your name. Put it clearly and prominently at the top of your resume.

Don’t include irrelevant information

A potential employwer probably does not need to know about your bird-watching hobby or your ability to juggle. Instead, use the available space in your cover letter and your resume to showcase your talents and experiences.

Don’t leave unexplained time gaps in your work history

Even in a slow economy, you must explain any reasons that you were out of work for more than six months. If you were raising a child or you went back to school, list this information on your resume.

Check out the full release from Business Insider here.

However, it doesn’t have to be this way. True, it used to be the accepted cultural norm that people would work for the same company until they were old and retired. A job was a job, and it didn’t matter if we particularly enjoyed it. Today, things are different: opportunities and choices exist that never have before. Now more than ever before in history, working and happiness can go together.

A fantastic resource from the Daily Muse contains a list of 15 statements that can help you tell whether you feel good about your current work or if you should make a dramatic change in your life. After each statement you should write whether the statement applies “never,” “rarely,” “sometimes” or “often”.

Here is a sampling of the list of statements:

1. When I get out of bed in the morning, I feel excited.

2. When I fall asleep at night, I feel accomplished.

3. I have fun at my job.

4. My job involves things I love.

5. My job feels like an adventure.

6. People say they enjoy being around me.

7. I do what I want to do at my job.

8. I lose track of time when I get involved in work-related projects.

Check out the complete list of questions here.

You should have “often” listed beside most of the statements. If you don’t, it’s time to step back and take a good look at what you want to get out of your career and your life. You may be able to find ways to be more satisfied with your current job, or you can try for a promotion. Or you may realise that you need to completely change your existing job and go after that dream career that will enable you to write “often” next to each statement, and feel that sense of fulfilment and purpose that you’re currently lacking.

So what were the benefits?

• Improved health – The people on Best Buy’s flex-schedule program were less likely to get sick than their regular “9 to 5” counterparts. And if they did get sick, the ability to work from home saved their colleagues from catching the same illness.
• Improved quality of life – Flex employees were less likely to be emotionally exhausted or suffer from work-family conflicts. They also averaged more than 30 minutes per each night of sleep than colleagues on a non-flexible schedule, and were less likely to have poor eating habits.
• Increased confidence and happiness – The flex workers reported feeling more confident. The freedom to complete their work duties on a flexible schedule let them feel more in control of both their work and personal lives.

How does a flex-schedule arrangement work?

The article noted that flex-schedules will not work for all types of jobs, but did

provide information on how these programs can be successfully implemented. Some tips for success include:

• Accountability – Flex workers that report in and communicate their progress are more likely to stay focused and be successful with flex-schedules.
• Clarity – Having a clear understanding about the amount of work that needs to be completed and how much physical presence in the office is necessary will help make a flex-schedule more successful.

If you’re looking at a career in Internet marketing, software programming, or in a similar technical industry, flexible working arrangements are often possible. After all, you’ll be able to complete a lot of your work at home, or anywhere that has an Internet connection and a computer!

This question is pretty scary for most of us, even people who voluntarily left their jobs. We start talking and don’t know when to stop. Before we know it, we’ve told our prospective employer about our former supervisor’s terrible leadership, the secretary who was always talking and how we hated the work environment so much we used to pull fake sick days just to avoid going into the office.

Unsurprisingly, this question is the cause of many an applicant not getting the job. But don’t despair: Forbes’ advice on how to to successfully answer this question is refreshingly simple and straightforward. Just keep the following job interview tips in mind:

• Don’t lie

Most prospective employers are going to check your references and work history. Don’t tell the company that you quit your job to try another career avenue if you were fired for insubordination.

• Be positive

This is not the time to complain about your former boss and highlight all of his failings. That will reflect poorly on you. Instead, stick to vague phrases like “it wasn’t a good fit” or that you felt that your skills were not being fully utilized.

• Shut up

Get a concise story out and then be quiet. You really don’t want to make this question the one that you give the longest answer to.

• Talk about the current job

Every interview question needs to lead back to the current job and situation. Give your answer to this tricky question a positive spin. For example, if you say that the last job didn’t make the best use of your skills, emphasize what those skills are and how you think the prospective employer would benefit from them.

A few of the world’s more forward-thinking companies would agree – in fact, they build “creative zones” to bring more fun and enjoyment to the workplace, in order to help them attract and retain high calibre staff. It’s a great idea with a high success rate for the companies that have adopted it, and works particularly well in industries that call for creative juice, such as advertising agencies.

A few examples of successful “creative zones”

• A Castle – One company that makes toys for conglomerates Kmart and Wal-Mart has a construction, complete with a moat and a King Arthur round table, where toy inventors gather to come up with new ideas.
• A Racetrack – This creative zone offers the perfect setting for car engineers to brainstorm.
• A Dog House – Fido is sure to be happy after dog treat inventors step into a giant size dog house.

Check out other designs for creative zones here.

How creative zones help

Providing a special spot for employees to collaborate helps to make work fun. Employees who are proud of their offices are more likely to be happy and productive.

These themed thinking areas also help employees get into character so they can come up their best ideas. People can more easily think outside the box when they are in a creative zone.

And did we mention that they just look cool?

First, the benefits:

• Keywords – job boards allow prospective employers to find qualified applicants with the use of specific keywords. If you want to work as a web copywriter, for instance, then this keyword should definitely be mentioned in any CV you post to a job board.
• Access to many employers – job boards let you circulate your resume and credentials with many employers. You can also find job boards that are designated for only specific industries, such as marketing or IT jobs. Try to narrow down to boards where your career interests lie.
• Online support – many job boards feature help with writing resumes and networking yourself. It’s true that every other site user has access to this same information, but how do you know if many will bother to use it? Take advantage of every available resource to maximise your chances of success.
• Networking opportunities – In addition to posting your CV, LinkedIn and other online networking sites allow you receive feedback and suggestions from others. Try to build relationships with people who are in the industry you want to work in.

But watch out for:

• High number of users – many people attempt to find work through job boards, making it difficult to stand out in the crowd. A great way to get an edge over the competition is to have a great CV. See our resume tips section for more information.
• Personal can become professional – tech-savvy companies often look at applicants’ Facebook pages and other online profiles. Even if you have deleted a picture that shows you in a negative light, the company may be able to find these pictures from other people’s profiles. If you are currently looking for a job, you should clean up your social networking profiles and posts to be on the safe side.

Have you had any success with using these job hunting strategies? Do you have any others that have worked for you? Let us know in the comments!

These unconventional interview questions can span a variety of topics, including complicated mathematical questions, logic questions and questions about general beliefs. Here are a few of the standouts:

• How would you solve world hunger?
• How many people are using Facebook in San Francisco at 2:30 p.m. on a Friday?
• If Germans were the tallest people in the world, how would you prove it?
• Which Microsoft Office program would you be and why?

Check out the full list here, and feel free to share what your answer to one of these questions would be in the comments. Hmm, Word or Powerpoint …

Eight Great Resume Tips

The post offered some great suggestions for CV writers. Here are eight of our favourites:

1. Add hyperlinks to writing samples or portfolios
2. Focus on accomplishments, rather than job duties
3. Add videos to CVs that are available online
4. Check your social media networks for anything that is potentially inappropriate and make necessary changes
5. Use LinkedIn to highlight your skills, talents and achievements
6. Make your CV tell a story to make you stand out from the crowd
7. Add a picture to your CV to make it more personable
8. Change the objective statement to a profile that focuses on why the company should hire you

If you are attempting to find a job in the Internet marketing field, these resume tips can help you showcase your skills in a compelling and fresh way. You can add links to your work and keywords that employers will likely search for – a great way to impress a hiring manager working in online marketing. You can also add flash files, charts and video to highlight the accomplishments that you have made throughout your school and working careers.

There are lots of options available, but when it comes to applying for jobs in the digital space, one of the best resume tips is simply to be creative!

Our CEO Gary in SMH

Coming to work each day, it is hard for me to imagine another office environment quite like what we have at E-Web. I’ve never had a working experience where you must have FUN at work, and be happy and successful while doing so. That comes back to our company vision, which is to bring Happiness, Success and Fun to everyone we encounter. In fact it’s kind of hard to call what I do work, as work is usually what a lot of people dread to wake up to each weekday.

When I tell most of my friends and family about our office, many of them are surprised. We have a secluded napping and relaxation room with a comfortable massage chair, where anyone can go to catch some rest at any time during the day. Lunch time isn’t actually the best time to use this room, as it’s right next to our rec room – and our rec room gets plenty loud during lunch. It has a ping pong table, 3 foosball tables, poker and pool tables, DJ decks, and 2 plasma TVs for our Xbox and PS3. The big lunchtime thing right now is our Mortal Kombat tournaments, which often get continued after the working day is complete.

Things get intensely fun in the E-Web Rec Room

With all these toys in our office, my friends and family sometimes ask if we do any work at all. But E-Webbers are actually the hardest working people I’ve ever met. Everyone is behind the vision of spreading Happiness Success and Fun, not only among ourselves and our friends and family, but to our clients as well, who we treat like family. We do this by always trying to do our best, and doing the little things, the extra things to make others feel special.

For example, I work closely with a Campaign Manager called Annie. She is quite new to the E-Web family but she is already making an effort to get to know all her clients’ birthdays – this makes them happy that she is showing that she cares about them. Another Digital Marketing Specialist I work with, Andrew, is always willing to take time out of his day to help me anytime I get stuck working on a client’s website – this makes their campaigns more successful. A group of people in our company recently organised an office party and invited all our clients along for drinks, food and games – this was a lot of fun!

So what does working at E-Web mean to me? In conclusion, I’d say it means being part of a family that cares about me, cares about others, and helps everyone in the family to be the best person they can be.

I'm Theo. Free Oreos at E-Web = Happy

It’s such a cleverly structured question. Think about it for a second. What would you say? How would you respond?

It took me a second to compose my thoughts, and then I answered:

“Well, I’d say that’s disappointing. But you’ve worked so hard to create a totally unique culture here, and you want someone who’s compatible with it – which is me. If I’m not the most qualified, or if I don’t have the deepest knowledge of online marketing, then you can teach me. I want to learn. I want to read. I want to grow. I’ll pick it up in no time. That’s part of my personality. And that can’t be taught.”

There’s something important to take out of this, and that’s the reason that the question was asked. More and more companies are realising that there are more important things than a graduate’s grades when it comes to their employability.

Think about the way schools and universities currently test their students. Exams are an efficient way of testing huge numbers of people equally – everyone gets the same exam, with the same amount of time to complete it, and the same resources at their disposal to study for it. But what does it actually test? It’s a fantastic demonstration of how some students have an incredible memory, or can rote-learn a textbook, or find new ways to cheat.

But it’s a poor demonstration of how that knowledge can be applied in the field, and is totally irrelevant to any real-life situation in the working world. When was the last time that any manager locked their marketing team in a room, took away their access to any helpful resources, and then gave them two hours to write their marketing plan for the next 12 months?

Here’s the inside scoop when it comes to career tips: employability trumps grades. By no stretch of the imagination am I suggesting not to bother with classes. It’s still vitally important to have a deep understanding of what’s happening in your field both locally and world-wide. Self-education, development and a healthy thirst for knowledge are all key ranking factors when it comes to employability.

Thankfully, more and more employers are realising that the way a person fits into the organisation and their employability skills should be given preference to their grades. Topics can be taught and learnt, but personality cannot.

The Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST), the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) and the Business Council of Australia (BCA) have developed a list of vital employability skills. It includes attributes such as:

• Initiative
• Communication
• Teamwork
• Problem solving
• Self management
• Planning
• Learning

You could have a high distinction average at university, but that could have just as much to do with your impressive memory as it would with your planning skills. What it doesn’t reflect is your ability to communicate, work well in a team, possess great people skills, or have a positive attitude.

Want to really impress your potential employer?

Do volunteer work. Get involved in extracurricular activities at school and university. Get letters of recommendation from anywhere you’ve ever worked. Do extra courses to educate yourself and become proficient in the latest technologies. Anything that gives you an edge over your competitors.

And remember to smile.