Your resume should be like any good marketing plan — designed to
sell! It needs to hook potential employers as soon as they see it, so
they bypass the discard pile and take a second look. Creating a resume
that accomplishes that can't be done in just a few minutes because
there's much more to it than listing your work history and year of
graduation. Try thinking of it as an art form, because it is. Great
resumes get a second look and an interview, but bad ones don't get a
second thought.
If you're serious about scoring as many interviews as you can and
for the jobs you really want, then learning how to market yourself with
a resume that grabs attention should be one of your top priorities.
This is the only way you'll stand out from the crowd.
Know the Market
Advertising companies do market research before they put together
an ad campaign. Why? Because they need to know who they're selling to
and what those people want. The same strategy should apply to your job
search. You have to know what jobs are available to know how to market
yourself to them. Scour the job boards and classifieds to see what's
out there, and know what kind of job you're looking for — finding
a job can be pretty tough if you have no goals or ideas about what you
want to do.
Target Your Resume
Determine which jobs you're interested in and target your resume to
each one. Don't submit the same version of it for every job you apply
for — change words and move things around so your resume uses
some of the same lingo as the job descriptions. Use keywords to
highlight your experience and accomplishments that best match those
sought for each job. Your goal should be to match the content of your
resume as much as possible to the qualifications and duties described
in each job notice.
Make It Stand Out
A visually appealing and easy-to-read resume gets attention. Skip
the fancy fonts, long paragraphs, and flowered stationary. Use as few
words as possible and make creative use of white space, bold letters,
sectioning, and bullets. A potential employer should be able to scan
over your resume quickly to determine if it deserves a longer look. You
want them to notice what's great about your resume, not the color of
the paper.
Shift Your Priorities
For each job you apply to, shift items around on your resume so
that the first thing any potential employer sees is exactly what
they're looking for. If they're specifically looking for someone who
speaks Swahili, put it at or near the beginning of your resume (as long
as you actually speak it, of course!) It's a simple strategy —
the things they want go first, the things that are less appealing or
less important to the job go last.
Highlight What's Important
Yes, you are multi-talented and of course, your resume needs to sum
up your skills and abilities. However, you don't need to list
everything. You just need to let them know what skills you have that
are assets for the job.
As far as your education goes, unless you're right out of school,
your degree doesn't need to be the first thing people see on your
resume. If you've been working for five years or more, list your
education last and focus on your skills and accomplishments. However,
if you're just starting out, it's perfectly acceptable to list your
degrees, as well as your GPA, courses relevant to your job search, and
any awards or scholarships you've earned.
Any special training you've completed should be included, so long
as it's pertinent to the job at hand (so skip the blurb about Clown
School if you're applying for an accounting job).
Share Your Story
Job history is important, but to highlight your experience that
best relates to the job, a chronological rundown may not always be the
best approach. You may want to consider emphasizing what you know
instead of what you've done, although in most cases, a job timeline is
more than adequate.
Accomplishments you've made on the job could be included in your
job history, or they could be highlighted separately on your resume,
along with off-the-job accomplishments and any special skills you can
bring to the table. Decide how you want to emphasize these aspects of
yourself so employers will notice what's most important to them.
Perfecting your resume can be tough, but it really does help to
think of it as a marketing tool. Know your audience and tailor your
resume to them each time. If you don't, you may not appeal to the
people who are reading it. With a little time and patience — and
perhaps a little extra advice — you can put together a resume
that's sure to get you in the door for an interview. The rest is up to
you!
About The Author
which provides Resume Writing Services online. She has personally
created 10,000+ resumes, cover letters, and business documents for
clients in every industry and at every stage of a career from
entry-level to CEOs. Darlene is a Certified Resume Writer who holds a
CPRW designation.
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Distributed by Hasan Shrek, independence blogger. Also run online business , matrix, internet marketing solution , online store script .
Beside he is writing some others blogs for notebook computer , computer training , computer software and personal computer
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