If you’re in a job hunt, nothing will negatively impact your success more than filling your resume with your duties, focusing on overused phrases, and spelling out a dry list of your jobs. The reason?
Employers want to hire not only a person that meets the qualifications for a particular role, but a SOLUTION–a candidate that can help solve business problems, lead work teams to productivity, or deliver cost savings to the organization.
All too often, job hunters commit a cardinal error by loading up their resumes with the wrong kind of information, meaning that the document fails to answer the “So what?” question for hiring managers.
In effect, this writing style will put your qualifications into a category whereby your background is seen as identical to other candidates vying for the same job–and that can’t be a good thing.
To correct this problem, start with a fundamental shift in the way you view the purpose of your resume-changing your focus from a dry list of “here’s what I did” to “here’s what I can do for YOU.”
Here are 3 main clues that your resume needs an overhaul in order to move an employer’s response from “So what?” to “Call for an interview:”
1) You forgot to emphasize results.
Today’s hiring managers are looking for consistent proof of performance. So how can you provide it? Start with a list of your contributions to the team and the company, then describe the effect on the employer’s bottom line.
The idea, of course, is to RID your resume of the obvious (everyone knows that an accountant manages the general ledger, managers supervise, and network administrators monitor servers), while giving employers a clear picture of the extent of what you can do.
Many people think that employers are focused on job duties and don’t want more details, while just the opposite is true. It’s of utmost importance to give the outcome of each task that you’ve initiated or completed while at work.
To do this, take EACH resume sentence and scrutinize it for results. Does it present just the facts, or does it convey what happened?
Rewrite each sentence with a clear focus on what happened after you took on that project, led a new team or developed new policies. You’ll be amazed at the difference in the responses to your resume.
2) You failed to be specific about your achievements.
This is probably the biggest problem found in most resumes circulating the Internet. It’s concise, focused description of your accomplishments that lands the interview.
For example, say you increased sales - by HOW MUCH? You implemented changes for efficiency that reduced hiring - by HOW MANY PEOPLE? If you increased new business - by WHAT PERCENTAGE?
“Grew revenue by 435% to $5 million by winning major contracts,” for example, drives your point home better than “Provided contract negotiation support.”
The best way to come up with these figures is to review each sentence in your resume to see if it can be quantified. Make a list of questions such as the ones noted above, and ask yourself for additional detail as if you were at a job interview.
Remember that figures in this case speak much louder than anything else you can use. Quantifying your contributions is an absolute MUST in order to make your credentials stand out above others, and to make the case that you bring verifiable strengths to your next job.
3) You copied or re-used phrases.
It seems basic, but many candidates bore hiring authorities by using the same wording repeatedly, or re-use what they’ve seen elsewhere.
For example, how catchy is the phrase “Responsible for…?” Yet, it populates the average resume at least a half-dozen times. Essentially, if you don’t use interesting verbiage on your resume, then don’t expect much interest from the reader.
A resume should be written to engage the hiring audience so that they want to know MORE about you, not less.
The good news is that there are more than 170,000 words in the English language, meaning that you have a lot of choices.
For example, “managed” can be changed to “directed,” “spearheaded,” “oversaw,” “championed,” “led,” etc. As you can see, there’s no need to re-use the same information to convey your point.
Revitalize your resume to deliver a powerful, compelling message, using what professional resume writers call “Power Verbs”, by consulting a thesaurus.
In summary, remember that your resume’s job is to give employers an accurate and powerful picture of your skills, and that going against conventional, outdated styles can be the right thing to do.
Since reading hundreds of resumes can wear down even the most energetic hiring manager, it’s best to leave the tedious resume wording for use by someone else, in order to market yourself as the PERFECT SOLUTION that will produce bottom-line results.
A unique resume authority, Laura Smith-Proulx, CCMC, CPRW, CIC is the Executive Director of An Expert Resume, global resume award nominee, and author of “How to Get Hired Faster: 10 Proven Strategies to Tap the Hidden Job Market.” Visit An Expert Resume for Laura’s FREE E-Course on “The 7 Biggest Resume Mistakes that Can Keep You from Your Dream Job… and How to Avoid Them.”
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Laura_SmithProulx
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 Two Common Job Search Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Read the following points picked from an email from a leading online job service, which said:
“To do your job search, here is what you will need:
• A resume that meets international standards
• Maximum reach with the maximum number of recruitersâ€
But I disagree with both the points (based on working with hundreds of job candidates). The truth is:
• […]
15 absolutely critical questions
Painful fact: the hiring official at Acme Wingnuts–or any company, for that matter–would rather not read your resume. Don’t take it personally. He’d rather not read anybody’s resume. Labored, unexciting text, pat phraseology, fluff and puff exaggerations. It’s torture. Still, he’s going to read the sorrowful lot of them because it remains the best (only?) way to get warm bodies in the interview chair. And when there’s a job opening that has to be filled, warm bodies need to be seated in that chair.
But don’t expect him to like it. In fact, expect him to do everything in his power to get rid of your resume as fast as humanly possible. His immediate goal is to eliminate you from further consideration in the placement process. The more applicants he eliminates and the faster he does it, the sooner he can get back to the life he prefers–regaling his subordinates with tales of fly-fishing in the Rockies.
Resumes Are For Screening
The lesson to be learned here is that resumes are first put to use to screen out candidates from further consideration. Those resumes that don’t screen out their owners are effective — simple as that. To keep your resume from screening you out of the running, to make your resume effective, you must do a few basic things right from the beginning. Compare your resume to the following checklist to ensure you’re resume is an effective resume.
Top 10 Resume Checklist To Survive The Screening
- Keep it short. The effective resume is preferably one page, two at the most. If you’ve written a novel, tear it apart and whittle it down to one/two pages.
- It must be easy to read. That means the effective resume is well organized with clear headings, brief statements of responsibility, bulleted points for emphasizing achievements.
- It must avoid overly specific professional jargon. Keep in mind that your resume is likely to be read first by someone in the HR department who may not have a clue what you’re talking about when you say… “Chaired brain dump resulting in a turnkey solution to improve customer’s ROI.” Rather, talk like an earthling and state it plainly: “Boosted customer sales 20%.” Take care to craft a resume with universal appeal so as to at least get to the starting gate.
- Curb your design enthusiasm. That means limiting your font selection to one or two. Use the traditional and popular New Times Roman if you prefer lettering with a serif, or consider Arial, Helvetica or Verdana if you prefer san serif fonts, lacking the slight projection finishing off a stroke of a letter. Go easy on the bold and the underlining. And limit your paper selection to white or beige with a weight of 22 or 24 lb. Black type.
- The effective resume is tailored for a specific position. I understand that may mean cranking out slight variations of your resume every day of the week to target different job postings. Nobody said a job search was a walk in the park.
- Portray yourself as a problem solver.
- Quantify your accomplishments with hard numbers whenever possible.
- Don’t mention your current, or expected salary on the resume.
- Don’t mention personal information, like whether or not you’re single or married, whether or not you have kids, whether or not your hobbies include golf or listening for extra-terrestrials with the modified ham radio contraption in your garage. Especially that last one.
- Check, check, check for misspellings. Don’t ever, ever, ever submit a resume or post it online without doing a spell check.
In fact, take that last point a step further and have one or two friends or colleagues proofread the resume for spelling and grammar problems. Do this because an automated spell check program will not know whether you meant to say “principal” or “principle.” Both are spelled correctly but mean totally different things. It will not know that you erred by using a verb in the present tense when referring to a job in the past tense. None of this may seem that critical to you, but trust me, it’s critical to the hiring official.
David Alan Carter is a former headhunter and the founder of Resume One of Cincinnati. For more than ten years, he personally crafted thousands of resumes for satisfied clients from all occupational walks of life–entry level to executive. The author of the free 5-minute report, Effective Resume Format - Chronological or Functional?, David has compiled a collection of Real-Life Resume Objectives, by profession, at ResumeObjective.info. Look for your profession in the table of contents along the right hand side.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=David_Alan_Carter
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7 Successful Tips For Resume Cover Letter
May 19th, 2008 · No Comments
Say cover letter, and 99 out of 100 people will think about resume letters. Well, actually, there are two types of cover letters-document cover letters and resume cover letters. A document cover letter is normally a one or two page letter, which may be attached to any other document like a report or a manual. It contains a brief description of the attached document, its purpose, its recipient and any action that the recipient has to take on receiving it.
Similarly, the resume cover letter is normally a one page document attached to the resume. It introduces you to the reader, explains why you are writing the letter and contains a brief summary of your skills and strengths. A good cover letter should sufficiently arouse the interest of the reader and get him or her to read the resume.
A good cover letter should have the following qualities-
- Do your Homework
Back up your cover letter with quality research. Don’t address it to “Dear Concerned” or “Dear HR Manager”. Take the trouble of finding out the name of the concerned HR manager, and address it to his or her name.
- KISS
Oh yes! Go ahead and KISS! Keep it short and simple. The trick is to summarize all the information and pitch in a single page. Use simple language and crisp sentences. Avoid verbosity. Use bullet points.
- Show Your Interest in the Job
Convey you enthusiasm for the job by explaining why you would like to work for the company. List you achievements, and show how they will help you in this job.
- Show How You are Suitable to the Job
Align your skills and abilities to the job description. Use sentences which convey your sense of purpose and achievement. Show to the employer how your skills and abilities are suitable for this job and for the organization.
- Use the Suitable Keywords
Make it easy for the reader to know that you have the skill sets for the position. Use specific titles. Instead of just saying “Familiar with various Accounting Software”, list down the specific software that you know or used.
- Summarize Your Skills and Strengths
Make a brief summary of your skills and abilities, even though you have mentioned them in the resume itself. They will be better noticed here. But be brief. Use bullet points.
- Assure to Follow Up
Mention in the cover letter that you will be following up. The follow up should be done within the specified period.
Thus, a good resume cover letter acts as an introduction to the resume.
It should be brief, yet, it should contain enough to arouse the interest of the reader, and get him or her to read the resume.
It should be brief, simple and highlight your interest in the job and indicate that you are indeed the person fit for the position.
Follow the above tips to draft a winning cover letter. Wish you all the best!
About the Author: Siddharth Singh runs his career blog. Click here to learn more about effective resume writing and interview techniques. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Siddharth_Singh
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Job Search Strategies - Hightlight Accomplishments
April 22nd, 2008 · No Comments
Most people create a resume at the beginning of their career and simply update it from then on. Now might be a good time to take another look at yours.
Most resumes are a rewrite of a job description. That doesn’t do you justice. The most important part of you resume is your accomplishments and you want to highlight them.
Focus on accomplishments rather than responsibilities. You want your resume to reflect the successes you have had throughout your career. It’s much more effective to say that you brought in 150% of sales goal than to say you were responsible for sales in the southeast region. Review your career and focus in on the Situation you were presented with, the Actions you took and the Outcome you produced.
THE SITUATION - what was the goal handed to you, the problem dumped in your lap, the size of the project and its deadline? What was the situation or challenge presented to you? The more outrageous the request, the better story it tells.
THE ACTIONS - What were the specific actions you took to reach the goal, complete the project, solve the problem? If you were responsible for the results of your team, you have every right to claim them for you. You can use terminology like “led team that …” or “Participated in …”
THE OUTCOME - This is where you want to bring out the numbers. How much over goal? How big a project? How many people involved? How much ahead of deadline? How much under budget? If you can’t make it measurable, make it memorable. Connect what you did to something the other person can relate to. I had a client once who finally decided to tell people that, if they went to the drugstore and ordered photos using one of the kiosks, she designed the touch screen. Measurable and, if that’s not possible, memorable makes for impact.
When you put these accomplishments in your resume you want to turn them upside down and lead with your result. Remember, people skim resumes, they don’t read them and you want the first few words of each bullet to be that result - it may be all they need to read or may entice them to read the rest of the bullet.
If you are having trouble coming up with success stories, look to your performance reviews or the people you eat dinner with every day - they probably will not remember details but will remember when you were totally preoccupied with a project.
These are actually the fundamental building blocks of your job search. You will use them in your resume, in interviews, in casual conversations at networking events, and in certain types of cover letters. Any time you spend working on these stories will pay off big time in results - you can’t have too many of them.
With your permission, I’d like to offer you a free report: Action Verbs for Resumes. You can download it by going to http://www.resumesthatrock.com/Report_Action_Verbs.html. If you would like to hear more about resumes and the other tools you need to conduct a successful job search visit http://www.resumesthatrock.com/Career_Home_Page.html
From Jane Trevaskis and Success-Catalyst.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jane_Trevaskis
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