In the current job market, it seems as if everyone is looking for employment. Sending your resume into potential employers is the first step, but how can you ensure that you are one of the applicants selected for an interview? You know that you would make a superb employee—the challenge is to ensure that the hiring manager sees this. Accomplishing this through lying is never the answer; social networking and technology almost guarantee lies will be caught. Your resume should present you in the most optimal light for a specific position. Our tips will help you market yourself to your full potential and increase your hiring potential.
Include a career summary
A career summary is a brief yet informational statement highlighting skills, qualities, and accomplishments. Who are you? A respected executive? A compassionate leader? Let your career summary say who you are, followed by a short explanation of what you have done and how who you are matters in the industry. Make this no longer than a few sentences and include it at the top of your resume. Hiring managers look at resumes for under a minute, so including a career summary communicates your best qualities in concise manner, making a notable first impression.
Paint a picture
When communicating responsibilities and accomplishments associated with previous experiences, show, don’t tell. Avoid using general terms to describe what you have done, even if you were responsible for general tasks. Using powerful adjectives provide a clearer image of what you are capable of. Don’t simply say you “Directed a team of ten people”—show that you “Led a team of ten coworkers to create budget plans designed to cut total company expenditure by 10 %”.
Use keywords
A recent trend in the hiring process is the usage of computerized resume scanning software. These programs look for specific words and phrases in resumes; resumes selected will be looked at by the hiring manager, but the ones that are not are deleted. To ensure that your resume is selected by the software, look at the job posting you are responding to and include phrases from this posting in your resume, as these are generally the keywords scanned for. Is the company you are applying to looking for someone who is “flexible and organized?” As long as you would be able to uphold these qualities on the job, make sure that your resume states that you are “flexible and organized”.
Explain benefits behind specific skills
When including personal skills, write not only what your skills are, but briefly state how these skills have been vital to previous companies worked for. Being indispensible to a company is vital to keeping a job, and showing the benefits of specific skills is an excellent way to work towards this. Are you fluent in Spanish? Make sure to explain the benefit behind this skill by writing, for example, that you “Eliminated the cost of hiring a Spanish translator through Spanish fluency”.
Use numbers
In a resume full of words, numbers instantly stand out. Include any relevant, impressive, and true numbers that you can, especially those attached to money. Almost every job has some quantifiable measure to it, so make sure that your resume highlights these. Did you cut costs or increase profits? If the amount by which you achieved these tasks is impressive, include it! Describing a position is excellent, but by including numbers on your resume, the hiring manager can see solid examples of the results you are capable of.
