When your resume beats the odds, and reaches a human reader, you have 30 seconds or less to convince hiring managers you deserve an interview. Avoid a boring list of job descriptions, and treat your resume like a sales pitch designed to show readers how you can solve problems for employers. The goal is to sell your story better than the competition, so use these smart resume tips to win over your audience.
1. Open With a Strong Hook
Lead with the most compelling information to make hiring managers excited to learn more. Your education or college awards shouldn't be the most interesting thing about you, and these details don't tell employers whether you can deliver results on the job.
Use the career summary, work history and skills section to answer the hiring manager's key questions — what you do extremely well, what pain points you solve for employers and how your career has developed. To eliminate doubts, always be upfront and address issues a recruiter might perceive as red flags, such as employment gaps. The hiring manager is more likely to stay interested if you make it clear you aren't hiding anything.
2. Customize the Content
Don't leave the hiring manager wondering whether your experience is a good fit for this specific job. Present yourself as a specialist by honing in on the core competencies necessary for the position. You don't need a complete rewrite every time, but highlight the skills, projects and accomplishments most relevant to the job duties and company culture. For example, a contracting company that primarily works on large commercial construction projects may be reluctant to hire you as an estimator if your resume only shows experience calculating expenses for small residential projects.
3. Emphasize Transferable Skills
Connect the dots in your work history when your past jobs don't have an obvious link to the target position. Instead of assuming a hiring manager knows what you did in past roles, explicitly describe how your transferable skills offer value to a potential employer. For instance, if you're applying for a sales job, highlight the public relations, communications and marketing skills you gained as a fundraiser.
4. Focus on Outcomes, Not Tasks
Many of your fellow candidates likely have similar experience, so packing your work history with a list of job duties doesn't explain why you're better than the competition. Give hiring managers an example of what you can do for them by summarizing your most valuable accomplishments for each past employer. Whenever possible, include measurable results and provide enough context about the company to stress the impact of your contributions. If you spearheaded an email marketing campaign that helped a company win back 23 percent of inactive customers, the hiring manager can imagine you accomplishing similar outcomes for his team.
5. Keep It Relevant
When you have a long work history, optimize your resume by sticking to brief descriptions for less relevant jobs. Keep your history complete and chronological to avoid gaps, but only expand on your experience with bullet points if the job is relevant to your target position.
Great resumes convey your value and goals to any reader. Before reaching out to hiring managers, ask trusted friends whether your resume successfully markets your qualifications in 30 seconds.
Photo courtesy of stockimags at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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