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What is the simplest way to give value to people?

It starts by giving your time. A friend of mine was diagnosed with MND in April 2016. The news was a hard shock and on talking about what we can do for her, my partner quite simply stated that we can give her our time. It sounds simple but it is hard in today's fast paced and digitally attention-grabbing life to dedicate time and attention to one particular person or group of people - yet, making the effort is so worth it.

It goes on with making an effort to really listen. And yes, paying attention is part of it but mostly just really listening. Many times listening is enough as people want to feel wanted – knowing that you are taking in what they feel or experience is super important in creating that feeling. There are numerous immediate benefits to being a great listener though, in fact…

searching online for “what are the benefits of great listening skills?” yielded 16.2 million results!

Combining 1 and 2 is where real value is created. The added dimension, for people seeking a solution, is to (having spent time and effort listening, gently steer them into thinking in a different way...we call it reframing. And it is hard not to want to share wisdom and experience...so go right ahead.

In business, the value is made tangible by giving direct advice or suggesting a solution. In my experience, going through the process of 1 and 2 leads to proposing the right solutions 99% of the time. And it is the combination of dedicating time, great listening and applying knowledge and skills that lead to value for your client and business, something which they will remember and will lead to repeat business.

_{This article first appeared on Quora Digest on 15 October in answer to a question posted. It received 303k views and 31 upvotes.}

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I´m a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. It´s easy. Just click "Edit Text" or double click me to add your own content and make changes to the font. Feel free to drag and drop me anywhere you like on your page. I´m a great place for you to tell a story and let your users know a little more about you.

CV Font and Formatting Tips That Works

Why is font and knowing how to apply it to CV formatting so important? The fact is a decision on whether your CV lands up on a “worth looking at” pile is made within 6 to 15 seconds - 6 seconds means two sentences – you want them to be readable and memorable, and font and formatting can aid tremendously with this.

My recommendations:

FONT: For a contemporary look: Helvetica size 12 (look for Neue Haas Grotesk under your font choices) – widely considered as the best font and size for CVs. Alternatively try Open Sans, available as free download. For CV owners going for a classical feel; use serif fonts, and here my recommendations are Georgia or Book Antiqua.
FONT SIZE: Never go smaller than font size 10! And only if you have a long CV and absolutely cannot shorten it. Here is the value-add: Use Verdana font - Verdana was precisely designed to be readable in small print/screen.
FONT PAIRING: Contrasting fonts gives the effect of a well set out CV. Pair classical (serif) with contemporary (sans serif) for excellent contrast and for hedging your bets about what the hiring manager’s preferences are. Extra tip: The extra curl in serif means the letters “linger” and helps words stick in the hiring manager’s brain – pairing fonts that are serif and sans serif thus means the best of both worlds.
HEADINGS: Do more than Bold – size up as if at MacDonalds and go between 4 to 5 points larger than CV content. Use bold to nuance main headings from subheadings.
DO NOT UNDERLINE WORDS OR SENTENCES: You are not sending an email with specifics like dates and times where this is appropriate or writing a request for a salary raise (where the amount should be double underlined and bolded 😊).
ITALICS: the use of italics is a brainteaser and can break the hiring manager’s speed, italics also tend to make font seem smaller. As someone who has shortlisted CVs many times, my advice is to minimise using italics or when using italics to combine it with bold.
FORMATTING – BULLET POINTS: Use of triangle arrows has been proven as eye-catching, in a good way of course, and an added tip here is to upsize bullet points to make it more striking.
CHECK AND RE-CHECK: Use Grammarly or a similar app and work through your CV for spelling errors, grammar, overuse of words and suggested synonyms. Do this TWICE and then ask someone to proofread it for good measure (refer to a previous article: Gainful Employment; It’s Easier Than You Think for additional tips).
PAGE NUMBER YOUR CV: Page number your CV as Page X of Y, making sure that the Hiring Manager knows the total number of pages that complete your CV. In MS Word > Insert > Header & Footer > Page Number > Bottom of Page >Choose from any three under Page X of Y.
GLITCH PROOF YOUR CV: Embed font in your CV file by activating the “Embed fonts in file” option when saving. In MS Word > File > Options > Save > tick Embed fonts in the file box. This way the typeface is guaranteed to survive file transfer and recipient preferences.

In summary; your CV must be readable to be eligible for a position and memorable for the right reasons. Try the tips above and good luck.

Look out for Part II where we delve into making the hiring manager’s job lighter and your CV easy to adjust to emphasise how your skills and experience is a match for specific applied positions.

Written by Bettie van Straaten, business executive and part of the Leo Complete Solutions team where we specialise in Career Support solutions. Check out our website at http://www.leocompletesolutions.com for more detail on how we can help you land your dream job.

This is just a place holder.

This is just a place holder.

This is a great space to write long text about your company and your services. You can use this space to go into a little more detail about your company. Talk about your team and what services you provide. Tell your visitors the story of how you came up with the idea for your business and what makes you different from your competitors.