Mine Yourself - Tips From The Top

One of the first things you should do when you sit down to write your resume is ask yourself the following question; what can I offer an employer?  Many people I work with draw a blank a step 1.  The reasons for this range from the fact that the job seeker has never before actually had to think about their marketability, to a lack of understanding as to what an employer would find useful or interesting.

Having spent 10 years recruiting for some of the world’s most respected companies, one of the key gripes I used to hear from hiring managers about job seekers was their inability to actually communicate their worth in-person and on a resume.

Essentially, writing a good resume is about mining yourself for information, digging deep to identify skills and being able to draw a parallel between those skills and the needs of the employer.  It certainly is easier said than done.  Here are some tips to get you started;

1)      What is the scope of your current role?  In no more than 4 sentences, write this out.

2)      Identify the core functions of your role such as Sales, Administration, Training..etc

3)      Sketch out a step-by-step guide to one of your busier days.  What do you do?

4)      List your key achievements in this role. Did you make money? Save money? Improve efficiencies?

5)      Repeat for each job.

If you want to inspire the person reviewing your resume then make sure you present your skills and experience in a clear and accessible format.  No-one really wants to read through every line item in your document to build a picture of what you could bring to their company.  Make it easy on them and they’ll spend more time reading your resume.

Third Time Lucky...

In any line of business, choosing the right professional to partner with is crucial to the success of the project and that's one of the reasons I put so much time and effort into my website!

I was recently working with an executive who had paid good money to have his resume written by a firm headquartered in Toronto.  When that resume didn't live up to expectations, he had it re-written by someone in Alberta.  When that resume didn't cut the mustard, he contacted me.

Part of the problem centred around the initial impact of the document.  The font used was a size 10 and the typeface was exotic!  It was very difficult to read line by line and the overall feel was cluttered, un-coordinated and generally messy.  It looked as though someone had tried to squeeze as much detail into it as possible, without going over the two page limit.  That's because they had.

In short, after listening to his career aspirations, drawing out significant detail during the consultation process, re-framing business success metric and creating a resume design specifically for him, he was thrilled!  My abilit to drill down into the technical detail to uncover the business metrics uncovered a significant error had been made by the last resume writer.  The last writer had framed a sales metric carelessly that could have landed my client in hot water had it been checked.

Here's a quote;

“I am very, very pleased with the documents you sent me.  The resume has..a different look, read &
just over all impression...it looks very executive.  I am most impressed with the top portion of
the resume...career objective & core competencies. You really captured what I have been trying to say all along.

I agree with the way you beefed up the XXXX role...my skills & abilities were really under-represented in the old resume..again you did a great job at representing my skills & results.  Which is right on target!!!  Bravo!!”

The problem that some people seeking professional resume services face is that they're not too sure what they're looking for.  Ideally, you should be working with someone who has extensive experience in actually conducting recruitment and selection campaigns, someone who has consulted with a diverse array of business managers, HR directors and executives from multiple industries.

Unfortunately, some people are lured in to working with "writers" on the strength of a resume writing certificate alone.  If a truck driver takes a 6 week online course to obtain a resume writing certificate, does that then qualify him to understand the intricacies of the recruitment process, the requirements and desires of HR professionals, or indeed, actually what they want to see from a resume or interview?  I very much doubt it.  Such expertise can only be gleamed from hard-won practical experience.

If you're going to partner with someone, then choose a specialist who made a living preparing and interviewing job seekers in order to prepare and present resumes that surpass employer expectations!  You don't get relevant skills like these by driving an 18 wheeler.

My resume candidate spent a lot of money before he found me, and after my expertise was brought to bare on his project, we hit the nail on the head and crafted a winning resume that actually showcased his skills and accomplishment.  The document sold him.  That's the key to career success.