What’s In A Great Resume

Having a great resume and following the typical rules for writing one don’t necessarily go hand in hand.  Think about it, if your resume looks like everyone else’s, why would a potential employer ever give you a second look once he/she has opened that expensive linen envelop? Because it’s on matching linen paper?  I think not.

Every great resume is a marketing tool for the person it represents.  It should be appropriate and specific to your unique situation.  Not a tool ineffectively designed to follow the usual rules and tips we so often read and hear about though employment grapevines and experts.  Not a historical outline or accounting of jobs we have held in the past and the various tasks associated with such. 

A great resume is an advertisement.  It says, “If you buy this product, then you’ll be the recipient of all these amazing benefits”.  A great resume highlights the scope and depth of your experience and it communicates a strong persuasive reason to the potential employer to covet your services.  Great resumes also pave the way to engaging and memorable interviews.  A well-designed and creatively crafted resume will prompt the interviewer to hone in on the specific areas most relevant to the position and will allow you to focus on those particular areas during the interview.  Once you adopt a more forward thinking, sales oriented way of portraying your experience; you can begin crafting your great resume. 

The presentation, layout, and language you use to communicate your value through your resume are particularly important

There are two things you can be sure the hiring manager will do upon reviewing your resume.  First, he/she will start at the top and work their way down, and they will read from left to right.  Second, the first impression you create will have the greatest impact on their opinion of you and this will be the perception used to filter all the rest of the information contained in your resume.  The old adage “you never get a second chance to make a first impression” is so true.  So why not grab their attention before they ever begin to read.

In my opinion, to create a great resume, it’s critical to concentrate on your layout and the language and verbiage used within it to entice the reader to continue reading. As I have suggested previously in my post “Resumes, moving from Fair to Flair” one of the most successful resumes I have ever developed was presented in a “Newsletter” style and format.  I have used this particular resume since my mid-twenties and have received feedback from many hiring professionals that the layout was indeed so intriguing and unusual they were immediately prompted to place it in the stack that made the first cut without too much evaluation on content.  To me, that speaks volumes for designing a resume that is atypical and non-conforming.

As you begin to layout your resume, keep in mind what I stated earlier. You can be guaranteed that the hiring manager will do two things read from top to bottom, left to right, and immediately have a first impression of you. 

You will want to ensure they know who you are by developing a unique header, with all the typical information associated with who you are; your name and contact information including your address, phone number(s), e-mail address.  It’s not nessasary to associate individual labels with address, phone, and e-mail information as these can be inferred.  Be sure to use the same heading on your references page, cover letter and hank you letter or on any other correspondence you may send.  This way, you develop a consistent brand or image to the hiring manager, and this also accommodates quick and ready access to your contact information depending on which document the hiring manager may be currently assessing.

Next you’ll want to focus on the particular section headings you will use throughout your resume. Section headings include your employment information, education, community activities, volunteerism, etc. Section headings are important as they enable the reviewer to quickly perceive and determine the relevance and importance of the information from their perspective.  Remember, hiring managers are inundated with resumes to review and evaluate.  The last thing they want to do is read a lot. Again, try to envision your resume from their point of view.

Thinking about your section headings and the length and layout of your resume with help you with developing the language you use to sell yourself throughout your resume.  Evaluate your past employment and the hard and soft skills your have developed throughout your career and life.   Many candidates underestimate and thusly understate the value of experiences garnered both personally and professionally by not spending quality time thinking about past experience and future goals.

Ask yourself these questions as you evaluate your experience:

• What was the purpose of this particular function/job/task/project?
• What was the relevance of the function/job/task/project?
• Was there a particular benefit or achievement realized during or at the conclusion of the function/job/task/project?

You can apply these questions to your career; education, community involvement projects, hobbies, and volunteerism activities to advertise your unique qualities and sell yourself as the candidate most likely get the interview!  Remember, a great resume is an advertisement.  It says, “If you buy this product, then you’ll be the recipient of all these amazing benefits.”