Make your resume accomplishment-driven. Remember to be succinct and to the point. An effective resume is your marketing brochure. Say just enough to catch the attention of the employer or hiring manager and whet their appetite to learn more. Your real goal with a resume is to get a foot in the door for an interview so you can dazzle in person.
Customize, then customize further
Remember to customize your resume for every job or , at least, type of job, then, when you apply for a specific job, customize your resume further. And make it compelling. Pretend you’re at a dinner party and are seated next to the person you’ve wanted to meet all your life. You have two minutes to describe all your work accomplishments. What would you say? What have you accomplished that makes you unique and a perfect fit for the position you are seeking?
Start by studying the actual job description and its requirements. Analyze what achievements you have which are a good match for those requirements. Note the keywords used in the job description by the employer. Take those keywords, or other powerful keywords and connect the dots from the keyword to a bullet point that lists a specific accomplishment of yours, relating how you’ve used that keyword skill to achieve a specific positive result.
In other words, demonstrate through your past achievements that you have the skills necessary to perform this job at a very high level. If you have qualities, born out by your past performance that would be assets in doing this job, put them in: people skills, work ethic, high energy level.
The employer has a need. Use your past achievements to show that you are the person who can be the solution to his problem.
Difference between an objective and a profile
It’s simple: a profile talks about you and your career goals; a resume objective, on the other hand, talks about employer’s goals, what the employer is looking for and how you can meet those specific needs.
The objective is targeted to a specific vacancy. Only include an objective statement if you are targeting a specific job, and use it to relate your skills and experience directly to that employer’s needs for that job.
An objective limits your options so don’t use one if you are qualified for more than one job in the organization or to submit at a career fairs, to a website or job board
Since an objective is so specific, you should write a new one, or tailor the existing one, for each vacancy you apply for.Powerful Keywords
The employer or his software will search a database of resumes for certain keywords.
Employers and their software looking for skills, certifications, degrees, job titles, names of products or services, names of processes, names of hardware and software, company names, names of professional or trade organizations, or names of schools.
Mirror back the keywords used in the employer’s job description and on the employer’s website.
Use power verbs like “achieved,” “managed,” “resolved,” and “increased”.
Why Use 2WayResume For This?
2WayResume provides you with both an ultra utilitarian plain text resume, and its more attractive twin, a .PDF version, both with your accomplishment-driven resume. The text based resume is for those 80% of companies who prefer a text based resume as it cuts down on processing time by several weeks. Also, some companies have a policy against downloading attachments due to viruses and other precautions. The .pdf version is for 20% of employers who still prefer the formatted document version of your resume attached to an e-mail message as it will be more attractive and will make a better presentation in print, if required.
Your resume will be saved, in both versions, and you may store up to eight different resumes. Your text resume will also be embedded in an email and your .pdf will be attached. Sending your resume in text-based format directly in the body of an e-mail message removes all barriers to an employer’s placing your resume right into a searchable database
Also, your cover letter will be distilled into a pithy subject line: “Please find attached my plain text resume & .pdf copy, if required”, along with a job or position identifier.
Now, with a click, you are ready to send your resume on its way, destined to hit the head of the line, and the searchable data base almost immediately.