When applying for a job, you only have one shot. You should submit a flawless resume, or you ruin your chances. Therefore, it’s very important to conduct thorough check before you submit your resume to any job posting, or send it to any recruiter or hiring authority.
Here are 10 things you need to check on your resume before sending it to anyone.
Does It Entice and Excite the Hiring Authority to Call?
Every recruiter or hiring authority has their own agenda to serve. They have supervisors, stockholders, customers, employees and more to answer to. What can you discern your hiring authority needs? What will make them look good to their boss? Do they need a sales performer, someone stable, or a specific skill?
Does It Capture the Reader’s Attention Quickly?
Got something good to say? Don’t bury it deep in the job descriptions. Say it loud, proud and fast. Get to the point so the reader will be want to know about you. Use a summary to highlight important areas of your background first.
Does It Set Yourself Up For Good Interview Questions?
Your resume has the seeds of future interview questions. What you put on our resume dictates the tone and content of many of the questions that will come back to you in upcoming interviews. Share stories, anecdotes and illustrations that you like to about, and can expand upon at great length.
Doe It Tell the “So What” of your Abilities and Accomplishments?
So What!? Great, you got employee of the month…so what!? Oh, you put in an employee training and scheduling plan that reduced payroll by 10% and increased productivity and profit by 8% earning the employer an additional $150,000 per month. Make the hiring authority think, what if he/she could do that here! Substantiate your work with clear illustrations.
Does It Make Vague, Ambiguous and Uninspired Claims?
Improved customer service; helped sales team; work well with people…That all sounds nice, but everybody will make the same or similar claim. Show some enthusiasm for your work. Share some detail!
Does It Use Proper Language, Etiquette and Grammar?
Well, this seems obvious, but most don’t do this. Resumes are written in third person. (Don’t use “I” or “my”). Start sentences with an Active verb. “Motivated,” “Led,” “Sold”… Use present tense verbs if the statements still applies like a current job. Use past tense if it applies to something you did in the past.
Does It Have a Defined, Clear Message and Objective?
What do you want? What is your goal? Show passion, dedication and commitment to your chosen career path. If you try to be everything to everybody, you will dilute yourself and come across weaker than your competition.
Does It Work for Resume Scanning/Searching Databases?
Resume scanning and searching is about Keywords. Use the critical industry lingo or accomplishment phrases clearly and specifically. When possible, use them more than once.
Be Formatted Properly for Emailing?
Virtually 100% of all resumes under any sort of serious consideration will be emailed. To be on the safe side, submit your resume in MS Word 2004 or under version (.doc) This is the most universally accepted format as virtually all programs open MS Word.doc files. The best format for email only is pdf, but that is not a searchable file format.
Does It Oversell or Share Too Much?
The job of the resume is to get an interview. That’s it. Nothing more. If you get an interview, you’ve most likely beaten out 95% of your competition. Share just enough information on your resume to get the interview. Share too much, and they might make a decision on you based on overly thorough resume. You want them to call you. Save something for the interview!
Leave it to the professional
Most people think that writing resume is an easy job. However, more often than not, they are wrong. They end up submitting a messy and unimpressive resume which is quickly thrown into the trash bin.
Don’t let your resume get treated like that! At Style Resumes, we know what we’re doing. We’ve helped thousands of job seekers get their dream job by giving them an impressive resume and cover letter that made employers feel in love with them. Get in touch with us and let’s craft that perfect resume!