Market yourself effectively — via your resume
Just as consumers browse through aisles of competing products, hiring managers browse through piles of competing resumes. To get the hiring manager’s attention and be heard, you need to start thinking about your resume as your own personal advertisement. You need to promote your skills and experience as a solution to a company’s job opening requirements and indicate how you can directly benefit the company as a new employee.
Think like an ad exec and consider the following guidelines to give your resume a better chance of staying on the recruiter’s desk, rather than in the recycle bin.
- Customize each resume– Hiring managers can spot a generic resume a mile away. Take the time to investigate the company’s points of pain, and focus your communications on why you are most qualified to respond. Tailor your resume to mirror the job description. If the company is looking for someone with sales experience, make sure to include yours. Use the real estate on your resume to demonstrate your relevance and why you’re the best product on the market.
- Write a clear and compelling career summary– Think of your career summary as a brand positioning statement. It enables you to quickly convey your experience, skills and training right smack at the top of the page. You can showcase two or three of your most notable accomplishments along with a brief description of who you are as a candidate to attract first time buyers.
- Highlight accomplishments, not job duties– Companies are interested in results, not just features or ingredients. Instead of focusing on the duties you were responsible for at your last jobs, list your achievements. The hiring manager probably has an idea of what your duties were anyway, but will not know how you tackled these duties and excelled. Below is a list of accomplishments that most hiring managers look for. It’s possible that you’ve accomplished some of these in your current jobÑthink of how you might include them on your resume. Approach each one from the viewpoint of a recruiter: How can this past accomplishment benefit a potential employer?
1. Increased revenues
2. Saved money
3. Increased efficiency
4. Cut overhead
5. Increased sales
6.Improved workplace safety
7. Purchasing accomplishments
8. New products/new lines
9. Improved record-keeping process
10. Increased productivity
11. Successful advertising campaign
12. Effective budgeting - And don’t forget the numbers and details– There’s a reason so many reduced fat items say “99% fat free” on their packaging. Numbers are meaningful. Maybe you implemented a successful marketing campaign that resulted in increased sales. Maybe you developed a new computer system and saved your company a significant chunk of change. Whatever it may be, spell it out in numbers on your resume package.
- Be discriminating about what to include– If you have been working for several years, chances are your high school work experience is no longer relevant. Think “new and improved.” Focus more on your recent successes. Keep your resume brief and to the point. Often, this means dropping some of your older jobs unless those positions are integral to the required experience.
- Use power words and phrases– No one wants to read something that is dull and redundant. Grab a thesaurus and spice up your snoozer resume with some strong action verbs to give your resume a new spin and get it placed in the recruiter’s shopping cart.
- Read, read and read again– If your resume has spelling errors or typos, it might very well gain the reader’s attention, but not in the way that you would like. After you have worked hard and put in the time to develop a resume that sells you, don’t let a copy writing error ruin the pitch.
Cover Letter Tips: 1. When at all possible, address your letter to a particular person. Do some research to find out the name of the person who will be reviewing your resume. This reinforces that this is not a generic cover letter, but one made especially for them.
- Modify your cover letter to the particular job you are applying for and illustrate why you are the best choice for this particular position. Hiring Managers look for specialized cover letters, not mass-produced ones.
- Do research on the company you are applying for. Discuss why this company/organization appeals to you. This shows employers you went the extra mile to learn about them – it may give you the edge over the competition.
- Don’t just repeat your resume. This is a chance to not only to illustrate your outstanding qualities, but to show your personality as well. Employers should want to meet you, not just your credentials.
- Double and triple check for spelling or grammatical errors. 48% of hiring managers say they will not even consider a resume or cover letter with spelling errors.