Tuesday, November 26, 2019

These 10 Most Useless Jobs Will Make You Feel Great About Your Work

These 10 Most Useless Jobs Will Make You Feel Great About Yur WorkThese 10 Most Useless Jobs Will Make You Feel Great About Your WorkLets face it. Some of us feel bored or useless in our current professions. Often we feel like were not really accomplishing anything or moving in any direction. This kind of frustration is hard to overcome and often results in changing jobs.According to a recent survey, legal professions have been ranked the dullest. They are followed by other yawn-inducing careers in management, support functions and finance control.To comfort those who hate their jobs, weve looked at some of the most useless jobs in the world. Theyll hopefully make you recognise the creativity that your job involves. Or the unbearable dullness youve come to accept and should deal with right away.1. Restroom AttendantGuardians of the sanctuary, these people do nothing but make our trips to public toilets uncomfortable. Sitting there all day, they watch you closely as you follow the rul es. And their main task is to prevent you from entering without paying.Lets imagine a world without them. Would any of us miss the experience of having a total stranger squirt soap in our hands or give us gracefully some toilet paper?2. Lifeguard at the Swimming OlympicsThe Olympics host the worlds fastest and strongest sportsmen in the universe. Take swimming for example. The performance of Michael Phelps and others prove their direct affiliation to aquatic animals. But not even these demigods are free from followinghealth and safety rules. Following the regulations, a massive fleet of lifeguards is always on hand to help them should they get into trouble.3. Elevator OperatorThese peoples job is to press the floor button for whoever enters the elevator. They earn a meager salary for traveling up and down inside thesetiny steel boxes. And for performing this complex activity they need a unique qualification of, you guessed it,pressing buttons.This custom might have come from the tim es when elevators were much more complicated. But now in the 21st century, the profession has no reason to exist.4. Pet PsychicCould you build your career on pretending that you can read the minds of strangers pets? Indeed, relaying what theyre thinking to their masters takes courage. But the advice that will foster the intimate relationship with their darlings will be much appreciated.This profession usually involves cats and dogs. No one knows why, but who the hell cares what a fish is thinking? Perhaps that this is one of the most useless jobs in the whole universe.5. Parking AttendantAlthough ridiculously outdated, this profession totenstill exists. These people are the last remnants in places where machines havent had their go yet. One can nothing but admire parking attendants for doing their job with full dedication in the harshest of weather conditions.6. Subway PusherIt seems highly unlikely that youd dream of becoming a subway pusher in megacities like Tokyo, NYC or Madrid. This phenomenon can now be seen mainly in Asia, although the profession originated almost a century ago in NYC. They spend their days jamming a never-ending conveyor belt of human mass into a train carriage before the door shuts. Not even the euphemistic term of passenger arrangement staff does help make this profession more enjoyable.7. Night Security GuardImagine yourself sitting outside in a bad weather all night. And you have do that knowing several affordable cameras and alarms could do the job for you. Whats more, your world is turned upside down. Your shift may start as late as 10 or 11 pm and end well after the sun comes up. These night watchmen cannot avoid working any night of the week, even on weekends and holidays. Not an ideal profession when you want to lead an ordinary social and healthy lifestyle.8. Toll Booth OperatorThere are still people sitting in the toll booths, fully immersed in their job. Theyre handing out change while giving you that familiar blank stare. How long could you sit there knowing that a machine can break a $10 banknote much faster and far more accurately than you? Definitely one of the most useless jobs out there.9. ATM GuardYes, certain banks in India and Europe actually employ ATM guards. Is there anything more bizarre than than people guarding an automated system that was meant to replace bank tellers?10. Prime Minister of North KoreaNorth Korea has a Prime Minister Pak Pong-Ju has been serving in that office since April 2013.Never heard of him? Thats quite understandable. His achievements are dwarfed by the performance of the infamous Kim Jong-un, Chairman of the Workers Party. Hes the only supreme leader of North Korea, making the work of his prime minister invisible.Just the tip of the iceberg These professions are only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Even though your job might not be as pointless as the ten most useless jobs above, you might be seriously questioning the usefulness of your current position.Dont d espair. Youre not supposed to wither away or die from ennui. If even after reading this your job leaves you cold, theres a solution.If youre stuck doing the same mind-numbing task or clock-watching till you can drink yourself into oblivion, its definitely time for a change. Most useless jobs have their smarter counterparts in fulfilling, meaningful careers. So why not opt for those right away?Writing your first resume but dont know where to start? Check out our exhaustive resume guide and get hired before the end of JanuaryShare Your Feedback or Ideas in the Comments

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Appeasing Your Robot Overlords How to Make Sure A Human Sees Your Resume

Appeasing Yur Robot Overlords How to Make Sure A Human Sees Your ResumeAppeasing Your Robot Overlords How to Make Sure A Human Sees Your ResumeIf youre like most people, youve sent an application to a company, after spending time customizing it and creating the perfect cover letter. Within a few minutes of sending it in, you get a rejection emaille from the company or even worse, you never hear from them.When this happens, your resume was never seen by a human being, and your cover letter was never read. It was automatically rejected by an applicant tracking ordnungsprinzip (ATS), software designed to help hiring managers wade through hundreds of resumes. Large and midsize firms almost always use these systems to make the volume of applications manageable. A typical job posting could receive as many as several hundred applications. An ATS is intended to screen out people who are underqualified or overqualified, leaving only the best applicants.In practice, however, applicant tracking systems basically screen out everything that doesnt have the right formatting or the right keywords. Its estimated that about 75% of applications dont make it through the ATS, and this isnt because those people werent qualified.Youre getting rejected by unthinking, unfeeling robots. These systems arent going away anytime soon, and until the software becomes more sophisticated and gains a better understanding of context and nuance, its something that you have to work with.For now, its time to welcome our new robot overlords. To avoid the grim reality of contemporary unemployment, youll need to appease them as best you can.Why Does My Resume Keep Getting Rejected?If your resume keeps getting rejected by applicant tracking systems, theres probably a reason. The good news is that you can fix it, giving yourself a chance to get your resume seen by an actual person. Here are some of the most common issues with peoples resumes.The ATS Cant Process Your Resume CorrectlyEnsure that the soft ware can process your resume properly by sticking to formats that work well with applicant tracking systems. When using a PDF file you want to make sure it is a readable PDF. A readable PDF contains actual text that a machine can read. An image PDF, by contrast, might contain text but an ATS wont be able to read this text. To verify that your PDF resume is readable you can simply copy and paste a line of text into Word if it copies/pastes nicely then youre in good shape. When you are applying for a position you can verify that everything will be read properly by reviewing your resume in the HTML box that typically appears during the application process, if you see anything that looks off at this point simply edit the text directly in the HTML area. Even the most basic resumes can look off in this HTML area so dont worry that youve done something wrong if this happens, just be prepared to clean up as needed here.The ATS Cant Read Your HeadingsApplicant tracking systems sort things o ut based on section headings. For that reason, youll need to stay standard and generic with them. Use standard issue headings like Experience, Professional Experience, Key Skills, Core Competencies, Education, Professional Profile, etc. If you use the wrong heading, the software might just skip the entire section. Remember, youre elend trying to impress a human, youre trying to input data into software.Youre not using the right targeted keywords.When an applicant tracking system reads your resume, its specifically looking for certain keywords that were determined by the employer. You need enough keywords and key phrases for your resume to make it through. To find keywords, look closely at the job description. Use the same terms and labels that the job posting uses to improve your chances.Youre using too many keywords.It would seem that over-optimization is, in fact, possible. You cant just stuff your resume with a big bullet list of various keywords. Having a robust professional pro file and key skills section is great as this will help get some necessary keywords into your resume. But its advised that this area doesnt take up more than a third of a page combined. If you have a key skills section that contains more than 18 lines of key skills you may want to prioritize and cut some unnecessary terms out.Answer online application questions thoroughly.In many cases, youll need to fill out an application online, as well as submit your actual resume. Its important to fill in everything if you can, because otherwise, the ATS may throw out your application.Optimizing Your Resume for SuccessTo have a shot at almost any job with a midsize to large firm, you need to make sure your resume is optimized with proper keywords and formatting so that it caters to what the applicant tracking system is looking for. At Resume Yeti, we help you create fantastic resumes that appeal to humans and robots alike. Give it a try today, and watch your response rate go through the roof.

Our coffee cravings impair our ability to learn, new study finds

Our coffee cravings impair our ability to learn, new study findsOur coffee cravings impair our ability to learn, new study findsFor those of us who crave the sweet elixir of caffeine, theres a reason to keep it going when we skip our morning cup of coffee, it can have far-reaching consequences to our memories, as one study found out.University of Tasmania researchers got 55 regular coffee drinkers to participate in a memory challenge where they had to recall unrelated words in the right order. But first, half of the participants were induced into a state of craving.The researchers poured a cup of freshly brewed black coffee right in front of them. They asked these poor participants to imagine what it would be like to have a cup of your favorite coffee right at this moment, and they told them that under no circumstances would they be allowed to have the coffee right in their reach.Coffee cravings impair our ability to memorizeThe other half of the participants got to drink their morni ng coffee like they normally would and were asked to imagine their favorite holiday. So half of the participants were irritated and craving caffeine and the other half were imagining their vacation in the Maldives. Unsurprisingly, the caffeine-craving participants significantly underperformed on the memory challenges compared to the control group. Researchers suggest that this is because when youre craving something, it blocks out other thoughts, and makes it hard for you to concentrate on the task at hand.Cravings on memory performance can be considered a special case of cognitive load, the study states. Cravings trigger consumption schemas and the inhibition of these schemas requires cognitive resources, leaving fewer resources available for other cognitive tasks.So if you have a big test coming up, dont skip your morning coffee if youre already a regular drinker. Although there are naysayers about coffee consumption, the beverage has been experiencing a renaissance as studies tou ting its benefits have been coming out of the woodworks this year. First, there was a 15-year review of coffee studies that found that our healthy bodies can handle up to four cups of coffee without experiencing adverse effects. Then, there was recent research that found a link between drinking coffee and living a longer life.If youre already a coffee drinker, be aware of its significant effects on you- which can be as amazing as living longer or as terrible as forgetting your memories.