Career
Pathways
Create the Resume that Lands you the Job
In simple words, a resume is “an advertisement” of your skills and abilities, and, like any advertisement, it should convince the reader to take action – purchase the product. Yet, surprisingly, despite its importance, many job seekers are unable to utilize this tool effectively. They believe that a resume is simply a listing of their major accomplishments in the course of their career, and hope that this simple listing will be enough to attract the attention of a potential employer.
While this may be true, this is not the end of the story. A resume should be able to convey the impression that a particular candidate is exactly what the employer is looking for. If the employer cannot get this impression then the resume is simply discarded, possibly without even being read. It is thus imperative to tailor the resume to the employer’s specifications, using the wordings from the job description. The objective is to tell potential employers how you can provide what they are looking for. Tailor your resume to the company and the position, instead of resorting to “cut-and-paste” tactics, sending the same resume for each and every position you are applying for.
At the same time a resume should not be so long that it turns the employer off. You’re your resume simple, concise and to the point. Because of this length limitation, you need to use strong, action-oriented words which communicate exactly what you are trying to say, as briefly as possible. Be specific, quantifying your major achievements, to paint a more desirable picture of what you can do. Instead of saying “Major contributor in sales department”, say “Increased sales by 15%”, in order to arouse the interest of potential employers and prompt them to call you for an interview to find out more about how you managed to achieve this.
