By John Bailey
Let’s face it, the whole goal from searching online for a job, creating that perfect resume, talking to your career buddies about unadvertised job opportunities is to get you an interview. Getting face-to-face with your potential employer means that you are almost there in terms of getting the job you want. Once in the interview, you can let your skills, knowledge, and personality take over to dazzle so that you will get the offer. Once in the interview, you have all the power.
But, how do you get invited to that all-important interview? A lot of groundwork must happen first and one of the most important components of that work is having a resume that conveys just enough information about your abilities and professionalism to get hiring managers to want to see you in person.
I have been reviewing resumes from job seekers for over 20 years and they have varied greatly in their quality. From my experience, below are 10 of the easiest ways to supercharge your resume so that it is put into the ‘interview’ pile instead of the recycle bin.
1. Avoid typos and grammatical errors at all costs!
Would you go to a job interview with a blaring stain on your clothing? Of course not. So, why wouldn’t you take the same amount of care that you put into your clothing than you do in crafting an effective resume?
The unpleasant truth is, in the initial review of your resume, people are looking for reasons not to read it. And, grammatical errors can get your resume tossed quicker than any other reason. Take the time to review your resume for spelling and grammar mistakes. Then, have a friend you trust review it again.
2. Highlight Achievements rather than duties
It is all too easy to just copy your list of current duties and put them down in your resume. Employers really don’t care about what you did in your last job. They want to know what value you can bring to their organization if they hire you. In order to convey this effectively, rewrite your activities in terms of how you made things better (added value) at your last job. A great way to do this is to state how you made things better by quantifying the results. Ideally, use specific numbers. For example, ‘Oversaw training program for over a dozen employees increasing retention by 20 percent.”
Turning duties into accomplishments is just a matter of looking at things a little differently.
3. Write for the job you are applying for
As mentioned earlier, during the initial review of your resume, staff is looking for reasons to toss it in order to get through as many resumes as possible. To make your resume stand out as one that should be read completely, you should customize your resume so that they will want to read it. You accomplish this by ‘echoing’ back the keywords, skill sets, and terms used in the original job posting. Give them what they are looking for and make it easy to find!
4. Give them just enough information in your resume to get them to want to know more
Again, the goal of a well-crafted resume should be to get you the interview. You should just include enough information to whet the curiosity of the hiring manager to want to talk to you further. Save your life’s story for the novel.
6. Write a summary that allows you to shine
Unfortunately, resume summaries are one of the last parts of the resume to be written and the most neglected. Employers do read your career summary looking for the values and attitudes that would make you a good fit for their organization. Don’t skimp on this opportunity to shine. Put down your goals and how they will benefit the organization that hires you. A resume is a beauty contest and you should look your best at every opportunity.
7. Convey accomplishments by using action verbs
Telling a potential employer, you were ‘responsible’ for a duty bores them to tears. Expand on terms like responsible with action verbs like, organized, implemented, oversaw, enhanced, etc. Again, it is all about what value you can bring to the hiring organization.
8. Even volunteers have value
Here is a great tip for new job seekers who feel their resume is a bit short on accomplishments. Every resume should include some references to unpaid employment. A skill is a skill whether or not you receive monetary compensation for it.
9. Keep your resume easy to read
People who read resumes for a living have a hard-enough job. Make it easy for them to find the information they are looking for by using lots of white space, using bold or highlighted text to emphasize important terms or skills that the employer might be looking for, use a minimum of fonts, and most importantly, use a font size that is easy on the eyes.
10. Continue updating your resume even if you aren’t looking for a new job
Leaving all the great things you have accomplished to memory is a receipt for disaster. You will forget. So, continually update your resume with newly acquired skills and talents so that when it does come time for a job move, you won’t be scratching your head trying to remember what you did last year.
In conclusion, resumes are the key for unlocking doors to interviews. Your resume should scream value, competence, and professionalism. Just a bit of extra work on your resume can make a world of difference in getting that dream interview.