by Jeepney Hub Dispatchers

A couple of months ago, we talked about how you can take control of your "brand" by cleaning up your online footprint.  But unlike your LinkedIn profile or your personal website, a resume is more fine-tuned and mindful of the call of the specific job to which you are applying.  A resume, in most instances, is an employer's first glimpse into your "professional brand".  It is often the only thing they use to determine whether you have what it takes to get the job done.  It is therefore vital that you take the time to build your resume.  Kate, Jason, Joanne, and JC (a.k.a. Your Dispatchers) have gathered these 8 tips they believe to be the most essential based on their own personal experiences.  Let's get started!   

SUBSTANTIVE CONTENT
1. Use keywords from the job posting on your resume.
This will demonstrate your understanding of the job's responsibilities. By using those keywords, your resume can stand out immediately, whether that large stack of resumes is filtered automatically,      or by actual human resources representatives.

2. Use complete sentences and the least amount of words. 
Brevity is a skill that demonstrates both your writing skills and ability to make good judgment. Yale’s Undergraduate Career Services provides a list of Resume Action Verbs that we encourage you to use.

3. Highlight your accomplishments and your impact. 
Rather than simply reiterating your roles and responsibilities, take the time to identify where you have gone above and beyond on the job that helped your company/organization go to the next level. For example, did you write a big report, secure a new grant, or introduce new protocols and procedures? Let employers know!

4. When possible, quantify your experience. 
This could depend on the industry you're applying to, but more often than not, people like numbers because it means results. How many events did you organize? How much money did you raise? How many staff members did you train and manage? The exact numbers can be an impressive touch to your resume, and show recruiters and interviewers that you can deliver.

VISUAL STRUCTURE
5. Your resume should only be one page. 
The rule of thumb is one page for every ten years of experience.  This applies to job and fellowship applications. The only exceptions would be if you apply for scholarships or funding. In those instances, you may want to highlight as many experiences as possible. However, in job applications, you want to highlight only your most relevant experiences. Employers read many resumes, so by being brief and mindful about which experiences you put on your resume, you can catch their attention faster.

6. The size of your margins, indents, and spacing should be uniform. 
While you don't want your resume to seem cramped, you do want to maximize the space you have for text. Also ensure that the spacing of your bullet points is uniform throughout your resume. You must pay attention to these small details that make your resume not only substantively impressive, but also visually pleasing.

7. Consider moving your educational experience towards the bottom of your resume.
Unfortunately, employers sometimes may automatically pass you over just based on your date of graduation. Rather, let your interviewers see your wide range of work experiences first so that you don't fall into this trap.

EDITING
8. Proofread, proofread, proofread. 
Have friends and colleagues help you edit your resume. Find your most detail-oriented friends and have them look over your draft. Have them check the grammar and spelling, substantive content, and structure. It also helps to have someone else read it to ensure your tone is assertive enough that even they would hire you based on what they read. When asking others to look over your resume, send them a copy of the job description/posting for the job you’re applying for so they can vet that against your resume, and suggest areas of improvement.

RESOURCES AND EXAMPLES
Harvard Kennedy School's Office of Career Advancement and Stanford University's Career Development Center provide more comprehensive resume-building tools and examples.  Below are examples of job descriptions from your Dispatchers:

Fellow, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (New York, NY)
September 2013 – Present

• Draft and conduct research for amicus briefs to the United States Supreme Court.
• Conduct research for projects related to the group’s impact litigation caseload or issue areas such as race discrimination in employment and housing.
• Draft comment letters addressed to legislators regarding proposed changes to statutes and ordinances that have a disproportionate impact on communities of color.

Advancement Assistant, Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences (Santa Monica, CA) 
August 2012 – October 2013

• Analyzed constituent profiles to target key prospects for cultivation.
• Coordinated sponsorship outreach, asking over 200 current and past vendors to support the school’s annual spring event.
• Supported Special Events Manager in all event logistics from managing RSVPs to day-of coordinating.
• Tracked department-wide expenses, maintained budget of about $450,000, and coordinated budget planning meetings. 
• Instituted protocol to effectively track moves management for alumni population of 3,500, whose program exceeded the $300,000 campaign goal.
• Generated alumni gift acknowledgments and ran varied gift and participation reports through Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge.

Communications Fellow, The Greenlining Institute (Berkeley, CA)
August 2011 - August 2012

• 1 of 5 fellows chosen for competitive public policy and leadership development program.
• Developed and implemented the organization’s first-ever comprehensive social media strategy.
• Strengthened brand recognition, grew Twitter audience by 113% (760 to 1620) and Facebook audience by 32% in less than a year.
• Managed 3 social media platforms, curated daily content, and delivered monthly metrics report to measure social impact.
• Led 5-member workgroup to develop organizational strategy to address higher education policy issues.
• Co-authored budget analysis for Assemblywoman Mitchell that resulted in protection of CalGRANT program.
• Planned program for Youth Leadership Symposium where 60 young leaders developed organizing and advocacy skills.

Tam Tran Program and Outreach Fellow, Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (Washington, DC)
February – August 2011

• One of only three staff members to organize APALA’s largest biennial national convention which drew 1,700 attendees from across the country
• Facilitated young leader convention outreach, programming, and caucuses for over 200 young leaders
• Helped raise $5,000 for young leader convention scholarships through organizing fundraisers and individual donor requests.
• Designed curriculum for and launched APALA’s Generations United Mentorship program and Young Leaders Council.

Copyright © 2015 Jeepney Hub.  All Rights Reserved.

I have compiled 5 of the most important milestones for a sound and happy wallet. Keeping in mind that not everyone’s road to financial independence is the same, and not everyone’s story follow the same plot or timeline, I did not limit these milestones to any age range. Of course, the sooner you start, the sooner you can take your finances by the lapel and have it work for you. After all, one of the main ingredients to success is making sound financial decisions. Let’s get started!

1. Maintain a short-term emergency fund and start a long-term emergency fund.

Since emergencies typically come at the worst of times (which is anytime), having an emergency fund (EF) before you start tackling credit card debt, investing, or doing anything else with your money is pretty wise. You won’t want to sacrifice paying down your debt or setting aside a large windfall for your investment portfolio in case you have to pay for an unexpected and/or huge medical bill – by having that EF around, you won’t have to choose which one to pay!

A short-term EF can be used to pay for unexpected car repairs (or towing fees on top of a parking violation, like I experienced just last month), unexpected health expenses (wisdom teeth extraction, anyone?), and house appliance repairs (for those who own appliances). Having a short-term EF ensures that you won’t be set back a couple hundred bucks in a particular month or two. It will also help you avoid charging it on your credit card, which can be way more expensive in the long run if that charge isn’t paid back immediately.

To maximize the use of an emergency fund, start one for the long term by saving between 3 and 6 months worth of living expenses – rent, bills, and sustenance. This will cushion your fall if you experience any period of unemployment from a sudden layoff, for example. 

A great blog called Money Crashers has a great, in-depth article about emergency funds. I personally use online savings accounts to house my emergency funds (Capital One 360, Ally Bank) for their relatively high yields. 

2. Pay off high-interest credit card debt.

If not used wisely, high-interest credit cards can get you into real trouble. If you are swiping that piece of plastic often enough, but are unable to pay off the balance at the end of each month, you are potentially throwing away hundreds or even thousands of dollars in interest each year. 

Back in college, I had a bad habit of just paying the minimum every month. I thought, “WOW, this is great! I can borrow hundreds of dollars for just $15 a month?!” Oh, how naive of me... 

By the time I maxed out my first credit card, I was paying 26% in interest on top of my $700 principle. In total, I easily wasted at least $500 in interest by only paying just a little over the minimum payment, thanks to my high interest rate. And since I kept swiping that piece of plastic, my balance just flatlined – I wasn’t making a single dent!

When I finally realized I could be saving all that cash, I decided to do something drastic. I put a portion of one of my tax refunds towards paying off my credit card debt and voila – my life changed overnight. My credit score improved by 100 points (I’m not exaggerating), and I had the wonderful opportunity to put aside more money in savings since I no longer had pesky monthly payments to worry about. 

The point is, credit card debt is expensive. If you want to start becoming (or stay) financially sound, stop using that piece of plastic dangerously and start using it wisely. David at Money Under 30 goes into great detail about how you can do just that.

3. Set aside money for retirement.

Don’t put off for tomorrow what you can do today. That includes setting money aside for your retirement – our good friend Compound Interest begs you to start today.

To illustrate, let’s follow two 25-year-old brothers: Jerek and Shawn. Jerek graduated with his BA and landed a job at a non-profit. He immediately signed on to set aside $300/month (or $3,600 annually) toward a retirement plan. Shawn also graduated with his BA and went straight to medical school. Seven years later, he was able to set aside $400 a month (or $4,800 annually) after starting as a doctor at a local hospital.

Assuming Jerek and Shawn both set aside consistent amounts and assuming they retire at the same age of 65, let’s see how the numbers compare:

Since Jerek started saving at age 25, he already has a huge leg up. Assuming a 7% return, his $3,600 annual retirement contribution would be worth $822,903 at age 65. On the other hand, Shawn couldn’t put aside any serious money until he became a doctor at age 32. Therefore at 65, also assuming a 7% return, his $4,800 annual retirement contribution would be worth $655,603. That’s a difference of $167,300!

Though Shawn eventually contributed slightly more per year than Jerek, Jerek still earned a little over $150,000 dollars more overall. This is because Shawn had to defer earning income in exchange for his MD and simultaneously had to defer contributing to retirement for seven whole years, putting Jerek at a huge advantage from the start. 

The lesson here is all about the incredible principle of compound interest. The earlier you save, the larger your return will be. At a decent return, even 7 years makes a huge difference. So again, don’t put off for tomorrow what you can do today. Even $50 a month now can mean thousands of dollars down the line.

Personally, retirement benefits are the first thing I look for in a potential employer. Many employers match a percentage of your retirement contribution - which I consider FREE money! If your employer offers this, you should have been taking advantage of this yesterday. 

If you don’t have that privilege, consider opening an individual retirement account (IRA) on your own (see number 5). Personally, I have a rollover IRA Fidelity from my first job out of college, but lately I’ve been eyeing Vanguard’s IRAs - a friend of mine loves investing with Vanguard so I will personally be looking into that.

For those of you shaking your heads at me and thinking, “Shouldn’t you enjoy your money now instead of waiting until retirement to enjoy it? Life is short!” And I shake my head back. 

It’s all about balance, right? I want to be sure that I’m enjoying my life today in this moment (check!) but I also want to be sure that if I get the privilege of living a long and healthy life, that I’m set to retire with decent income. And to do that without having to work until I’m 80 years old (knock on wood), I set aside some of my earnings for retirement. 

4. Get a degree to increase earning power.

According to the Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a bachelor’s degree increases annual earning power by at least $25,000. There are certainly alternative options to a bachelor’s degree, but nonetheless, increasing your level of education can only help you in the long haul. Even with higher education getting exponentially more expensive these days, it’s essential that you get a degree not only to make you more competitive in the job market, but also to earn what you deserve.

5. Start a Roth IRA (and max out your contributions).

Our friend Compound Interest is back and urging you to start a Roth IRA as soon as you can. A Roth IRA is a special kind of individual retirement account (named after Senator William Roth, Jr., one of the legislators behind the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997) that allows your investments to grow without being taxed. Again, if you start saving now, you will have greater potential to grow more interest on your contributions. 

The not-so-secret secret to becoming financially sound is having multiple streams of income and having a diverse investment portfolio. Diversify your portfolio by investing in your employer-sponsored retirement savings program AND in your own Roth IRA. Or if you don’t have the former, just having a Roth IRA is pretty diverse as it is, since you can invest your money in real estate, mutual funds, bonds, money markets, stocks, etc. depending on your risk comfort.

Plus, a huge advantage of having a Roth IRA is that your withdrawals at retirement aren’t taxed! Since you’re setting aside already-taxed money into your Roth, the government can’t touch it a second time. Think about it: say you set aside $5,000 into to your Roth each year starting at age 25, until you retire. Assuming a consistent 7% return, you can withdraw a little over $1 million by retirement age, tax-free. That could pay for a pretty decent standard of living!

So, why wait? Sure, you’ll have to give up a few luxuries today to contribute a few thousands of dollars a year, but Compound Interest will make it worth it down the line.

This sounds too good to be true, and it may be for some. There are certainly requirements and limitations to contributing to a Roth, so be sure to do some research before you jump on it too quickly. Kippler has a great article outlining these requirement/limitations, as well as more of its benefits.

If you’re interested in investing in a traditional IRA, Investopedia does a quick and dirty comparison of the two types.

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There you go - 5 milestones to hit at any age. It’s a good mix of saving, paying down expensive debt, and earning what you deserve. Of course, there are other great financial milestones to consider, like the ones Gen Y Wealth lists. But these 5 really set the foundation for a healthy wallet.

We’d love to hear from you about these milestones! Have you reached and exceeded any of them? Are there any you’re currently working on, or hoping to work on in the future? Tell us in the Comments section below!

RESOURCES:

More financial milestones to consider
Gen Y Wealth 
Kiplinger
Yahoo Finance

Articles mentioned in this post
Money Under 30 - How to use a credit card wisely
Money Crashers - How to start and build up your emergency fund in savings
Investopedia - Roth Vs. Traditional IRA: Which is right for you?
Kiplinger - Why you need a Roth IRA

Copyright © 2015 Jeepney Hub.  All Rights Reserved.

by Joanne Danganan, Jeepney Hub Content Development Director

One of the keys to future success is making sound financial decisions early on. Recent research findings published in the journal Science indicate that poverty and dealing with financial issues saps our mental abilities. "The limited bandwidth created by poverty directly impacts the cognitive control and fluid intelligence that we need for all kinds of everyday tasks." (Emily Badger, The Atlantic Cities). We want you to start building good financial habits while you're young so that you have the cognitive function to focus on other important things in life. Thus, let's get started with the basics and read about how to make a budget and sticking to it.

For some, handling personal finance is a natural skill. For many others, it is a long and labored learning process. Personally for me, it’s the latter, and a process that I hope doesn’t end.

It’s hard to admit this, but my parents and many of my relatives don’t have great relationships with money. Some gamble it away, some spend it on way more wants than needs, and some borrow more than they can handle. I observed all these growing up (and still see it today), and I unfortunately developed the “earn then spend” mentality, rather than the “earn, save, give, then spend” mentality. When I graduated college and thankfully landed a full-time job, I knew that I had to buck up and face the reality that “earning then spending” would leave me at the intersection of Broke and Financially Stunted. 

Knowing my many shortcomings in the financial area of my life, I started reading books and a ton of blogs about personal finance. They have all taught me how personal finance should look like and how I can use it to plan my wealth and pay down my debt, while still enjoy being a 20-something living in a big city. And each book and blog has taught me one simple thing: personal finance is personal. Not every rule or suggestion will work the same for each person, but rather, it should be used as a map with many routes to the same destination. 

For me, personal finance isn’t just using math as a means to acquiring more monetary assets. It’s a tool that I use to advance my dreams and aspirations, like being debt-free, living under my means, buying my first home, or finding resources to help fund a potential startup. Effective personal finance is a behavior, and I hope to impart useful advice that I have used in the past that might be helpful to you in developing a good set of habits when it comes to your wallet.

The first principle you must know in personal finance dictates anything concerning your hard-earned cash: how to budget. Budgeting is one of the simplest tasks in personal finance, yet not everyone of us knows how to effectively use one. Not only can budgeting help you plan your month’s expenses (or whichever time interval you prefer to use), but it can help you finance on a micro-level like financing a vacation trip that you’d like to pay with cash (rather than credit or personal loan), taking a class outside of school that you’re interested in (like a sewing class at the local community center), or even investing in your side hustle (like paying for the launch of a new website). 

At its most basic level, a budget simply compares your income against your expenses and helps prevent you from overspending. First, list all your sources of income. Then, list all your expenses. You can make both as specific or as general as you want it to be – whatever works for you. In my sample budget, which looks pretty similar to mine as a working college student some years ago, I made mine pretty general.

Employing the zero-out method (notice my end balance is $0), if I underspend in one category like misc. spending, I can allocate the leftover money to my groceries fund or send it over to my savings account. By the same token, if I overspend in misc. spending, I must transfer enough money from, say, my groceries fund to ensure that my balance stays at zero, helping me avoid overspending. This is just like using an actual budget envelope, except you can keep it virtual with smartphone apps like EEBA. If you prefer to have a physical budget envelope, you can do that too (though I do caution carrying too much cash around with you).

The point of planning a budget is to avoid the bad habit of overspending. There are so many tools out there that help you do that, but budgeting is the most basic way. So, if there’s nothing else you learn from budgeting, it has to be this:

• End balance > Expenses = Amazing!
  
• End balance < Expenses = Bad! If you find yourself in this situation, consider spending less or earning more (preferably the latter!).
  

Common sense, right? For many of us, though, it is easier said than done, but that’s what I’m here for. If you currently live in the second bullet, like I had been for quite some years, I hope to help you break the cycle. Keep checking back here at Jeepney Hub for more tips on personal finance, or make it simple for yourself and subscribe to our email newsletter!

If you have any feedback or questions about this post, I’d love to hear about it!

Helpful resources:

• The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko, proving that the millionaire next door is least likely to buy a brand new Benz or have a Rolex watch. He also might not have the biggest house on the block.
• Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez, transforming the way we think about our time and our money – a personal finance must-read.
• Money Under 30 - a blog catered to 20-somethings, started by David Weiner when he was 25, covering all sorts of topics from financing your college education to planning a family.
• Money Girl - a blog on Quick and Dirty Tips by Laura Adams, a writer and host of one of the most popular personal finance podcasts around, covering topics from credit scores to investing in a Roth IRA.
  

Copyright © 2015 Jeepney Hub.  All Rights Reserved.

by Kate Nicole G. Blanco, Jeepney Hub Founder and Executive Director

As my good friend Titilayo Tinubu would say, “You, my friend, are a brand.”   I've learned most of what I know about creating and cleaning up my "brand" from her.  Along with her valuable advice, this is what I've gathered about online footprints and controlling your brand.

With the advent of so many online websites and apps where we can share our daily lives, every single thing we post online leaves a footprint.  Many of those can come back to haunt us many years from now when we start applying for jobs and start becoming more well known in our chosen careers.  In the process of building a career and doing job interviews, you will most likely do an online search of your potential employer to find out more about them.  Thus, you can bet they will do the same for you and it doesn’t do you any good to just hope they don’t find that skeleton in your online closet. 

Anyone who’s anyone in sports, politics, hollywood, and virtually all other career fields hire Public Relations Specialists, Brand Managers, Media Relations Experts, etc. to ensure that their brand and reputation are protected.  Like you, I can’t afford to hire any of those folks, but there are many ways we can build our brands and reputations that are virtually cost-free.  Now, I know not all of you are trying to become the next President Barack Obama (and why not?), but as we are all still young and just starting out, we are in the best position to start creating our brands and an online footprint that is in our complete control.

Here are quick and [virtually] free ways you can control your online footprint and start building your brand:

1) Google yourself. Did you find something you don’t like? See if you can take that information down yourself or email the owner of the site and ask them to take down the content.

2) Clean up your online profiles. Yes, especially Facebook. Despite the privacy settings provided by the website, you still cannot afford to have trails of pictures and posts that you know you’ll regret having in a public space later. If you can handle it, take down some of your online profiles that are now redundant (I mean, is anyone really on MySpace or Friendster anymore?). Trust me, as interesting as your lunch may have seemed yesterday, it doesn’t need to be posted on three different online profiles. Delete pictures and posts from your profile that are potentially damaging. Have a profile that will make you proud! Feel a little hesitant about losing some of your photos? Don't panic: there’s a way for you to get a copy of EVERYTHING you’ve ever posted and all the photos you were tagged in on Facebook before you go on a deleting spree (and just as an aside, the fact that Facebook has an archive of all these information you have on your profile should serve as an impetus to clean up your online footprint now): 

Step 1: Click on the little thingamajig at the top right corner of your Facebook page and click "Account Settings".

As I would not give you advice that I wouldn’t take myself, feel free to Google my name: Kate Nicole Blanco. You’ll find that the first search result is my personal website.  The second result is my LinkedIn profile and just a couple of results later are my profile as a Dispatcher for Jeepney Hub, and my Twitter account. If a potential employer were to do a search of me, I can be certain that most, if not all, of the information they’ll find about me are within my control. It’s a way for me to track my own online footprint. Can you follow the trail of your own online footprint?

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Give us your feedback to this coaching piece here or post a comment below. Let us know whether you followed the steps, if there's something we forgot to mention, or if you disagree. We welcome all input to provide better coaching for the Filipino-American youth and young professionals.

Copyright © 2015 Jeepney Hub.  All Rights Reserved.

We have created Jeepney Hub because we want to address a problem: The lack of collective action to help Filipino-American youth and young professionals reach their full career potential.

• There are many resources out there, but they are dispersed--we're here to put them all in one place for your convenience.  
• There are numerous Filipino-American trailblazers out there, but they are often invisible--we're here to put them in the lime light.
  
• There's a plethora of Filipino-American experiences that the Filipino-American youth and young professionals should be learning from to succeed in their own careers, but they have not yet been widely disseminated or they are still left to be written--we're here to add them to your career-building toolbox.

So what's your first step?  If you haven't already done so, design your route.  Create a Plan of Action to show the Filipino-American community that you are in control of your own career, and you're ready to take the wheel of your life and drive.  Email us your PoA at [email protected] and we will pick 10 PoA's to feature on the site before the end of September 2013.  We also promise to give those 10 people a phone call to get personalized feedback on their PoA's!

We also challenge Filipino-American organizations and professionals to answer the call!  As one of the ways we'd like to help the Filipino-American youth and young professionals succeed, we want to provide them with as many resources as possible under Travel Guides and Jeepney Maintenance.  If your organization is listed under Travel Guides, please provide us with your organization's contact information and a contact person so we can add them to the resources.  If your organization is not yet listed, it's time to get on a wider radar.  If you want to share the story of your career journey, be one of our contributors on Jeepney Maintenance.  You have a powerful personal story to tell, share them with the community!

Rev up those engines and get on the road.  This is your life.  Let's make the journey extraordinary!

Copyright © 2014 Jeepney Hub.  All Rights Reserved.