GET BETTER RESULTS USING YOUR RESUME
Generally, there is a high turnover rate for recruiters so there is a good chance your resume will be screened by someone who does not understand the intricacies of the job. Unless you provide recruiters an easy way to compare your skills to the job, you will probably be screened out. It is therefore, important to sequence your resume sections in the same order as EACH job posting you apply for.
Yes, this means you have to do a little extra work.
PREPARATION
If you want to get hired you have to provide a clear view of your capabilities as they relate to EACH job you are applying for.
Proper Preparation Prevents Pitifully Poor Performance!
STEP 1. LIST ALL OF YOUR QUALIFICATIONS
Education/Training, Experience/Military, Job Related Skills, Accomplishments
If applicable: Licenses, Registrations, Certifications, Clearances
Computer/Technical skills
Intra-personal skills and Leadership skills
Physical skills
Language skills
Creative skills
Conditions (Relocation, Telecommuting, Travel, Part Time, Contract Work, Shifts)
Salary Requirements (Make sure you request is within the market standards)
Identify your Level of Expertise.
Consider this: If you apply for a nominal position with a resume that indicates you are a senior level, even without a high salary requirement, it is likely you will not get past a review because you will be deemed over qualified.
You do not want to appear to be scrounging around for any old job. It makes you look desperate and unstable.
STEP 2. PRIORITIZE YOUR QUALIFICATIONS
Qualifications that relate to the job: Present applicable job qualifications first and in detail.
Prioritize relevant job qualifications in the same order as the requirements listed in the job listing.
Employers usually indicate what is most important within the content of the job listing. If you provide your qualifications in that order you can substantially increase the likelihood for consideration.
Qualifications that are irrelevant to the position: If you include qualifications that are not relevant to the job, segregate and summarize them in an additional paragraph at the bottom of the page.
Also Address Deficiencies: If you do NOT have some of the qualifications requested in the job posting, take the time to explain how you would overcome each of these deficiencies. Turn negatives into positives!
This should be inserted as a conclusion statement at the bottom of your resume.
STEP 3. BUILD A UNIQUE PRESENTATION FOR each JOB APPLICATION
Think about your target audience: The Employer
Market yourself
Be Honest – Do NOT Embellish
Use facts, not feelings
Turn negatives into positives
COVER LETTER
A brief explanation of how your career goals match their hiring needs, why you’re a real candidate for it, and even how you would fit in their corporate culture.
RESUME
Explain, and vividly illustrate:
1 How your career goals match their hiring needs.
2 That you intend to remain with the firm for the long term – Your work history should be evidence of this.
3 You are a professional - Make sure your capitalization, punctuation and grammar are correct!
Objective Statement:
Tell them you are looking for their specific job and you have the credentials.
Identify your level of expertise.
Keep it brief.
Job Related Specific Skill Set:
List and prioritize relevant qualifications as they are requested in the job listing.
If you feel compelled to list information that does not directly relate to the posting, put it at the bottom of the resume in a paragraph. Title the paragraph “Additional Information” and leave a note that says details will be provided upon request.
Experience/Work History:
Should be a chronological list starting with the most recent and going back into the past.
If you have been involved in contract work or projects it is okay to bundle the jobs in groups so you do not give the appearance of job hopping or instability.
Include any duties or responsibilities but only those that relate to the job you are applying for.
Accomplishments and, or Projects List:
In some cases it may prudent to add additional resume section of information such as a Projects and/or an Accomplishments List. There is no need to create a separate document. These can either categorized or listed chronologically depending on the job posting. Use an outline format for either and limit to the job listing experience qualification time frame. Otherwise, use only the recent and relevant.
For job seekers who have participated in numerous similar projects, it is better to bundle them into a summary than to list each individually.
Example: Constructions Projects
We would group these by Sector (Commercial, Healthcare, Etc.) then list individually by Prominence (Value, Floor Count, Etc.), Construction Phase (Design, Preconstruction, New Construction, Renovation, Etc.) with your Title/Duration/Relationship (Employee, Consultant, Contract, Etc.) including Duties, Responsibilities including software used.
Insert an Additional Skills Information, Keyword, Phrase, and Tags section at the end or bottom of your resume.
Education: Facts only
Include Your Salary Requirements.
Conclusion Statement, IF NEEDED:
Restate your objective, identify your deficiencies and explain how you can overcome them.
THE SEQUENCING ABOVE IS FOR EXPLANATION PURPOSES ONLY. ANY OF THE SECTIONS COULD BE MOVED UP OR DOWN DEPENDING ON THE JOB ADVERTISEMENT STRUCTURE. REMEMBER: FOR THE BEST RESULTS LIST THE SECTIONS OF YOUR RESUME IN THE SAME ORDER AS THE JOB POSTING YOU ARE RESPONDING TO!
MOST IMPORTANT: PROVIDE AN APPLICATION THAT COVERS THE EMPLOYERS’ NEEDS!
STEP 5. LAYOUT and FORMAT for e-DOCUMENTS
Note: Formal documents and spread sheet lists do not format in web text boxes correctly. Resumes that are not formatted properly look horrible and they are hard to read. Poor formatting could keep you from getting considered.
If you want Employers to read your resume it has to be easy for them to read and understand.
Suggestions:
Use Arial font to build your documents because it is both easy to read and easy to scan.
Keep all text aligned to the left.
Introduce major sections in all uppercase letters.
Use the space key to indent.
Eliminate bold, italics, underlining and bullets.
Save then Verify as a text (.txt) document.
This tutorial was built almost entirely using these rules so you could see an example of how your documents should look.
YES, YOU CAN GET HIRED WITHOUT DOING ALL OF THIS!
However, if you take the time and put in the effort, the odds of you finding the best career match sooner are increased substantially… SUBSTANTIALLY!
CONCLUSION:
DO YOU WANT TO LOOK FOR WORK OR GET HIRED?
If you really want to get hired, it takes effort.
GOOD LUCK!
The Staff at HiringAide.com
GETTING THE MOST OUT OF HIRINGAIDE.COM
HiringAide.com was designed exclusively for Internet Explorer. You can download the latest version at: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/downloads/ie/getitnow.mspx
If you ever used an Internet search engine, you know how much junk will be mixed into the search results.
Most employment software/web sites are set up with the same type of search functions and they produce a lot of junk also.
That means: Recruiters still have to personally review mostly unqualified resumes and a lot of qualified Job Seekers get lost in the confusion.
HiringAide.com is designed with multiple layers of segregated data fields.
This Means: Candidates with very specific qualifications can be identified in a few seconds.
So if you want to be matched to the best job opportunities, you have to take the time to provide your details.
Smart job seekers take the time to make the search easier for the Employers so they are the candidates found the fastest.
