The purpose of a resume is to land you the interview with your future employer.
Think of a resume as your personal advertisement that sells your skills and tells your future employer what you will do for them.
A perfect resume grabs the attention of your future employer, gets you placed in the YES pile and results in the call for the interview.
Perfect Resume Top Five List
1. Start Strong
An Objective tells a reader what you want. Instead, start your resume with a Profile section that briefly identifies your strongest qualifications and tells your future employer what you will do for them.
2. Quantify
Don't just say you're good at sales. Give ballpark figures on how many sales you've made, how many clients you've brought on, or how much you've reduced costs.
3. Stay on point
A resume isn't a full disclosure document. Omit anything more than 15 years old, any jobs that lasted less than a year, and anything personal or irrelevant.
4. Keep it clean
Complicated formatting, like bolding, italics, or font changes, is distracting and unprofessional. Use an attractive and readable resume design.
5. Get professional help
Do you want your resume to land the interview or gather dust on someone's desk? Don't rely on the advice of friends or coworkers. Consult with a professional who knows industry standards and best practices to make your resume a stellar marketing tool.
Compiled in collaboration with Angela Ashurst-McGee President of GreenLight Resume and RedRocket Resume. Visit Angela at http://www.redrocketresume.com to learn how to combine a professional resume and career transition services from Metacareers.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
What is your resume doing for you?
Objective of a Resume: Entice your future employer to call you to further explore your candidacy for the position you applied for.
Do you want your resume to work for you? In today’s market the competition is fierce, the number of qualified candidates for a single position has doubled since last September and employers will hold out for the “right candidate.”
You can not underestimate the importance of your resume – it is your communication device and marketing tool – think of it as your advertisement, it is the bridge between you, the position you want and deserve and your future employer. It has to be perfect, flawless and be a compelling document. That is a pretty hefty job for a couple of sheets of paper.
Oh! By the way your resume more times than not will be your first impression with your future boss. You can not redo a first impression and to make matters worse you have anywhere between 5 and 20 seconds to WOW the reader and get placed in the potential candidate pile.
How important is your resume? You have to answer that question. Having a resume that is not doing its job - is working against you which is couter productive to the energy you are putting in to your search strategy.
If you have been applying for positions with your current resume and are not receiving calls, there could be a couple of reasons:
1 - are you over qualified?
2- are you under qualified?
3 - does your resume need to be reviewed?
You can take the following RESUME QUIZ to identify whether your resume is doing its job. Answer yes or no to the following questions.
Does your resume…….
R epresent you – is it a reflection of you?
E ncompass quantitative accomplishments – it is not good enough to list tasks of a position you held. You need an accomplishment-driven resume to make a difference today.
S howcase your skills - aligned to the position you are going after?
U ser friendly and easy to read – formatted, organized and specific.
M arket you – Arming yourself with a distinctive resume – highlight your brand, and is focused becomes your competitive advantage.
E nitice your future employer to call you in for the interview?
If you answered no to any of these questions it may be time for you to seriously think about changing your resume and let it do its job!
Metacareers will critique your resume and give you feedback on what you need to do to turn your resume around. For more information visit our website http://www.metacareersnow.com/
Do you want your resume to work for you? In today’s market the competition is fierce, the number of qualified candidates for a single position has doubled since last September and employers will hold out for the “right candidate.”
You can not underestimate the importance of your resume – it is your communication device and marketing tool – think of it as your advertisement, it is the bridge between you, the position you want and deserve and your future employer. It has to be perfect, flawless and be a compelling document. That is a pretty hefty job for a couple of sheets of paper.
Oh! By the way your resume more times than not will be your first impression with your future boss. You can not redo a first impression and to make matters worse you have anywhere between 5 and 20 seconds to WOW the reader and get placed in the potential candidate pile.
How important is your resume? You have to answer that question. Having a resume that is not doing its job - is working against you which is couter productive to the energy you are putting in to your search strategy.
If you have been applying for positions with your current resume and are not receiving calls, there could be a couple of reasons:
1 - are you over qualified?
2- are you under qualified?
3 - does your resume need to be reviewed?
You can take the following RESUME QUIZ to identify whether your resume is doing its job. Answer yes or no to the following questions.
Does your resume…….
R epresent you – is it a reflection of you?
E ncompass quantitative accomplishments – it is not good enough to list tasks of a position you held. You need an accomplishment-driven resume to make a difference today.
S howcase your skills - aligned to the position you are going after?
U ser friendly and easy to read – formatted, organized and specific.
M arket you – Arming yourself with a distinctive resume – highlight your brand, and is focused becomes your competitive advantage.
E nitice your future employer to call you in for the interview?
If you answered no to any of these questions it may be time for you to seriously think about changing your resume and let it do its job!
Metacareers will critique your resume and give you feedback on what you need to do to turn your resume around. For more information visit our website http://www.metacareersnow.com/
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