Building an impressive resume

Focus on your knowledge, Achievement, skills, Qualities and responsibilities

When  you apply for  a  new  job, you  are  actually being  a salesperson  and  marketing a  product and the  product  is you .The first thing you need to do is to write an excellent cover letter. The second thing to do is build a great resume or CV. Together, your cover letter and CV or resume make up your ‘sales brochure’.

      The mistake many candidates make is to trot out their usual resume or CV, whatever   the job or employing organization, without tailoring their resume or CV to the job or company requirements. This is a fatal mistake. Interviewers often receive hundreds of resumes or CVs for every position and do not have time to make sense of each one. They want you to explain why you are ideal.

#Points that are explained !!!!

Where to start?

Understanding key terms

Review your work history

Resume objective

Rewrite using “Trigger” words

Achievements

Responsibilities

Qualities

Skills and qualifications

WHERE TO START?

Plan your resume or CV properly. Too many people get hold of a resume or CV template, populate the sections, send it off and wonder why they hear little back. CVs and resumes that win interviews are relevant and compelling, if you want to win interviews, yours must be too.          

UNDERSTAND KEY TERMS

The first step in resume preparation is to understand what the key terms mean so that you can use them appropriately. Figure out what knowledge. Skills, responsibilities, qualities and achievements mean.

Knowledge is what we know. We learned it through observation, study or experience, and it is familiar to us. For example, doctors know about the body.

A skill is the application of knowledge, usually comprising a practical ability. You are competent in something because of practice, training or experience. For example, skills include working on a computer, driving a car, influencing and facilitation.

Responsibilities are tasks we are required to undertake. These might include managing a budget, making sales, answering calls, or producing documents.

Qualities are what we are. For example. We may be trustworthy, reliable or flexible.

Achievements are things we have accomplished as a result of knowledge, skills or qualities and we should be proud of them. Most employers are interested in what we have achieved more than anything else.

REVIEW YOUR WORK HISTORY

Think over your work history carefully. As you do, list your :

1.     Main responsibilities for each role

2.     Acquired skills – both technical and non-technical

3.     Qualities that have helped you be successful

4.     Specific achievements and their results

5.     Small and large achievements , whether achieved on your own or as part of a team

Do not worry about length, format or spelling .All you want at this stage is to generate content   ideas.

RESUME OBJECTIVE

It will set you apart from other candidates if you include an objective or some kind of personal   summary at the beginning of your resume or CV. It should state, briefly but clearly:

1.Why you want the job

2. Why you are a suitable candidate

3. What benefits you can bring to the company

All employers want answers to these three questions and you can expect them to be asked in your job interview. What better way to impress  your interviewer than by answering these up front in the opening paragraph of your resume or CV?

REWRITE USING ‘TRIGGER‘  WORDS

There are words you can use in your CV or resume that have powerful meanings for employers and will cause it to have greater impact. If you use them appropriately, you can make a real impression, because they trigger the right reaction in your interviewer’s mind.

ACHIEVEMENTS

Remember that all potential employers want to know what you can do for them. They usually judge this based on what you have done for your current employer – your achievements. Employers want to fee l confident that you are able to work efficiently and resolve problems. Go back  through your achievements in your work history and objective and see if you need to re-word or add to each achievement so that it obvious to your potential new employer what the benefit was to your employer at the time.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Go back through your list of responsibilities. Re-word or add to them, incorporating some of the r\trigger words like budgeting, exceeding, evaluating, prioritizing, networking, motivating, etc. these are also powerful action words.

QUALITIES

You will have described some of your qualities in your personal summary or objective and also in work history, you will explain them more fully in your job interview. Some good trigger words to use when describing personal qualities here and at you interview are tactful, flexible, motivated, reliable, analytical, resourceful, thorough, people-focused etc. They help create a good impression.

SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS

Many CV’s and resumes have a separate section for skills and qualifications. Wherever you state these, use strong action words. Also remember to use short, punchy sentences that are going to get the information across and nothing more.