Resume Help Blog

Posts Tagged ‘resume tips’

By Joe Turner

We are in a recession and who knows how long or how deep it will go. Are you prepared? Do you know how to find and win a job in a smaller, more competitive job market?

Here are six winning resolutions to maximize your chances of scoring a secure paycheck in 2009:

Get in the Game:

If you’re serious about finding employment, become proactive. Stretch yourself, get out of your comfort zone and aggressively search beyond the listed jobs you find on the Internet. This requires a game plan and the expectation that you’re going to win this game. Decide to excel and achieve at job search.

Do something every day to further your search. Positive action diminishes anxiety and other negative feelings. This goes beyond survival of the fittest. For anyone who wants to succeed, it requires an iron will and determination. You will not be defeated by this job search process. You will prevail and you will outlast this challenge. Remind yourself of that.

Lose the Neediness:

Take the words “desperate” and “defeat” out of your vocabulary. Employers can sense neediness and they won’t hire you. If you present yourself with a sense of desperation, you’re bringing your anxiety and fears to the table. Rather, focus on what you can do for an employer. Don’t focus on your needs. Instead, focus on what the employer needs, and this leads us to Resolution #3.

Think ROI:

Employers don’t hire people to be liabilities on their balance sheets. They hire people to be assets (to provide a Return On Investment) and to solve a problem. To do this, demonstrate clear benefits that you offer them.

Take a look at your skills, experience, abilities and talents. Determine how you can best help the employer either make money or save money. Turn your skills and talents into benefits that an employer understands and appreciates. Pull out examples from your past work experience. Ask yourself, “How did my work save time or money, make money or otherwise improve the overall situation for my employer?”

Education and skills, while valuable, do not translate into benefits. What can you do for this employer that your competitors can’t? You have a unique set of skills, experiences and talents. Turn them into a “Unique Selling Proposition” for the employer.

Widen Your Network

In the past it was easier to find work by responding to ads found in the newspaper or on the Internet. That was before the bar was raised. Now it’s foolhardy to limit yourself to ads on the Internet and expect success. Aggressively seek out those 80% of jobs that are not advertised.

Start widening your network both in person and online. Begin by making some new contacts each week through local events or related professional meetings. Online, you can add your bio to LinkedIn, Spoke and even MySpace, for starters. Don’t forget family, friends and neighbors who might know someone. Job searching is tough enough. Don’t isolate yourself behind a computer screen.

Be Persistent

Nothing worth having is ever easy to achieve. There is a lot of rejection in job search. Sometimes it seems as if you’ll never get a “yes”. Remember what good sales people already know. That winning a sale, a job, or any other goal is a numbers game. Commission sales people will tell you that every “no” is one step closer to a “yes”. When you can see your process from a more objective viewpoint, knowing that you’re one more rejection closer to a “yes”, you’ll be less inclined to take the “no’s” personally, and less likely to get discouraged.

Inoculate Yourself Against Negative Messages

Succeeding at a job search is a mental process, and negative input from anywhere can poison your outlook and encourage fear, discouragement, anxiety and other negative emotions. Associate with positive people and protect yourself from all types of negativity. A job search can be a big undertaking. You need all of the assets and advantages that you can possibly bring to the party. You can’t afford to be exposed to the negativity of others. This includes friends, relatives and negativity from newspapers, magazines and TV. Read books and articles that motivate, encourage and inspire you. Avoid anything and anyone that doesn’t fall into this category.

Summary

The job search market will only get tougher and more competitive in 2009. Get an early edge by implementing these six resolutions now to catapult your job search into the fast lane in a tightening job market.

You have decided to update your resume for any number of reasons – but the reason isn’t important. What is important is this – if you are going to the trouble of writing your resume, then do it right so you actually might have a shot at the job you want/need. Otherwise, why bother. First let’s look at the facts of life in the real job market world:

Research has proven that approximately one out of two hundred resumes results in an interview. No interview – no serious chance of getting the job. Research has also shown that resumes are seldom read, they are scanned. We have found that the same thing applies in other markets as well. For instance few people read a web page entirely. Instead they scan it looking with a critical eye.

Your resume is your advertisement for YOU. The first few lines can make or break you. If it is well written you have a chance of getting the reader to respond.

An effective resume is really powerful but subtle advertising copy. You are selling a product – you. Difficult, yes because you have a large personal investment. More difficult though - most of us do not think in a “marketing mindset.” The thought of “selling” something (even ourselves) sends chills up our spine.  But if you want to improve your chances in the job market it is necessary to hone these skills.

There are two things you must not do:

1. Hard sell your product - YOU!
2. Make any claims that are false – EVER!

Get over any modesty about yourself or your skills. You must be willing to “toot your own horn.” Good advertisement will attract more buyers than the “best product” the majority of times.

What You Must Do:

Focus on the employers needs and not your own. Most probably the person reading your resume is the person responsible for selecting “the best candidate” for the job. In other words, they care how the person they select will perform. They are not just some lowly clerk buried in some basement. They have a responsibility to someone higher up, so your resume must have a direct appeal.

If you are applying for a job in a field that you already know well then you probably already know what would make a person desirable. If you are not sure then do some research.

• If you know someone who works for this firm then you already have an advantage, ask them. If not then research the company, what they do.
• Read the job description carefully pulling out the “action” words. These are also called “keywords.” These describe the type of person or skills that they are looking for.
• You could call the HR person and ask what they are looking for. They may not tell you but it won’t hurt to ask.
• You can research the companies website. Many times they will have a HR link and you can find information that way.

This is important so don’t guess but do the research as well as possible. Every step along this path should convey one message – that you are an exceptional candidate for this job.

Once you know what the job is about and have your set of “action” or “keywords” then start tailoring your resume to show them how your job skills fit those key words. For instance if they want someone that knows how to make a spreadsheet, tell them about how you created reports and saved the company time and money. You get the idea.

When writing your resume focus in on what you did that “brought value” to your former employer. Did you create a time saving measure? Take on extra roles to free someone else up? Were you promoted to a higher lever because of a certain “skill” you possess? Most importantly – did you bring in money or do something that saved the company money? Make these part of your resume.

The job market is tough and it’s getting tougher.  Your resume is your No. 1 marketing tool and it may not be doing its job – getting you an interview.

One reason may be a lack of time.  With the increased competition for jobs and more applicants, employers don’t spend a lot of time reading any one resume.  It’s been estimated that today’s resume is getting only about 20 seconds of “eyeball time.”  That’s not much time to score.  In fact, most applications will get quickly screened out and dumped on the reject pile.

Another reason? Lack of interest.  Most resumes today lack a sense of urgency.  They don’t answer the all-important question: “What’s in it for the employer?”

Here are four things you need to power up your resume for today’s more competitive job search arena to overcome these dilemmas:

1. Focused objective
Does your resume have a clear, focused objective?  Does it identify one clear job title that you are seeking?  Leave out all that nonsense about “challenging opportunity with a dynamic company.”  Remember, it’s not about you.

Try this: Under the objective heading, lead off with a clear phrase indicating the job title you are seeking.  For example, write “Chief Financial Officer” — nothing more is needed.

2. Keyword section

Everyone pays lip service to this, but few act on it.  If you don’t, you’re missing the boat in two major ways:

Your resume needs to get flagged by a computer.  To strengthen your odds, you need every potential keyword working for you.  And not just your skill sets, either.  Make sure to add all your industry buzzwords as well as your biggest soft skills.  Did you know that some of the highest searched keywords today include terms we often overlook?  These include “problem-solving,” “leadership” and “oral and written communication.”

You must appeal to the person who reads your resume. A reader will scan a great keyword summary section within the first 20 seconds of looking at your resume. When added to your personal branding statement below, you increase your chances of hooking this reader and getting a closer look.

3. Personal branding statement
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a CFO, a software project manager or a wedding photographer.  Answer this question: “What is it that makes you unique, compared with other applicants?”

Don’t think that just having great skill sets or years of experience is going to give you any edge. Lots of other candidates have skills the same as or better than you.  The solution is to create a brand for yourself.

So how do you create your own brand? Review your resume.  Does it have a clear statement that describes who you are and what you offer?  This is called a “branding statement” and may be described as a “value added” or “unique selling proposition.”

Don’t confuse this with a “summary of qualifications” section that many candidates like to include.  These are merely laundry lists of core competencies and do nothing to make you stand out.

A true branding statement is a one-sentence description of who you are and what critical benefit you offer your next employer.  It should describe your biggest strength and the resulting benefit to your previous employer.

The best branding statements usually incorporate figures in dollars or percentages of money, or time that was gained or saved over a certain period of time.  Here is an example for that CFO:

“Seasoned Chief Financial Officer strong in optimizing organizations to achieve maximum growth and market share who has produced new revenues or savings of more than $65 million for my employers over the past eight years.”

Does your resume have a branding statement this strong? If not, think about adding one. It will take some time to develop your ideal statement.  Once done, however, you will break that 20-second barrier and move that much farther ahead of your competitors.

4. Specific achievements
Companies hire employees to be an asset to their balance sheets.  That means your work should involve helping a company either make money or save money.  Think beyond your skill sets and job duties and find as many ways as you can that you accomplish this.

For example, suppose you’re a videographer who tapes weddings and special events and edits them for clients.  You take the extra step of performing all of your post-production work before submitting your results. Your extra effort has saved your employer several hundred hours of additional work.

This translates into dollars saved by the employer and it’s just this sort of achievement that must be on your resume. When it’s possible, put a dollar value on your achievements.  Our photographer example might look like this:

“Saved my employer more than $6K in additional labor costs over the past two years by performing post-production work before submitting my final results.”

By including several specific achievements where you’ve helped your employer make or save money you separate yourself from your competitors and quickly gain the attention of your reader.