The resume as you know is characterized as a one page summation of your job history, skills, achievements and duties. It is designed solely to get a company to call for a personal interview appointment. That being said, why is it so difficult to create a document that is both attention grabbing and memorable? Most human resources personnel are practiced in the art of “skimming” a resume in twenty to thirty seconds.
That is all the time that you have in order to make a lasting impression in their mind. Now that doesn’t sound so hard now does it? While correct formatting, no spelling errors and proper grammar will set you apart from at least 25% of your competition, there has be something of substance that makes the reviewer want to jump out of his seat before somebody else calls you. Your resume has to make a statement about not only who you are but how you can benefit the company. The competition for jobs is extremely fierce right now and sometimes the most qualified person does not get the job. This is because their resume is lacking the type of salesmanship that others are able to spell out in their ad. That’s right, a resume is nothing more than an advertisement about you!
Who better to sell yourself than the person who knows you best? Now is not the time to be modest, show the company who you are by including specific industry buzzwords in both your experience section and job objective. You may also want to consider excluding the job objective section and replace it with a profile summary where you can include your greatest accomplishments in your career in a one paragraph block. Since this is near the top of the page, it will be one of the first things that is seen by a reviewer. Remember, the resume will only be evaluated for thirty seconds, so putting the most important thing first will guarantee at least a look.
This beats burying it in the experience where the reviewer might not even glance at this bit of news. So figure out your most noteworthy achievement and place it as near to the top as possible. This will only help in your search for that ideal job. Good luck.
Tags: human resources person, industry buzzwords, interview appointment, objective section, proper grammar