Beware the resume template!
When developing your resume think in terms of accomplishments and contributions rather than standard job responsibilities. Advertising companies realise that when promoting a product to prospective buyers, they need to portray a solution to a need. In this case, the employer's need is to fill a position, and you are the solution to that need and therefore have to portray this in your resume by 'selling it' and 'not telling it'. I can almost guarantee that your competitors will also list these abilities, so in order to differentiate and enhance your competencies and candidacy, the initiatives and solutions you implemented to overcome challenges needs to be addressed.
Let's reflect on some great techniques to get the creative juices flowing:
Compile information that relates to your career goal, including professional experience, education, and professional associations.
Revisit your professional experience (employment history) and identify PAR situations. That includes problems you were faced with; actions that you took to overcome these challenges; and the results that you secured. These can be bulleted for extra effect and placed directly beneath your job scope. Remember to infuse some creativity in your writing. You are aiming for demonstrable and concise paragraphs; not a long shopping-list of accountabilities.
Formatting should be professional and consistent. Replace an uninspiring career objective with a profile summary and include a bulleted list of quantifiable statements of achievements that are transferable directly to the position being applied for.
Lastly, ensure that your document is error free -even a dynamically-written document can be tossed aside due to spelling errors and careless oversights.
(Note: For more inspirational resume writing tips see previous 'Resume Writing Strategies' article.)
For candidates who want to make a great first impression by infusing a little creativity with the wording and formatting will ensure that their resume will stand out with style when compared to the many other mediocre template-based resumes.
Happy writing!
Annemarie Cross
Multi Award Winning Resume Writer / Career Coach
Annemarie Cross is the founder/principal of Advanced Employment Concepts, developers of compelling career-marketing documents and career strategies for job seekers from graduates through to senior executives, and dynamic career web portfolios to fast-track the job offer and your career.
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