Your resume is your professional story and it should reflect you as you best see yourself, but keep in mind that it is not an autobiography- you will want to focus on the key elements of what you can add to your prospective employer. The most important thing you need to understand that your resume is a document that is intended to be read and to persuade; your resume must captivate your audience..
Step 1: Think like the hiring manager:
Most resumes will go through a word bank that is designed to pull out words that align with the job offer, so consider certain power words like: collaboration, team player, effective communicator, and initiative within the language of both your cover letter and resume. Many hiring managers have thousands of resumes that flood their desks and emails and most will go through a computer program to seek out certain power words before a pair of human eyes even looks at it, so it is important that you employ the appropriate language throughout your resume.
Step 2: State your Objective:
Before you even sit down to write your resume, you need a statement that allows the employer that you have a goal in mind in seeking employment. The “objective” of your objective statement is to define what you want and what you offer in terms of your own skills and experiences to the prospective employer.
Step 3: Make a List of your achievements:
Make an inventory of your previous achievements and record them into points of interest of your resume. Place this at the end of your resume as part of your summary of qualifications.
Step 4: Designing the Resume:
Ok once you know what you want in your resume; concentrate on how to get those words to look attractive to the eye. Throughout your resume use simple bullet points, indents, and pay special attention to the typeface that you use, remember to not use more than two different typefaces or it will make the document look cluttered. Take the time to build a resume that is attractive and engaging to read, there are many resume resources out there and if you don’t have the computer savvy to setup your file, hire a local printer or designer to do it for you. The extra investment in time or money in building your resume could make all the difference in getting noticed by the right hiring manager.
Step 5: Study, research and develop:
It is crucial to the specific job market that you absolutely understand what the company wants and expects from their employees. If possible, research the website of the company (or companies) that you want to work for and fine tune your resume and cover letter to the specific needs of the prospective employer. It is also important to point out that each cover letter should always include the name of the hiring manager of the company, rather than the usual “Dear to whom it may concern”. Personalization of your cover letter shows initiative and may make the very difference that sets you apart from the other candidates.
Step 6: Marketing Yourself and Social Networking:
When you place your resume out there you need to focus on personal branding, marketing yourself as much as possible. You have to get your name out there in a serious way; you will have to let people know that you know exactly what you are talking about. Get on discussion groups and get ready to type in a serious way, it is now time to join discussion groups on professional networking sites and show your business savvy in the field that you have been building yourself up in all these years. The more specific to your field and the most numbers of members in the group is exactly what you are shooting for. Each member of that group will get an email each time a new discussion is started, so you will now have a unique audience that you normally would not have had access to otherwise. Also, for business social media users, attach a professional picture of yourself on these forums; focus carefully on how you present yourself to the prospective employer before even that initial interview.
Taking the right steps to building a resume both on paper and digitally will present you as the professional that you are, do not automatically assume that your work history will speak for itself. You must communicate to that prospective employer that you are the best person for that job; the best way to beat out 90% of your competition is to employ strategies that will shine above all the other applicants.