In today’s highly competitive job market hiring managers are swamped with hundreds of resumes for each position. On average, they will spend less than 30 seconds reviewing each one. Your resume needs to be clear, concise and easy to read. You need to sell yourself!
A resume isn’t an outline of your history, but rather an advertisement of your accomplishments. This is your one shot to win the interview. Don’t be afraid to highlight why you are the best candidate for the job. Be strong and convincing.
To show that you are the perfect person for the job you must tailor your resume specifically to each ad or job description.
Begin by determining your objective. Create a summary section that includes your objective and highlights the most important qualities, achievements and abilities you have to offer for this position.
Content matters. Before beginning the body of your resume, brainstorm your experience. Write down anything from your history that might bring value to the position.
Make sure that your work history and corresponding skills and accomplishments are outlined in an easy to read and organized manner.
- Use key words from the job description when outlining your job history, but don’t over do it.
- Remove job duties from your history that are irrelevant to this position.
- Include action words such as; challenged, integrated, developed, executed
- Use %, $ and # symbols. Outline your accomplishments with concrete numbers. These stand out to the reader.
- White space is important. If you can’t fill the page that’s okay. It will draw attention to the important pieces of your resume.
You must proof your resume! Get at least one other person to do so as well. Poor grammar, misspelled words and typos will only prove to the reader that attention to detail is not important to you.