Saturday, April 17, 2010

How to Rise Above Resume Hell: Best of reCareered







Resume Hell is where all the poor sad resumes go that never see the light of day. Do you want to be in Resume Hell?


Or would you like to rise above Resume Hell?

Read more ...


It’s really not that hard for job seekers to rise above resume hell, because the vast majority of resumes do the same thing, make the same mistakes, and say the same thing. So if a candidate takes a different approach that’s thoughtful and distinctive, it’s not hard to rise above the rest into the daylight.


Tips to stay out of Resume Hell:

Be Different: Show how unique you are in business, and in your personality. Be you. Stop being afraid that what you say will disqualify you for a job – you wouldn’t want that job anyways. Be you, and find a job where you are the unique answer to company problems (see http://recareered.blogspot.com/2009/10/job-search-trick-or-treat.html).

Be Specialized: Be a Subject Matter Expert, and wear it proudly - Especially if you are a manager or an executive. Your subject Matter Expertise doesn’t have to be about industry, though it can be. Your subject matter expertise can be in a specific corporate problem, solution, management technique, technology, etc. Your Subject Matter Expertise can be in Marketing, Operations, Finance or IT (see http://recareered.blogspot.com/2008/02/subject-matter-experts-rule.html).

Be Most Awesome, Dude!: Write about what you accomplished. I saved X by doing Y. I increased sales by X% by doing Y. WRITE ABOUT WHAT YOU DID, NOT WHAT YOU MANAGED. Stop being ordinary, stop writing about what you managed, what you were responsible for, what you organized, participated in, or advised (see http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/03/employer-value-statements-make-your.html).

Be Efficient: Use your Resume Real Estate efficiently. The average reader spends 15 seconds reading a resume before making an interview/no interview decision. Make your 15 seconds count by putting the sizzle at the top, and grab the reader by the throat in the top half of the first page. Shrink headers, move summaries and skills inventories to the back (see http://recareered.blogspot.com/2010/02/10-ways-to-manage-your-resume-real.html).

Be Customized: One size doesn’t fit all today. Heavily customize your resume for each job you submit your resume. Your resume should be a single use document (see http://recareered.blogspot.com/2009/09/differentiate-your-resume-with-winning.html).

Be Honest: Why lie? The truth is so much more interesting. Besides, chances are you’ll get caught by the target company or Karma.

Be Precise: You’re only perfect two times in your life - At birth, and on your resume. So you’d best spell check.

So how come so few people dare to be different? Well, we were taught to be generic resume writers, taught to write paper passed resumes, and it’s hard to change old habits.

Don’t be generic, be you. Fitting a square peg into a round hole is short sighted, and creates unworkable situations.

Instead, why not search for square holes?

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Related Articles:
Resume Ideas - Add A Skills Inventory To Get Noticed For More Jobs
Candidates - Send Fewer Resumes: Best of reCareered

Email your request to phil.reCareered@gmail.com to enroll in a free group teleseminar "Accelerate Your Job Search - tools you can use".

Source: http://reCareered.blogspot.com

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Great tips here for all job seekers! Know what results you get for employers and make sure those are emphasized in your resume and conversation. It's easy to go to the head of the line when employers know how you can help them solve their problems.