Time to update your resume
If someone randomly asked you for your resume in order to be considered for the position of a lifetime, would you be ready? Do you think your most recent resume has what it takes to promote yourself, and your awesome experience? Our resumes not only highlight our past experiences, but it is a document that can reassure the hiring manager that we can do something for them, and their company. It simply highlights what we can bring to the table through our past experiences.
Tailor your resume to a position that you see yourself in this year
While strategically searching for a job is worth a whole new blog post, this post will simply give some pointers, and hopefully some motivation to brush up your resume. As you may have heard, it can be difficult to get past the Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) that many companies now use. So, we have to do some research and discover some key words that fit our dream position – just to make into the hands of the recruiters. Below are some steps to develop keywords for your new resume:
- Find three to five job titles that you see yourself in this year.
- Look at the skills needed, duties that you will be performing, software that you need to be proficient in, and the requirements. These will generate the keywords that you should include in your resume.
- Start to summarize how your past experience matches the requirements using the key words you developed in step two.
- You know that you can do the job, so let it be known in your resume.
Get help
There is no harm in asking for help. A second set of eyes may save some embarrassment from a glaring typo. So, ask someone that you trust to give your resume a quick proofread. Another option is to buy a book. Yes, buy a book and actually read it. No one knows what you did on the job more than you, and there are plenty of really helpful resume-writing books out there. One that I found to be quite helpful was, Knock Em Dead Resumes : A Killer Resume Gets more Job Interviews by Martin Yate, CPC. I purchased this book on Amazon, and there are plenty of examples to explore if you find yourself lacking creativity.
Lastly, there is the option to just pay someone else to do it. Now, this may seem the easiest route, but remember you will have to put in some type of work to start this process, such as finding job titles. Then they will usually ask you to review it. There are some things to keep in mind if you decide to go this route:
- Resume writing services can be expensive
- You generally get what you pay for
I tried a resume writing service on Groupon out of pure desperation one time. I wanted to get another perspective on this. I loved the formatting, and overall a decent job. However, some of the sentences just didn’t make sense, and were very vague. However, I know one person who spent over five times as much I did, and they were very happy with their service. I have not read their resume with my own bare eyes, so I can not say if it was worth the money or not.
I hope that you decide to take a second look at your resume, and look for areas that highlight your accomplishments, and what you can bring to the table. Once you get your resume to the hiring manager – you will be one step closer to an interview!
Good luck!
Defined by Her 