Resume Information - Is Your Best Resume Information Hidden?
If you've been in the workforce for a few years, you've likely got a load of information on your resume.
But not all resume information is equally critical.
To treat it as such is a big mistake, and results in some of the data that employers would be most interested in lying buried in vast plains of boring text.
For all practical purposes, it's invisible to human eyes.
Critical Resume Information Needs To Be Visible One positive: meaningful keywords and statistics that are buried in text will still be visible to search software that combs through databases looking to match candidates with jobs.
So you're safe there.
But remember that every resume lifted out of a database by automation will eventually have to be read by a human.
And there's the problem.
Your resume, once exposed to the light of day, will have 10-15 seconds to sufficiently impress a recruiter or hiring official.
And keep 'em reading.
If you exceeded your targeted return on investment by 27%, will the reader of your resume be able to pick that out in the allotted 10 seconds? If you increased the number of accounts by 36% in the first 4 months, will that information impress, or be overlooked? If you expanded trust plan participation from 50,000 to 60,000 employees, is that fact presented in a way that will be memorable? Four Ideas To Make Resume Information Visible, and Memorable 1 - Identify Selling Points.
First, figure out what you consider to be your selling points for the type of position you're seeking.
They can be general or specific attributes (i.
e.
"Consultative approach to sales") or quantitative data that supports those attributes (i.
e.
"Exceeded sales quota by 20% annually for 5 consecutive years").
Ideally, a combination of both.
2 - Employ A Second Set Of Eyes.
Have a friend or colleague look over your existing resume and immediately tell you what was most memorable.
Did he or she mention your selling points? If not...
3 - Rearrange And Highlight.
Dig those selling points out of the bowels of your resume (they're likely hiding in your "Experience" or "Work History" section), and incorporate them into either your Objective statement or Summary section, or both.
Regarding the Summary (or Profile), two or three descriptive, keyword-rich sentences are fine.
But bullet points shout a bit louder for those items you want to really stress.
In the example we touched on above, I would incorporate "consultative approach to sales" into a 2-4 line summary text, followed by a bulleted list of 2-4 bullet points, one of which could be the "increased the number of accounts by 36%" statement.
4 - Gargle, Spit And Repeat.
OK, forget the gargling and the spitting.
But repeat the exercise again with friends and colleagues.
Do they now pick up on your key selling points? Typically, the most memorable part of a resume will be the upper one-half.
That's prime real estate, and should be reserved for the information most relevant to your qualifications.
For example, if your college education took place a decade ago, it's far less relevant than your recent work experience, and therefore has no place on the upper half of your resume.
If you take nothing else away, take this: Make sure your resume's Objective statement (if you choose to use one) and your Summary section (you most definitely should be using one of these) incorporate your key selling points, relevant keywords, and brief teasers to your accomplishments.
Give your job search a fighting chance; make your most valuable resume information visible and memorable.
But not all resume information is equally critical.
To treat it as such is a big mistake, and results in some of the data that employers would be most interested in lying buried in vast plains of boring text.
For all practical purposes, it's invisible to human eyes.
Critical Resume Information Needs To Be Visible One positive: meaningful keywords and statistics that are buried in text will still be visible to search software that combs through databases looking to match candidates with jobs.
So you're safe there.
But remember that every resume lifted out of a database by automation will eventually have to be read by a human.
And there's the problem.
Your resume, once exposed to the light of day, will have 10-15 seconds to sufficiently impress a recruiter or hiring official.
And keep 'em reading.
If you exceeded your targeted return on investment by 27%, will the reader of your resume be able to pick that out in the allotted 10 seconds? If you increased the number of accounts by 36% in the first 4 months, will that information impress, or be overlooked? If you expanded trust plan participation from 50,000 to 60,000 employees, is that fact presented in a way that will be memorable? Four Ideas To Make Resume Information Visible, and Memorable 1 - Identify Selling Points.
First, figure out what you consider to be your selling points for the type of position you're seeking.
They can be general or specific attributes (i.
e.
"Consultative approach to sales") or quantitative data that supports those attributes (i.
e.
"Exceeded sales quota by 20% annually for 5 consecutive years").
Ideally, a combination of both.
2 - Employ A Second Set Of Eyes.
Have a friend or colleague look over your existing resume and immediately tell you what was most memorable.
Did he or she mention your selling points? If not...
3 - Rearrange And Highlight.
Dig those selling points out of the bowels of your resume (they're likely hiding in your "Experience" or "Work History" section), and incorporate them into either your Objective statement or Summary section, or both.
Regarding the Summary (or Profile), two or three descriptive, keyword-rich sentences are fine.
But bullet points shout a bit louder for those items you want to really stress.
In the example we touched on above, I would incorporate "consultative approach to sales" into a 2-4 line summary text, followed by a bulleted list of 2-4 bullet points, one of which could be the "increased the number of accounts by 36%" statement.
4 - Gargle, Spit And Repeat.
OK, forget the gargling and the spitting.
But repeat the exercise again with friends and colleagues.
Do they now pick up on your key selling points? Typically, the most memorable part of a resume will be the upper one-half.
That's prime real estate, and should be reserved for the information most relevant to your qualifications.
For example, if your college education took place a decade ago, it's far less relevant than your recent work experience, and therefore has no place on the upper half of your resume.
If you take nothing else away, take this: Make sure your resume's Objective statement (if you choose to use one) and your Summary section (you most definitely should be using one of these) incorporate your key selling points, relevant keywords, and brief teasers to your accomplishments.
Give your job search a fighting chance; make your most valuable resume information visible and memorable.
