A GUIDE TO MAKE AN EFFECTIVE RESUME’
A résumé is nothing more than a slick advertisement. But an important one, especially in today’s job market. A top quality résumé is essential to your success. Is yours good enough to grab an employer’s attention? Companies have hundreds of job seekers vying for open positions.
Take this quiz to see if your résumé would be picked out of the competition:
1. Is your résumé one page?
Brief, one page and concise works best. Employers scan résumés with a 15-20 second glance. Be a skillful editor, emphasize your more recent experience in the last five to seven years and use different résumés to target different job titles.
2. Does your resume catch attention?
Your resume is all an employer has when they start the screening process. And employers report that most résumés get only a 15-20 second glance. If you don’t capture their attention quickly, they pass you by and call in someone else for the interview.
3. Have you included the ‘Summary of Qualifications?
You will be surprised that only about 5 percent of résumés contained this key section.
Be sure that your résumé has this essential section. It comes right after your name, address and career objectives. Adding this triples your impact, and employers reported that this was one of the very first areas they read. And if the briefly stated summary demonstrates solid ability to fill the advertised job, it catches their attention and they slow down and give the applicant more careful consideration.
Think of it as mini-outline of you: a highly influential summation of the specifics you bring to the job. This section usually consists of four to six sentences that present an overview of your experience, accomplishments, talents, work habits and skills.
4. Have you lied, mis-represented or un-necessarily exaggerated?
One caution – employers complain that many people lie on their résumé. Exaggeration! Misrepresentation! Lying is a deadly error. Don’t do it! Employers ask more questions and do more background checks now than ever before so when you get caught, and sooner or later you will get exposed, you’ll likely be fired. Solid facts and verifiable experience should highlight your actions and accomplishments.
5. Is your resume computer-scanning friendly?
In today’s high-tech world, computers are changing the way people work. The human resources industry is no exception and a crop of products has been developed that help HR managers sift through the stacks of résumés they receive. What this means for job seekers is that the first person who reads your résumé may not be a person at all, but rather a computer.
These days, companies to find the right candidates are using computer programs; they are called applicant-tracking systems. There are many types of systems, all with varying degrees of sophistication. What these systems have in common is the ability to quickly scan résumés and pick out the candidates that should be considered further. These systems work by searching résumés and applications for pre-set keywords that are requirements for the job. They work on paper and electronic résumés and applications. If you mail your paper résumé, it will be fed through a scanner and turned into an electronic file that can then be viewed by the system.
6. Does your résumé describe results and accomplishments?
Employers want proof that you can do the job. Specifics that demonstrate your accomplishments are crucial. Show what you have increased or decreased, how you saved money, and contributed to the productivity and bottom line.
7. Is your résumé visually appealing?
The appearance of the résumé cannot be overemphasized! Use high quality paper. Watch your spacing and margins. Allow for lots of white space and borders. If necessary, make use of italicizing, capital letters, underlining, bolding, indentations and bullets to emphasize your important points. Use a computer and get a laser printed copy of your résumé to give it a sharp, professional look. When sending a résumé electronically, e-mail it to a friend and have them forward it back to you so you can see how it looks. Sometimes the formatting gets jumbled around and you will need to rework it.
8. Have you proofread your resume?
You will be surprised how many typing and other mistakes creep into resumes, probably due to callousness, laziness or sheer hurry. Proofread – make your résumé a perfect example of you!
A. DO minimize interruptions by turning off your phone, turning away from your computer, and closing your door. Breaking your train of thought could result in missing words, poor edits or missed typos. Some successful communicators minimize interruptions by leaving their offices or cubicles in order to proofread their work.
B. DON’T proofread alone. Always ask someone you respect to proofread your document after you’ve reviewed it. As the author of the document, you may not see obvious mistakes that others will spot right away.
C. DO focus on one word at a time. Go slow. Make sure each word is spelled correctly. If you’re unsure, look it up.
D. DON’T think about what the words mean. If you think about meaning, you’ll see what you expect to see, not what is actually there. This is especially true when reviewing your own writing.
SOME MORE COMMON MISTAKES:
Corporate recruiters say you’d be surprised at how many candidates leave out important facts, such as the names and locations of companies where they’ve worked, or include too much information
Is your resume working for you or against you? Here are some signs it may be time to tweak (or toss) your résumé:
1. No Career Summary/Introductory Statement Most hiring companies don’t have time to match unspecified résumés to open positions, so lead off with a career summary, introductory statement or a covering letter that makes it clear what type of position you are seeking and why you are qualified for the job.
2. Lack of Keywords and Phrases To pass through a company’s applicant tracking software, your résumé must contain the keywords and phrases it is screening for. These words are not the verbs stressed in paper résumés, but nouns such as job titles and technical skills.
3. No Evidence of Your ExperienceYour résumé should not merely list the jobs you’ve held; it should provide specific examples of how you achieved success. Résumé-writing professionals recommend using the PARS formula: Describe a Problem, the Action you took, the Results you achieved and Skills you applied.
4. Use of Personal Pronouns and ArticlesWith just one or two pages to sell yourself, make each word count. Write in a telegraphic style, eliminating all personal pronouns and articles like “the,” “a” and “an.” Removing the “I,” “me” and “my” from your résumé not only frees up space, but also creates a subliminal perception of objectivity.
How to send your resume?
There are a number of things you can do to enhance your ability to make it past the first round of electronic screening:
1. Start with e-mail, follow up with paper:
The best way to deliver your résumé is via e-mail. You’re better off with e-mail, because at least you know it will get there. He says that a paper résumé can still make a good impression, and that you should follow up your e-mail with a paper copy, at least for the jobs you really want. Use the fax as a last resort, as faxes do not come out clear and are difficult to scan.
2. Keep it simple:
Because your résumé may be scanned, it is important to keep your formatting simple. Avoid italics, underlining, fancy or large fonts, and anything else that could be misread. If you are sending an electronic copy of your résumé, create a plain copy of your résumé that leaves out any bold terms or bullets and uses a standard typeface, such as Arial or Times New Roman. Plain résumés also work better on company or job search Web sites that require you to cut and paste your information.
3. It’s all about key phrases:
Once again, the most important thing to remember is the importance of keywords and phrases. The trick is tailoring your résumé to answer the company’s job description or help wanted ad. You have to understand how recruiters work. They look for critical skills in the job description, as must haves. Therefore, make sure your résumé includes those same keywords. Carefully read the description and write your résumé specifically for that position. Every résumé has to be customized. Plain vanilla is no good anymore.
4. Conduct a dry run:
After you have created your résumé, e-mail yourself and a friend a copy to see how it appears in the e-mail. This will give you the chance to fix the formatting and edit the document once more before you really hit the “send” button.
5. Re-apply:
Most systems allow recruiters to sort résumés by date received, and that many recruiters will limit their searches to the most recent résumés. Therefore, it pays to send an updated résumé or edit your profile once a month. If your résumé has been in a company database for more than 30 days, you can be absolutely sure it will not be seen. If you’ve posted your résumé to Internet or industry specific job search sites, you should also consider updating it periodically.
IN SHORT:
We’ve all been through it.
The waiting — endless waiting — for the phone to ring with the hope that, maybe, just maybe, one of the résumés you sent out this week will get through to the right person… and he’ll like what he sees.
There are things you can do to land that all-important first interview. As the old saying goes, you only have one chance to make a good first impression. And the résumé is it. Here are his tips for creating a phone-ringing résumé:
Know your strengths: Do some serious soul-searching. Know the kind of job – and company – that you want. Know your strengths… and acknowledge your weaknesses.
Demonstrate your value. Fill your résumé with facts that jump out at the recruiter. Avoid empty boasts that can’t be quantified. A chronological résumé with bullet points that highlight previous results and successes is preferable. You’ve got to show how you’ve contributed to a company’s bottom line and how you’ve added value.
Be truthful. Falsehoods get discovered and you should always use your actual dates of employment.
Be choosy. Don’t send your résumé blindly to every company out there. Do your homework and decide whom you want to target. Look into a company’s history and its goals for the future, and how it plans to accomplish them.
Be the solution. Try to find out where the company’s ‘pain’ is… and then you’ll know how to position yourself as a solution. Show how you can add value to their company by showing some awareness of their business and their marketplace. If you can position yourself as a possible solution to their problems, you’ve got a very big step up on the competition.
VISIT ME AT
http://shwetank.shekhar.tripod.com
They may yet discover a few secrets. ) My husband, like most men, needs to justify every action, even something as trivial as shopping. So if he goes to a store, he has to buy something to show there’s a reason why he went to the store in the first place and why the trip isn’t a waste. Women thankfully don’t need to justify anything.
