Develop a Resume that Sells
Design a Stand-Out Resume With These Top Five Must-Haves
Creating a resume involves developing a tool that sells. Don't forget these five elements in order to make your resume rise to the top.
It’s time to look for a new job, and the only way to do that is to have a great resume that tells and sells employers on what the job seeker has to offer. This means that candidates must separate themselves from the crowd by giving a new twist to the information that employers expect to see on resumes.
While every resume naturally must contain certain information like job seeker name, contact information and work experience, other details such as education, achievements, and technical skills depend on individual background and preferences.
Regardless of a candidate's work history or the resume style used, an important step in the resume development process is to determine what the candidate can bring to the company and the position based on the requirements outlined in the job posting or advertisement, and then design a resume that appropriately represents background and presents experience using these top five must-haves.
It’s amazing how many people continue to use objectives even though they are obsolete and no longer serve a purpose. While objectives tell the employer what the candidate wants, a headline focuses on what the job seeker has to offer. That’s a very important distinction to an organization. And just like on the front of a newspaper, the headline grabs the reader’s attention and makes them want to read more.
Education
Just because someone has not graduated from a four-year college, doesn’t mean that they haven’t participated in a training program or taken a relevant course at a local school. Education should not include high school graduation, but should instead highlight any development beyond that level.
Education demonstrates someone’s ability to learn. Company-sponsored training - whether in-house or through an external facilitator, college-level classes including technical or specialty school, or workshops and training the candidate has obtained on his own should all be listed.
Skills
Surprisingly, unless a job seeker works in information technology, this tends to be one of the primary things that candidates leave off their resumes. Primary skills include computer software and other technical equipment. However, soft skills – communication, project management, or problem-solving to name a few – are just as important. Consider using bullet points to highlight a list that includes both the ‘hard’ and soft skills.
For some people outlining achievements or accomplishments can be difficult because they feel that what they have done is not earth shattering. However, even minor achievements, such as organizing a holiday party for 200 guests, are worthy of mentioning because they communicate skill sets such as organization and follow through. Savvy job seekers even include awards or certificates that they have received. This is a great opportunity for candidates to show why they stand out from the rest.
Keywords
The use of keywords has been around for several years; however, it’s just now gaining in popularity. Keywords are a list of words that don’t appear elsewhere on the resume, but which apply to the candidate and which recruiter’s may use in their resume search. What organizations do is use screening software to search their database for candidates using the keywords they are looking for in an applicant. This includes soft and hard skills. If a resume indicates someone has been a manager, but not a director, their resume might be overlooked. A list of keywords strategically placed at the end of a resume can remedy the situation.
Remember that a resume is the first contact that a job seeker has with a potential employer and, therefore, it is important to get it right the first time by including these top five must-haves.
