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Job Winning Resume - Tips
Four Tips for a Winning Resume -
An employer can receive hundreds of resumes in response
to an advertised position. For every hundred resumes
an employer receives, only a few resumes stand out from
the crowd. Want your resume to shine in the eyes of
the employer you want to attract? Start by including
a well-written resume cover letter with the resume.
Then, follow these resume guidelines to create an interview
winning resume that is head and shoulders above the
crowd.
- Formatting and feel, on a mailed-in resume, matter
- Your resume, at first glance, can impress or depress
the employer. Lots of open space, a clear, easy-to-read
font such as 12 point Arial, and easy-to-find and
skim information, entice the employer to read on.
With electronic publishing, every mailed resume should
be freshly printed on high quality paper. And don’t
even think of sending your application to my company
in your current employer’s envelope, or with
metered postage. Think about what this says about
the integrity of the candidate. I receive, at least,
one of these a week. Envelopes do matter.
- You will likely grow tired of hearing this but
correct spelling, appropriate grammar, no missing
words, and no typing mistakes make your resume an
employer-pleaser right out of the starting gate. An
error-free resume is rare. Indeed, some hiring managers
will not further consider your candidacy if they find
even one mistake. Every mistake makes me pause and
think. Every mistake makes me question your carefulness,
care, and attention to detail. Don’t make me
pause; don’t make me think.
- Contact Information - In this era of instant messaging,
email, and cell phones, there is absolutely no reason
to make contacting you difficult for the potential
employer. Yet, over half the resumes I receive have
no contact information except a home phone number.
And guess what? You’re never home. Give the potential
employer your cell phone number, even if you have
to buy a mobile for your job search. Avoid the dreaded
phone tag that may make you miss out on an interview
altogether.
- Write and customize an “objective” for
each job and employer - The objective is your opportunity
to connect your skills, experience, traits, and job
requirements with those the employer is seeking. Read
the job posting carefully and you can pick out exactly
what the employer believes he needs. Don’t settle
for a lame, “I seek a challenging opportunity
to utilize my skills with a progressive employer who
will provide opportunities for growth.”In response
to an ad for a marketing specialist, I received this
customized objective: “I am seeking a position
as a marketing specialist in a growing, environmentally
conscious company that will utilize my current skills
in the development of advertising and other marketing
materials and website design and writing. At the same
time, I hope to gain experience in market research,
Internet competitive analysis, and market segmentation.”
Who do you think I called?
Here are six more tips for an interview winning
resume.
- Include a customized section called “Career
Highlights / Qualifications.” This section of
the resume is usually a series of bulleted points
that emphasize your most important career experience,
your skills, your personality traits and characteristics,
and some key accomplishments from your work history
as they relate to the job for which you are applying.
- For each former employer, clearly indicate the
company name, your position, and the dates of your
employment. Provide a brief overview statement that
tells me about what the company does, its sales, products,
and customers. This helps me assess your experience.
Then, tell me exactly what you did for the company
in a brief statement. Don’t make me look for
information, read between the lines, or try to I won’t
and your resume will end up in the dreaded job file
for the required year. (You don’t really think
anyone takes the time to sort through all those aging
resumes, do you?)
- For each employer, include a list of “key
contributions” or “key achievements.”
Don’t make the mistake of stating, “I answered
a multi-line phone system. I provided customer service.”
You want to highlight key measurable achievements
and successes such as: “I reduced the time for
order fulfillment from 2 days to 12 hours.” “I
reduced accounts collectible by 80 percent.”
“My marketing campaign for the new product won
two industry awards for effectiveness.”
- Education statements matter - State dates of attendance,
majors, minors, and degrees. Don’t make me guess
whether you have a degree or just took a few classes.
I will figure it out and it ticks me off to have to
figure it out.
- Do include a section that lists awards and other
recognition - President of the Junior Class, Secretary
of the Synchronized Swim Team, four year merit scholarship
winner, or college economics prize winner will catch
my eye much faster than a resume without awards and
recognition. (Of course, you’d include this section
on a resume only if you have an award or recognition
to list.)
- Do include a personal section that highlights accomplishments,
and anything else that will raise the value of you,
as a potential employee, in the eyes of the employer.
In this section, catching my eye recently are: volunteerism;
involvement with philanthropic causes; publications;
team and individual sports participation; leadership
positions in school or community organizations (especially
in resumes without an “Awards and Recognition”
section) or even, “I self-funded my college education
by working part-time during all four years of school.”
Well, this is the best advice about what catches attention
– positively – in a resume. One can’t
speak for every employer, but know that you can’t
go far wrong – & you may go far in the right
direction - if you heed these recommendations. When
your resume is competing with hundreds of others for
attention, you need to do the right things right to
be heard above the noise. You can create a winning resume.
Source: Internet
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