Your superb skills and noteworthy achievements might not mean much while looking for a job if not presented well in the form of a resume. Resumes are a way for employers to filter out hundreds of potential candidates for a particular vacancy and narrow the list down to a few applicants for the interview process. Now more than ever, your resume should be perfect for each job application.
I have come across a multitude of resumes during my career and it surprises me that in this day and age, when jobs are hard to come by, too many applicants spend too little time creating their resumes. They are generic and predictable with no real insight into the applicants fit with the available position. What they don't understand is that an eye catching, meaningful resume can get them a shot at an interview and finally their desired job.
Large volumes of applicants submit their resumes in response to advertised vacancies. General positions receive more responses as a larger number of people fit the job requirements. Appraising large quantities of resumes requires a tremendous effort and often needs to be done within a short amount of time. To gauge the suitability of every candidate in a restricted amount of time implies that resumes get less than a minute of the employers precious time before either being scrapped or accepted for another review. Although seemingly inefficient, this process is in fact highly practical and provides great results.
To make sure that your resume is not discarded in the first round, follow some simple yet essential steps. Your resume should have a professional format and meet the requirements of the firm you are applying to. Ensure that spellings, punctuation and grammar are correct. Use a professional layouts and font and don't get too fancy. Remember to create a resume that is easy to browse by using brief sentences in bullet form not exceeding a line or two.
Take two to three hours a day to produce different versions of your resume and tailor it to fit each position you are applying for. Your chances of receiving a call for an interview will be much higher if you closely match your work experiences and abilities with each job requirement. Employers are not concerned about the irrelevant particulars of your past no matter how merit worthy they are. Companies need reassurance that you can create synergies that none of the other applicants can accomplish. Highlight only those strengths that are directly linked to your job requirement using different aspects of your accomplishments and strengths for each position.
Your resume conveys an initial impression to the prospective employer about who you are, what you've attained in terms of skills and knowledge and how you can help them fulfill their job requirement. Your only objective is to persuade the appraiser to give you a shot at the interview. If you have carefully followed the steps above and linked your abilities with what the job demands you should not only get an interview call but you should also be able to nail the job in the process.
I have come across a multitude of resumes during my career and it surprises me that in this day and age, when jobs are hard to come by, too many applicants spend too little time creating their resumes. They are generic and predictable with no real insight into the applicants fit with the available position. What they don't understand is that an eye catching, meaningful resume can get them a shot at an interview and finally their desired job.
Large volumes of applicants submit their resumes in response to advertised vacancies. General positions receive more responses as a larger number of people fit the job requirements. Appraising large quantities of resumes requires a tremendous effort and often needs to be done within a short amount of time. To gauge the suitability of every candidate in a restricted amount of time implies that resumes get less than a minute of the employers precious time before either being scrapped or accepted for another review. Although seemingly inefficient, this process is in fact highly practical and provides great results.
To make sure that your resume is not discarded in the first round, follow some simple yet essential steps. Your resume should have a professional format and meet the requirements of the firm you are applying to. Ensure that spellings, punctuation and grammar are correct. Use a professional layouts and font and don't get too fancy. Remember to create a resume that is easy to browse by using brief sentences in bullet form not exceeding a line or two.
Take two to three hours a day to produce different versions of your resume and tailor it to fit each position you are applying for. Your chances of receiving a call for an interview will be much higher if you closely match your work experiences and abilities with each job requirement. Employers are not concerned about the irrelevant particulars of your past no matter how merit worthy they are. Companies need reassurance that you can create synergies that none of the other applicants can accomplish. Highlight only those strengths that are directly linked to your job requirement using different aspects of your accomplishments and strengths for each position.
Your resume conveys an initial impression to the prospective employer about who you are, what you've attained in terms of skills and knowledge and how you can help them fulfill their job requirement. Your only objective is to persuade the appraiser to give you a shot at the interview. If you have carefully followed the steps above and linked your abilities with what the job demands you should not only get an interview call but you should also be able to nail the job in the process.
About the Author:
Andrew Jobs runs a successful HR Consultancy firm and helps hundreds of applicants to successfully locate and secure jobs in Pakistan using popular printed media and free classifieds.
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