7 hours ago
CV Ideas
10 Steps to a Killer Resume
An overwhelming majority of job seekers make basic mistakes with their
résumés - mistakes that ensure that they will not get the interviews
they deserve. If you feel as though you’re sending your résumé into a
black hole, try this ‘Ten Step Program’ to diagnose problems and get
your résumé working for you.
1. Is your résumé the right length?
You may have heard that your résumé should fit on one page. This is
nonsense. Recruiter or hiring managers don’t care if your résumé is one
or two pages long. But they do care whether it is easy to read and gives
key information upfront. Your résumé can be one, two, or (occasionally)
even three pages. The only rule is that the length should be
appropriate for you. If in doubt follow the (very general) rule of thumb
that less than 5 years experience probably only requires one page and
more than that may need two.
2. Does your résumé clearly position you as someone who can meet the needs of the employer?
Think of a résumé as an advertisement for a product, only this time the
product is you. Just like any other advertisement, positioning is
everything. The person who receives your résumé will scan it quickly
perhaps for no more than 20 seconds to determine whether you can help
her company. Your job is to say quickly, clearly and loudly that you
can!
Don’t just launch into a chronology of your career history. Instead,
determine your own positioning by spelling out your message at the start
of the résumé and giving the reader your version of events upfront. For
this reason, you should use the first 1/3 of your résumé to create a
compelling personal profile which highlights your key strengths in an
attractive, easy-to-read format.
3. Does your résumé begin with an objective?
Don’t start with an objective. Recruiters and hiring managers don’t like
them because they focus on the needs of the job seeker rather than the
needs of the potential employer. Consider this objective statement:
“Seeking a software engineer position with a progressive employer where I
can contribute to the development of new technologies and work with
bright, committed people.”
This may be very honest but it is irrelevant to the reader, who does not
care what you want and only cares what you have to offer. Instead of an
objective, try using a positioning statement that clearly and concisely
explains what you have to offer.
“Senior Software Engineer with 10 years experience developing leading-edge technologies.”
Now the reader can immediately see your value to the company. (For even
greater impact, tailor this statement for each position so that the
reader immediately sees a match between his/her needs and your skills.)
4. Does your résumé contain specifics?
You must place your achievements in context by providing specifics. For
example, don’t say something vague like “contributed to product design.”
This tells the employer nothing about your actual contribution. Instead
be specific about what you did:
“Conducted market analysis for (name of product) to determine design and
mechanics. Led changes to original design spec. despite initial
developer objections. Received critical acclaim and sold over 4 million
units.”
See how being specific makes a difference? This level of detail shows
the reader the contributions you have made in the past (and therefore
the contributions you can be expected to make in the future.)
5. Have you outlined achievements as well as responsibilities?
Don’t provide a laundry list of responsibilities without showing what
results you achieved. Most employers already know what the main
responsibilities of your job were. They want to know what makes you
different from all the other applicants. An effective résumé summarizes
job responsibilities in a few sentences and then provides details of
quantifiable achievements.
Focus most of your résumé on the results you accomplished, not the regular duties of your job.
6. Are there any typos?
Your résumé has to be perfect. Proofread it over and over again. When
you are sure it’s perfect, have other people proof it! If even one word
is misspelled the reader will assume that you didn’t know how to spell
the word (this is bad) or that you didn’t care (this is even worse!)
Nothing puts the reader off more quickly than misspellings or typos.
7. Is the résumé easy to read?
At least 50% of the impact of your résumé derives from design. A strong
résumé design will pull the eye through the document, making it easy to
keep reading and will highlight your key strengths clearly. But if your
résumé is badly laid out, disorganized or hard to read, it will be
discarded before the reader knows how qualified you are.
To see examples of how to lay out your résumé, go to the library or
bookstore and look in the career section. You will find collections of
sample résumés. Take time to understand how the page has been laid out
and then apply what you’ve learned to your résumé.
8. Have you listed irrelevant information?
Don’t list your hobbies unless they directly support your qualifications
for the position. Don’t detail your marital status or the number of
children you have. Don’t mention non-professional affiliations such as
political or religious volunteer work unless it directly relates to the
position you are applying for. Any personal information runs the risk of
turning the reader off. However proud you are of personal achievements,
you should not run the risk of alienating someone before you even have
your foot in the door.
9. Are you too modest?
Don’t be uncomfortable about blowing your own trumpet. Too many people
play down their achievements. While you should never exaggerate on a
résumé, you should definitely take credit for the things you’ve
accomplished. Some people feel uncomfortable boasting on paper
preferring to explain in an interview. But if your résumé doesn’t spark
interest, you may never get that opportunity, so don’t be modest!
10. Have you created an internet-ready version of résumé?
If you have to post your résumé online, or apply to a job via an online
system, you will need to convert your résumé to a text-only format. If
you don’t do this, your résumé will be almost impossible to read because
most online systems cannot support the type of formatting used in a
résumé (bold, italics, bullet points, lines etc.)
SUMMARY
When you send your résumé out, it must speak articulately for you. You can’t explain inconsistencies, clear up confusion or fill in things that are missing. Your résumé has to make your sales pitch in a clear and compelling manner within 20 seconds. Invest the time to make it exceptional and you will see an immediate increase in the response rate.
When you send your résumé out, it must speak articulately for you. You can’t explain inconsistencies, clear up confusion or fill in things that are missing. Your résumé has to make your sales pitch in a clear and compelling manner within 20 seconds. Invest the time to make it exceptional and you will see an immediate increase in the response rate.
Free Resume Writing Tips
Lets get one thing out in the open - writing a resume is intimidating for everyone, so don't worry, you're not alone. What makes resume writing difficult is identifying what to include, what not to, what to highlight, what to de-emphasize, etc. HR professionals and hiring managers receive hundreds (if not thousands) of resumes for any given position; therefore, the bottom line is that they will spend about 10-30 seconds on yours. Organizing information incorrectly could cost you a shot at an interview, unfortunately it's a very common mistake made by job seekers. For more click HERE!
Below we've outlined our tips for composing your resume. Before moving on, we will note that we grew up being a skeptic of paying to have my resume written. However, we’ve changed our beliefs - reason being - Prices for resume writing services these days are fairly reasonable ($90 - $200). These are professionals that do this for a living and study how to position a person's skills for a particular industry. Therefore, for a few hundred dollars you will be given the edge to get a position that pays a few thousand more per year. Therefore, it’s a cost of the job hunt process worth paying. In closing, while the free resume writing tips below will assist you in the preparation of your resume, I would recommend using a resume writing service from the beginning, or using one of the companies that provides a free resume critique after you have completed a final draft of your resume. If you want a lower cost option, consider using an online resume builder. The service we suggest it free to try and with a minimal fee you can have your resume reviewed by a professional resume writer.
Enough said, onto the resume
writing tips....
Before
putting your pen to paper (or fingers to the keys), begin by determining your
objective (do this prior to writing the resume). You should clearly
state what sort of a job you want, and know what kinds of skills and experiences
are needed to do well in that job. Even if you decide to change your job
objective later, it is very important that you decide on a temporary objective
for now. After your objective is determined, you can structure the content of
your resume around that objective. As noted above, you have a very small
window of time to get the interest of a hiring manager, therefore being general
and scattered will insure that your resume is filed in the "circular
file" - i.e. - the trash can. Therefore, it is essential that you take the
time before you start your resume to form a clear and targeted objective.
Now that you have your objective, you're on
your way. Now lets begin the resume writing process. Keep in
mind, the single and most important goal of a resume is to obtain an
interview. It's a marketing tool to get you in the company and in front
of your potential boss – that’s it. Once in, you will need to do
the sales pitch, and close the deal.
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In the body of your resume, use bullet points with short sentences rather than lengthy paragraphs. As noted above, resumes are read quickly (usually 10-30 seconds). Therefore, having key phrases standing alone and bulleted will help the reader see the important information at a glance - while at the same time absorbing the most important information. Again, don't worry about the specifics; you will go into the details during the interview.
Use action words - words like prepared, managed, developed, monitored, and presented will cause your resume to stand out.
In addition to standing out
to a reader - you are also insuring that if your resume is scanned, the computer
will pick up on the words. You read correctly, some
companies now scan in your resume, and have computers pick the resumes to be
looked at. The computers are looking for one thing – they’re looking for
keywords that have been picked by the hiring manager. These are action key words
that relate to the position; therefore not including them could mean your resume
is disregarded as a "non-match". I’ve devoted a section to resume
format, and will deal with how to format your resume for computer scanners.
We've compiled a list of action words to include here.
You should always use %'s, $'s and #'s. Percentages, dollar totals, and numbers stand out in the body of a resume. I’ve included an example below of a job duty described with them (correct), and without (incorrect). As is obvious with the below examples, being specific does not mean being lengthy.
You should always use %'s, $'s and #'s. Percentages, dollar totals, and numbers stand out in the body of a resume. I’ve included an example below of a job duty described with them (correct), and without (incorrect). As is obvious with the below examples, being specific does not mean being lengthy.
Example
Incorrect: Sold advertising to 15 companies
Correct: Closed 15 strategic accounts billing in excess of $20M a
Incorrect: Sold advertising to 15 companies
Correct: Closed 15 strategic accounts billing in excess of $20M a
Highlight
your strengths, and
what is most relevant to the potential employer. Due to the fact that most
resumes are typically reviewed in 10-30 seconds, put forth the effort and
determine which bullets most strongly support your job search objective. Put the
strong and most relevant points first where they are more apt to be read. Doing
this will hook the reader, and the rest of your resume will reel them in.
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