Tips to make your Resume Remarkable

If you’ve been looking for work, you know that the job market is tough at the moment, but it’s a great time to take stock and spiff up that ho-hum resume!

Having the right design, layout, and content for your resume is what stands between you and a new job.  Many times you only have twenty to thirty seconds to capture the attention of your reader so approaching this endeavor with a clear strategy and plan of action is important.  We’ll tackle your resume one step at a time over the next few posts and give you tips on how you can update your resume to stand out from the crowd.

Content is King

Consider your resume like an online dating profile.  Not only does the content have to adequately cover your experience and capabilities, but it must be interesting and even enticing.  Keeping the reader’s interest means not having a War and Peace sized autobiography; cover the most important topics by giving just enough information to leave whoever is reading your resume the desire to know more.  The idea is even if a hiring manager had the extra time to read your finely detailed pedigree they would no longer need to interview you, they already know more than enough.  What you divulge with your content needs to be setting yourself up for that first date, the interview. 

 Here are some of our suggestions:

Highlight your accomplishments - Did you cut costs? Increase revenues? Deliver projects correctly ahead of time? Below budget? Break a company record?  If so, your resume is an excellent place to call attention to how awesome you really are!  You want your potential employer to visualize how you are going to help them and one way to help this process is to use numbers and percentages.  Don’t spell it out when you can show it with numbers.

Call out the value you would bring to the target company – If you’re a sports fan or even if you just hang around one, you’re familiar with this idea.  When a new player joins a team everyone voices their opinion on the value that new player brings with them.  Your resume is the perfect place for you to assert the value you would add to your prospective employer’s team.  Make sure you are speaking the same language that your potential employer speaks, especially as it relates to the position you are applying for. 

Identify five assets that make you remarkable –   No doubt you’ve seen an infomercial.  They’re loud. They’re bright. And surprisingly, they’re effective (Be honest, you have at least one product seen on TV in your house right now)!  The reason they are effective is they highlight the assets of the product and show how those assets benefit the user.  In the same way, show your depth by identifying your professional assets and highlighting the benefits to the hiring manager and the company.  Professional assets are things like your background, experience, abilities, knowledge, and specialties.

By addressing this content in your resume, you’ll set yourself apart from the competition, pass the employer’s screening process and get the interview! 

The right job for you is out there.  We can help get you to it.  Visit our website to view our current employment opportunities and receive the support that will help you go forward confidently!