Do you deny the lifelessness of your resume? If you are reasonably qualified for the type of job you seek, but your resume fails to consistently win interviews, then you must face the reality that your beloved document is dead. Try these professional resume writing techniques to resurrect your resume and job search today:
Problem n. 3: The resume is blind
In your quest to reduce your job search workload, have you reduced your mission statement to something grand and vague, something that you hope will speak to all employers but in fact you do not communicate to anyone? A resume without focus is blind; Without a clear focus on your resume, an employer cannot perceive what you are offering; Without a concise vision on your resume, an employer cannot get the big picture of how you fit into their organization. Solution n. # 3: Give Your Resume A View So Employers Can See It
- Make a summary of the creative career. A career summary statement is just that – a summary or profile of your career to date. Remember that your “career” includes all the paid and unpaid things you’ve done and that even if you don’t value this experience, an employer will. Claim your professional approach in your summary, then in 2-3 sentences describe your most relevant skills and experience.
- Describe your creative gifts in terms that relate to the needs of the employer. Whatever your specific creative gifts are (and you have them), describe them in the body of your resume. Use adjectives and nouns to describe yourself in your summary, mini job descriptions, or success stories.
- Match your resume layout, font style, graphics, and paper to your career goal. If you’re looking for work in a conservative industry like banking or insurance, choose a traditional layout, a formal-looking font, few graphics, and conservative paper in white, beige, or gray.
- If you are looking for work in a highly creative industry such as advertising or graphic arts, choose a creative or functional resume design, unusual but legible font, creative graphics, and expressive textured paper, perhaps with a colorful border around the edge.
- How do you know what is right for you and your preferred industry? Conduct informational interviews with hiring professionals in that field and ask them what fits and what doesn’t.
- Use your resume to hint at your answers to the interview questions. If you’re like most job applicants, you hate having to prepare answers to interview questions. A resume acts as a template for your interviews, so if you consider the typical questions that will be asked and succinctly weave parts of your answers into your resumes, it will guide the interviewer in the direction of their choosing.
- Use your resume content to design a powerful cover letter to match. Don’t send resumes without cover letters! Don’t take shortcuts with cover letters! Don’t send the same generic cover letter to every employer you contact! Doing so will guarantee failure. If you prefer success, you will have to work hard to achieve it, but it will pay off.
- Select the 3-5 most critical points you made on your resume and repeat them in the second paragraph of your personalized cover letter. Include some of the same adjectives and nouns that you used on your resume in your cover letter.
Problem n. # 4: The Resume Has No Personality One of the biggest weaknesses of most resumes is an almost total lack of personality. You are selling yourself, not a piece of wood! Nothing brings a lifeless document to life like uniqueness, so talk about yours. Solution # 4: Give your resume personality to attract employers to you
- Draw attention to your uniqueness. Carefully consider the 5 to 7 adjectives or descriptive sentences that best describe you, your qualifications, your values, and your personality and woven into your career summary, your success stories, and your cover letter.
- Take those same 5-7 adjectives and identify other words that mean the same thing. Use your second set of adjectives and sentences and use them to describe yourself in interviews.
- Express who you really are, not who you think you should be. Select graphics, font style and paper that express your essence and match the industry you hope to join. Know what it is that does you and describe it in writing for your resume / cover letter and express it verbally for interviews.
- Emphasize your skills with people. Interpersonal skills are essential for many jobs; Owning them may be your ticket to great opportunities, but you must a.) own them honestly; b.) know how / when to use them; c.) be willing to learn what you don’t know; and d.) be prepared to demonstrate your skills in your resumes, cover letters, and interviews.
- Be personal and warm rather than impersonal and objective. There is a difference between being personal and intimate when writing and talking; Strive for the former, but avoid the latter.
- Read company literature and websites and quote your own words as you use your words to demonstrate the match between the two of you. Use quotes from other sources as appropriate.
- Be citable. Let your research show – Let your reader know that you know something about your organization and its needs.
- Consider your personal style as a job seeker and as a professional. Do you know that the way your job search conveys to an employer how you will perform at work?
- Reflect on your personality and work-related values and design a job search and work style that expresses them. Make sure all your written materials, including thank you letters, convey that style.
Dead resumes create lifeless results! Work is too important in life to let your search wear you out. Resurrect your resume with these simple solutions and you will reinvigorate your job search and work life.