Think of your résumé as a portable version of that billboard. The motorists whizzing by? Human resources professionals and other hiring entities. They don’t have time to read a biography of a jobseeker, and they don’t want to read your job description. (They aren’t interested in knowing that you report to work and do what an employer expects of you – the daily tasks for which you are paid.) They want to know what makes you special; how you add value; how you can make a difference in their organizations. They want to glance at your résumé and say, “Here’s someone I need to meet.”

It’s not always easy or comfortable for people to try to “sell” themselves this way. There’s a fine line between hollow bragging and effective advertising. Professional resume writers know the difference, and ResumeEdge.com’s writers will work with you to turn a so-what list of responsibilities or accomplishments into a powerful marketing tool. Here are some real-life examples:

Before

• Daily processing of portfolio transactions in accordance with department policies and procedures.

After

• Provide investment managers and clients with accurate, time-sensitive portfolio information through diligent processing, analysis, reporting and dissemination of cash and transaction data.

Before

• Inspected, marketed and sold properties to first time homebuyers.

After

• Created home ownership opportunities for low- and moderate-income residents who might otherwise be excluded from the housing market. Provided prospective buyers with inception-through-settlement financial  consulting services and education.

Before

• Presented PowerPoint presentations to civic, photography and hiking clubs around the country with client endorsements.

After

• Increased revenue and brand awareness by making sales presentations to clubs and associations countrywide, incorporating customer testimonials about tour experiences as marketing technique.

Before

• Organized profitable & charitable events.

After

• Organized and ran for-profit and charity events attracting more than 45 musicians of regional, national and international influence in the avant-garde genre, including two-time world DMC champion DJ Klever. Ready to see yourself in a new light? Help is only a mouse click away!

Getting to the point quickly, succinctly, and effectively is what separates a winning resume from one that’s discarded by the hiring manager or recruiter.

In your efforts to get noticed, you should keep one thing in mind: Put yourself in the hiring manager’s place. Ask yourself, “What would the employer think of my resume in the initial few seconds she takes to read it?” Even if you’re exactly right for the job, you may never be asked to interview unless you make the proper first impression with a well-written resume and cover letter.

Today’s resume writing services can provide you with a professional’s opinion on the best way to craft these important documents.

The content and format of your resume are very important. A resume that employs a tiny font and has too much information will be quickly passed over by a hiring manager in favor of a clean, easy to read, well-spaced document. Use bullet points and even-spaced margins. Don’t make the mistake of including every single thing you did at a previous job. Instead, list key accomplishments and major, progressive responsibilities that highlight your skills. You can then expand on your previous responsibilities in a cover letter and during the first interview.

Does the content of your resume reflect transferable skills related to the position for which you’re applying? Hiring managers often glance at a resume looking for key phrases and buzz words that they want in their ideal next employee. Take the time to tailor your resume specifically to a job description. These key phrases may get you past the employers’ Web-based application filter as well as generate enough interest for a first interview.

A basic, yet overlooked, detail is keeping your resume free of spelling and grammatical errors. You want to convey that you are professional, detail-oriented, can write well, and take your work seriously. One glance at a resume with spelling and grammatical errors might cause an employer to think: “sloppy, makes mistakes, and is wasting my time.” Take the time to proofread your resume. Then, have someone you trust review it for you.

Your cover letter should always express your interest in the specific job. Does it give you an opportunity to expand your skill set? Is the company dynamic and progressive? Clearly convey your strong interest in the company and position, and then explain why you’re the ideal candidate. This shows you have done your homework on the company and truly want to work there.

Putting the employer first by having a tailored cover letter and well-written resume will ensure you have sent out the best possible representation of yourself. It will also bring you a step closer to getting that interview and job offer.

Even if years separate you from the last job and the new career goal, there are tricks to turning a potential negative into an asset – it’s just a matter of knowing what to do.

1. Never explain in a resume that you have been unemployed for a number of years.

Opening a resume with a negative immediately places you at a disadvantage to other candidates applying for the same position. Instead, you should focus on your skills and qualifications as they relate to the job opening. That’s really all a hiring manager wants to see.

2. Personal data regarding your hiatus should not be included in the document.

All too often, candidates feel they must be completely up-front in a resume, or somehow explain their absence from the workforce. Therefore, they include comments like: “Being a stay-at-home mom with Johnny was one of the most rewarding periods of my life.” (That may well be, but a hiring manager will wonder if that person will be effective and professional in a business environment.) or “A serious disease and subsequent operation took me out of the work force. However, now I feel quite well and am able to meet all work-related challenges.” (Most hiring managers would worry about hiring a candidate who was so seriously ill, and that person’s effect on the company’s health insurance premiums.)

3. Use a functional format that stresses skills, rather than a reverse-chronological format that stresses an unbroken history of employment.

Think of a resume as a marketing tool with you as the product. Showcase the positive (skills, qualifications, recent education in the chosen field), while downplaying the negative (employment gaps).

4. List any Volunteer work or Community Service that is relevant to your new career goal.

If you have organized numerous charitable functions, raised funds, directed a group of volunteers, or interfaced with the media about community-related events, these are all transferable skills.

5. Showcase only that Education and Training which is current to the career sought.

This is particularly true for someone in Information Technology. IT has changed so rapidly over the years that showcasing coursework or degrees attained even 10 years ago will date your document, and be certain to hurt your candidacy. Instead, current training – as it applies to the new career – should be showcased.

1. Are the career fields similar?
2. Are the career fields diverse?

SIMILAR CAREER FIELDS

Let’s say as a Registered Nurse you’ve taught nursing students, you have served as an administrator at a nursing home, and you have worked in a hospital. Three careers, but all related. A resume in this instance can be both general (for application to many jobs) and specific (targeting one job) – it’s all in how you organize and prioritize the information.

For example, your Professional Experience can be broken down into three categories on your resume – Nursing Experience – Administrator Experience – Teaching Experience, with the appropriate employer and daily duties listed within each section (in a reverse chronological format). When applying for Nursing positions, that section would be listed first. When applying for a Teaching position, that section would be listed first.

In this way, one resume, with minor modifications, can be used for many postings.

DIVERSE CAREER FIELDS

You began your professional career in real estate sales, but then transitioned to the paralegal field, and finally chose yet another career in bookkeeping. Three very different careers that would seem to require three separate resumes, but that’s certainly not the case.

To avoid producing resume after resume for each job, and if at least some of the skills are transferable within different industries, then a functional format is best for you.

Functional formats stress professional skills, rather than employers or industries. So, instead of providing a reverse chronological resume that clearly shows you’ve been moving from career to career and back (which some employers might find troubling), a functional resume states core qualifications beneath varying subheadings.

The example given above would warrant three or more subheadings, namely:

Contract Negotiation (Real Estate)

Sales (Real Estate)

Contracts (Paralegal)

Payroll (Bookkeeping).

These subheadings can be organized in order of importance to the targeted position (eg: if Sales interests you, then you would list your Real Estate Experience first, followed by your other experience). The subheadings can also show broad experience that could very well be valued in an economy where employees are expected to wear many hats and to perform many functions.

Too many times an individual writes: “Reorganized an entire department per management instructions.” That’s not an accomplishment, that is a daily duty. An accomplishment would read like this: “Generated savings in excess of $25,000 annually by reorganizing the marketing department and employing temp workers, rather than full-time staff.”

The above speaks to what a hiring manager and/or recruiter wants to see – how you can make them money and how you can save them money.

To further strengthen your resume, make certain to put at least one, preferably two, quantified and relevant accomplishments in the opening summary. This is especially true if you use the word ‘proven’ to describe yourself. For example, you write:

Accounting professional with comprehensive experience and proven results in negotiations with the IRS.

Proven by whom? You? That’s not enough proof for a hiring manager or recruiter. They want more. It’s better to write:

Accounting professional with comprehensive experience and proven results in negotiations with the IRS as evidenced by the $.5 million in savings, resulting from the 2009 audit.

The above clearly states that you saved your company a half million dollars through your expertise. That speaks volumes to hiring managers and puts you well above the others competing for the same position.

 To successfully convey your old skill set to the hiring manager or recruiter in a new industry, it’s important to follow these key steps:

1. Look for online job postings in your field at the various job boards (HotJobs, Dice, Monster, CareerBuilder) and highlight the requirements you meet.
2. Dovetail all of your past experience to those requirements for the new position. For example, if you’ve moved from retail management to accounting, then some of your transferable skills may be budgeting, spreadsheets, projections, etc.
3. Begin your resume with a strong Qualifications Summary that shows the hiring manager how your past experience can be transitioned to this new career or field. Don’t make them look for it. Don’t make them guess. Most won’t. They’ll simply move on to the next candidate.
4. Showcase any past achievements that may be relevant to the new industry. If you were awarded for leadership in retail management that skill is also important in an accounting office.
5. Prioritize your data according to what will most impress a hiring manager or recruiter. For example, if you’ve just been awarded a degree in accounting, your education should come first with your professional history in retail management next. The key is to match your background as closely as you can to the requirements of the job.
6. Every line of your resume must speak to the new job and how well you can fill it. Therefore, leave any extraneous data that can’t be dovetailed off your resume.

To be effective, a Qualifications Summary must:

1. Provide a snapshot of you as the ideal candidate for the position.

2. Be concise and to the point, addressing what expertise you can bring to the job to benefit the prospective employer.

3. Address pertinent qualifications in the job posting.

4. List your most stellar and recent quantified accomplishment that pertains to your current job search.

5. Provide additional data that enhances your candidacy, including:
A. Linguistic capabilities in foreign languages
B. Certifications
C. Licensure
D. Willingness to travel or to relocate for the new position

6. State specific skills, such as computer proficiencies (if applicable)

7. List your past employers if they are well known, eg: Boeing, Wall Street Journal, Macy’s, AT&T, etc.

8. Work Permits or Green Card data for foreign nationals.

Rule #1 — Appearance

The resume and cover letter must be aesthetically pleasing and consistent in appearance. This would include using the same heading and fonts in each.

Rule #2 – Target Your Audience

Always use the hiring manager’s name in the salutation. If the contact’s name isn’t provided in the job posting, a bit of Internet research or a well-structured phone call can produce results.

Rule #3 – A Strong Opening

A dynamic opening paragraph is essential to capture and retain a hiring manager’s interest. Pared down to essentials, for a quick and effective read, it should include reference to the position being sought and a brief statement as to why the applicant feels qualified to fill the job.

Rule #4 – Showcasing Accomplishments

Include a bulleted area to emphasize accomplishments pertinent to the targeted job.

Rule #5 – A Proactive Closing

Always initiate further action at the end of a cover letter. A proactive closing indicates that the applicant will call within a few days to see if a time might be scheduled to meet.

Your resume can overcome this obstacle in subtle ways that establish your capabilities. For instance, to overcome age discrimination, consider limiting your experience to 15 years for a managerial job, ten years for a technical job, and five years for a high-tech job. Leave other experiences off your resume or list it without dates.

Your goal is to only use information that is directly relevant to the job you are seeking. This is honest as well as fair to your prospective employer. After all, if you’re a 50-year-old applying for a job in accounting, why would your prospective employer care that you worked as a counselor for five-year-olds at Camp Gichi-Goomi when you were 16 years old? That’s exaggerating the concept, but you get the point.

If you have gaps in your employment history, consider highlighting what you did during your time off. Perhaps some volunteering, part-time consulting, or freelance work encompassed the skills or experience the company is looking for.

You could also use a functional resume rather than a reverse-chronological resume. When you write a functional resume, you list your skills as they apply to a specific job. With this format, your resume explains what you can do, what you have learned, and what precise abilities you bring to a new job. Although not many job applicants use this format, it is often far more effective than the reverse-chronological resume in answering the prospective employer’s most important question: “What skills do you have and how can they help me in my company?” This format is especially effective for job hoppers, career changers, people just entering the job market who have little work experience, and applicants who have been out of the job market for an extended length of time.