How a Great Resume is Your Foundation to Advance Your Career

Your resume is the foundation of your job search, and ultimately employment in the role you seek and the employer where you want to work. Creating a well-defined resume isn’t easy. It is difficult, involves research, and it is time-consuming. The Internet is filled with resume resources, some of which are contradictory, to assist you with creating your resume. The goal is to create a document that is easy to read and digest while highlighting your value as a potential candidate. You should frequently review your resume and add or delete areas to refine your message to advance your career.

The Headline

Determine how you are going to present yourself to recruiters and tell your story. It will be your plan to market your skills and experience to potential employers. Too many candidates just submit a timeline of schools and jobs without ever telling their story. Your resume should include a headline that briefly states who you are and what you do that will prompt a recruiter to continue reviewing your resume. Review the headline you created from the perspective of a recruiter. Would you look any further? If the answer is no, go back to the drawing board. The headline should be tailored for each position you are seeking. That means you must create a file of your various resumes and to whom they were sent to avoid confusion.

Your Profile Statement

After the headline, a great resume includes a profile statement, a summary of your professional qualifications. Think of the summary as your personal elevator pitch. You have less than a minute to capture the recruiter’s attention with the three or four most compelling reasons why you should move to the next stage of the hiring process, recruiter and hiring manager interviews. The profile statement should only include three to five sentences. Do not discuss what you are looking for, only include your value to the employer.

Your Skills

The next section of your resume should include your areas of expertise and core competencies that are required for the position you are seeking. Include relevant training you have received or educational programs you have attended. Include certifications that are relevant to the position where you are applying.

When crafting this section remember that applicant tracking systems are scanning your resume for keywords in the job description. Be sure to include what you believe are the keywords for the position that will advance your career. Remember, the recruiter is likely to ask questions about your experience in this section so if you cannot demonstrate proficiency in a skill, do not enter this skill in your resume.

You should concentrate more on your accomplishments, and less on your duties in this section.

Your Professional Experience

Listing your employment experience in chronological order and include the employer’s name, dates of employment, and your title. A great resume includes a brief description of the company where you worked including any areas that relate to the new position you are seeking. 

Include all of your duties in a brief paragraph. Be sure that a recruiter and a hiring manager understand the scope of your responsibilities and accomplishments. Bullet points are best when highlighting your value and accomplishments. Remember an applicant tracking system could scan your resume so be sure to include areas relevant to the job description in this section.

Education

Now that you’ve covered the toughest areas, the education section will be a breeze. List your most recent educational experience first and the remainder in chronological order. Include the degree earned, name and location of the institution. Include GPAs and honors received such as magna cum laude, summa cum laude, etc. Please note that background investigations will often report honors you received, or lack there of, while verifying your education. Do not list an honor unless it was earned. The end result could be the rescinding of a job offer.

How are you going to confirm the information you included in your resume?

Everyone submits a resume. How will recruiters confirm the experience that you are listing in your great resume? Too many job seekers take a passive approach to the application process and go through the motions of search, apply, and wait. When your opportunity comes along, recruiters are going to ask for references who can confirm your experience. At that point there’s a scramble to locate references, contact them and obtain your approval to use them as a reference. You may not be able to find your best references, the ones who know your abilities the best and would benefit you the most, or they are unavailable. The result is a cobble together a menagerie of references who may not be able to adequately represent your abilities. At the end of the day, you may have squandered an opportunity for the job you really want.

When submitting your list of references, it is always best to prepare a brief sentence or two that includes the title held by a reference and highlight your working relationship with each reference to provide context.

There is no time like today to reach out to at least three supervisors and peers with whom you have worked and obtain their contact information and permission to use them as a reference. The most important step of all, brief your references on your job search and highlight the areas you wish your reference to include when interviewed by a recruiter. Your reference will receive a cold call. Don’t expect them to remember areas that are important to you such as increasing sales, ability to problem solve, dedication to the employer, etc. in a five minute phone call unless you remind them.

Best of all, careerandtalenthub will work with you to engage references and obtain recommendations with occupation specific questions delivered to your references as a PDF form filler and create an enhanced resume. Responses from references populate into an easy to read digital report that will highlight your experience listed on your resume. A unique URL is created for every report that you can copy and paste into your resume. With one click, a recruiter can view recommendations for each experience you list on your resume.

After all the time you spend creating cover letters, resumes, searching for jobs submitting applications don’t blow it because you don’t have references that can confirm your experience and value to a potential employer.

Don’t just submit a resume, careerandtalenthub will work with you to create an enhanced resume that will help you get to the front of the employment line.

For additional information regarding resumes, visit the National Assoc. of Resume Writers at- https://thenrwa.org/

For additional information about how careerandtalenthub will work with your to enhance your resume, please visit- https://careerandtalenthub.com/who-we-are/