| It is the Resume that is
Holding You Back |
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Alex Freund |
Could this be? After all it worked in the
past and others who helped you with it made
significant improvements. Despite that, vis
a vis other outstanding resumes it pales and
is ineffective. In order for your resume to
propel you to the point that somebody
considers you as a potential candidate is
has to have at least the following elements.
Above all, the gist of the resume has to be
written in a way that conveys to the reader
that you have what it takes to solve his
problems and chances are that you will
excel.
- A strong
career summary following
the contact information. This is the
first thing read. It sets the tone for
the entire résumé. And it should be
designed to attract, intrigue as well as
compel the reader to keep reading more.
- An attractive visual presentation.
This means the résumé has to look good
on paper. The ideal résumé design has
lots of white space, looks clean, and
invites the reader to want to learn more
about the candidate. A résumé is merely
a marketing tool—the first impression a
potential employer has of you.
- Passing the 10-second test. Résumés
are being reviewed by recruiters and
others who read many résumés and have to
weed out worthwhile ones from those that
are a waste of time. A professional
reviewer does this for each résumé in 10
to 30 seconds. If it’s not attractive,
your résumé will be discarded.
- Evidence that you will be able to
deliver. This is the reason you have to
list your accomplishments. Don’t confuse
accomplishments with tasks that someone
in your position typically performs; the
interviewer already knows the tasks just
from your title. From the way many
résumés are worded, they come across as
doers, not strongly as achievers. The
distinction between the two is decisive.
This is a common mistake made by
nonprofessional résumé writers. To be
effective and create excitement, a great
résumé helps the decision maker envision
your delivering similar achievements at
the decision maker’s company.
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The right keywords. In addition to
the human eye’s scan, most résumés
nowadays get scanned into an
applicant-tracking system and are
retrieved exclusively if they contain
the right keywords based on a computer
query. Keywords are critical because
even the best applicant will miss the
opportunity to compete if the résumé
lacks the right keywords.
So, now the question becomes, What should
be your next step? In principle, you have
several options.
- Based on the issues covered here,
you can continue having people help you
with your résumé or you can buy books,
read articles, and work toward making
your résumé more desirable.
- You can engage a professional editor
once you’ve finished your work on the
résumé. That will assure you that it is
perfect in terms of format, grammar,
usage, spacing, punctuation, and more.
- You can engage a professional résumé
writer. Most of the professional résumé
writers are accredited, certified, and
experienced. Some are pretty good;
others are outstanding. You’ll want to
interview them first for your résumé and
cover letter.
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