Resumes Must Close the Sale on Getting a Job Interview

Resumes must close the sale on getting a job interview ~ www.jaywren.com

Resumes: Do you have all the qualifications and are not getting job interviews.  Look at your resume. These resume tips might help.

I owned a recruiting company for thirty years.  Like most recruiters, I spent a couple of seconds scanning for the correct job qualifications.  If they did not leap out to me, I tossed the resume.  Clean, simple, well-written resumes helped me do my job.

Resumes Employers Will Want to Read.

You must write a resume that shows three things.

1. How your experience qualifies you for the job opening.
2. The ways your accomplishments set you above the competition.
3. How your background shows that you love the type of job the hiring company is trying to fill.

This is an Example of How to Write a Resume.

If you replace the information below with your information, you will have written a resume.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Your name
Street address City, State Zip
Phone
Email address

OBJECTIVE AND SUMMARY

Some people include an “Objective” or a “Summary” at the beginning of the resume. However, including these two elements is optional. If you use either, you must make them specific to the required job qualifications of the hiring company.

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY (Most recent job first)

Company Name, Company Location, From -To

Most recent title, location, From – To

Use bullet format.

• Don’t waste space on listing details of your current job description.
• Instead, show your successes.
• Furthermore, show how your work made a difference.  For example, “Saved the company $30,000 by switching suppliers.”
• Give examples of how you exceeded your peers.
• Include specific data.  For example, “Exceeded assigned sales goal 30% by adding new accounts.
• Include keywords that fit the job where you are applying. You can find these keywords in the hiring company’s job description.

Previous Experience

Then include earlier experience at companies going back in time from most recent experience.

EDUCATION

Normally, education goes at the bottom of the resume. However, people who have no experience after receiving a degree might consider putting their degree at the top of the resume.

OTHER EXPERIENCE

Other items that might go at the bottom of the resume are awards, extra skills, volunteer work, or college employment.

HOW TO SHORTEN YOUR RESUME FOR READABILITY

The following items don’t belong on your resume.

• Hobbies
• References
• Compensation
• Long paragraphs
• Details on responsibilities with well-known job functions
• Details on jobs that date back in time
• Referring to yourself in the third person

Sentence Structure

It is not only okay to use sentence fragments in a resume. In fact, most resumes include sentence fragments.

• Instead of writing “I doubled the company’s sales in 6 months by adding new accounts” 
• Write “Doubled company’s sales in 6 months by adding new accounts.”