Developing your resume can certainly be compared to the above situation. Like the traveller with no road map or travel plan who ends up dismally lost, so too will an unfocused resume lead you on a confusing career path.
Throughout a persons employment it is quite common to have been in a number of roles that are distinct in nature and not often directly related to the position being applied for. Listing a complete history of these positions without thought to what relevance can be demonstrated to the prospective position can be detrimental to your career campaign. Why is that that? Simply put, a resume without focus, purpose or structure cannot possibly deliver a compelling overview of your expertise and achievements relevant to your targeted role. Nor will it dynamically market your transferable skills to a specific position.
Imagine a recruiter reviewing hundreds of applications, dedicating approximately 15-20 seconds on each before moving onto the next, who comes upon a resume with no professional profile, with only a history of employment and a generalized list of accountabilities. Is it intended for them to guess where your expertise lies, or better yet, are you expecting them to read through your entire document to establish how your overall competencies are relevant to a position? If the answer is yes, then I am afraid your application will not even get through the initial screening stages, as it is crucial that you create a purposeful document targeted to the role in order to demonstrate your candidature to the decision-maker right from the opening paragraph.
So how do you go about developing a well-targeted, focused resume that will compel the reader to invite you in for an interview?
The initial step would be to consider the positions and particular industries which interest you and that you will subsequently be targeting. If at this stage you are unsure as to what position or position scope you wish to apply for, then I would seriously recommend you ascertain this prior to beginning the research process. A purposeful document can only be created if you are focused on your next career step, and then evaluating how your previous experience relates directly to your target.
