How to improve your resume in 15 minutes or less
Earlier in the week I wrote a post about questions you want to ask yourself before sending out your resume . In this post I want to provide some practical advice on how you can quickly spruce up your resume in 15 minutes or less.
Improve your Resume Quickly
- Starting at the top. Do you have an objective? If so, erase it. In this space you will want to add a headline or a personal branding statement. At the very least, replace the objective statement with a summary of qualifications.
- If you do not have a solid list of accomplishments, take some time to include them and be sure to separate your accomplishments from the rest of the resume content.
- Take a look at the length of your resume. If it spills over to the next page and does not go down past the half way mark, you will want to look for some content to delete. The tighter you can make your resume, the better.
- If you end your resume with “References available upon request” go ahead and delete that. There are much more effective ways to end your resume. This is your closing statement, be creative.
The extra 15 minutes you spend polishing up your resume could be the difference maker.
[stextbox id="info"]This post was written by Dan Keller, a professional career strategist and resume writer. Dan has written 98 career advice articles on this blog. For more career related advice be sure to sign up for the newsletter and follow Dan on Twitter at @careerblogger[/stextbox] .
6 Questions to ask yourself before sending your resume
As a resume writer , I am often asked to provide resume advice and critique resumes. I have developed a proprietary system that I use to evaluate resumes on a 100 point scale looking at over 50 different elements. I want to share with you 6 of these elements. These 6 elements are very easy for you to evaluate and I suggest you ask yourself the following questions below before you even think of applying to a job.
- Does the design look professional? If you are not impressed with how your resume looks, what do you think the recruiter or hiring manager is going to think?
- Does your information flow? In other words, it is important that the content of your resume is presented in a logical and easy to understand manner.
- Is your resume customized? This is extremely important in today’s job climate. Take an extra couple of minutes and make sure that your resume is tailored to each and every job that you apply for. Going the extra mile will be one of the factors that helps separate you from the masses.
- Do you have a value proposition? It is important to highlight and emphasize your strongest qualifications.
- Is your career goal stated? This is a part of the customization process. Ask yourself if you have stated a goal and if the content of your resume supports that goal. If the answer is no, then your resume needs more work.
- Do you list your accomplishments? Many people (too many) make the mistake of simply listing their responsibilities. The main part of your resume should be listing how well you did those activities.
These are 6 of the most important questions you should be asking yourself before sending out your resume. If you would like help answering these questions, send me an email – proreswriter@gmail.com
5 things to consider when hiring a resume writer
There are thousands of resume writers on the Internet these days and it can be completely overwhelming to select the best resume writer for your needs. A search of Google will show you over 3 million hits for the term “resume writer” and if you are Linkedin you will see thousands of profiles of resume writers. The best way to find a great resume writer is to ask friends and associates who they would recommend. A word of mouth referral is always a wise choice. If that does not work for you and you find yourself in the position of having to search on the Internet or Linkedin, here are some things to consider when narrowing down your list.
- How is the website? Just like you resume is marketing you to employers, a resume writers website is marketing to you. If there website is amateurish and does not present well, then chances are they will not be able to create a favorable impression for you either. In evaluating their website, you also want to make sure that they clearly provide a phone number and email address.
- What is the Price? This is important because you do not want to hire the cheapest writer and you certainly do not want to hire the most expensive either. An acceptable range is between $150-$400. If the writer charges less than $100 or more than $500, run away…fast!
- Testimonials? What are other people saying about the service? Will they let you contact past customers for a reference. Top notch resume writers will be happy to let you see what their satisfied customers have to say.
- Factory or a “real” person? Beware of services that operate like a large corporation, like The Ladders or Vault. I would also shy away from services affiliated with the major job boards. These services are overpriced and offer very little in the way of customized service. Seek out a smaller service that will spend time with before writing your resume. If the resume company relies on forms and questionnaires and not one on one conversation then that is a major warning sign.
- Free Resume Critique? If the resume writing service offers a free resume critique this is a good sign and you should take them up on the opportunity. This will allow for a nice feeling out process and will better help you determine if the company is the right fit.
Use our Job Finder to find Part Time Jobs Hiring in your area today.
If you would like to talk to a pro resume writer , feel free to send me an email at proreswriter@gmail.com and we can set up a time to talk.
Visibility = Job Search Success
We all know the the job search games has changed radically in the past couple of years. Several years ago companies used to advertise their postings and broadcast it as wide as they could. Candidates would then “discover” the opening and apply for the job.
Today, corporate recruiters and headhunters are using social media sites to “discover” targeted candidates. Sites like Linkedin and Twitter
What is the #1 trait that companies are looking for in new hires?
If you are actively interviewing right now then this is something you will want to take very close attention to. Do you know what the number one trait that companies are looking for and evaluating during the interview process?
Take some time to think about it…
Okay, what did you come up with – Loyalty? Perseverance? Drive? Tenacity? Leadership? Influence?
Quick Tip- Using Linkedin to find your next job
If you are a regular reader of this blog you may be wondering why I keep writing about Linkedin for job hunting. The answer is really simple. Linkedin is hands down the best way (in my opinion) to find a job now and also the best way for employers to find candidates. A couple of months back, Linkedin launched a new service geared towards the job seeker. For a small monthly fee they offer various services to make it easier for the job seeker to connect with employers.
Yup, I’m talking about Linkedin for your job search again
If you are a regular reader of this career advice blog , you know that I often write about how effective Linkedin is as a job hunting tool. Recent posts include, Are you using Linkedin for all it’s worth and Linkedin Changes will help job seekers – Just yesterday, Linkedin announced another cool change that will help job seekers as well. Have you noticed that you can follow other people on Linked in? You now can not only follow other people but you can follow
You just uploaded your resume, now what?
We all know that a resume has one main purpose – To get you an interview and then to ultimately help you land the job
What some job candidates do not know is that there are 4 major stakeholders that will view your resume during the application/interview process. Each stakeholder is looking for something different from your resume and this makes it very difficult for the average person to write their resume because they are not aware that different stakeholders want
Looking for retail jobs?
As the US economy starts to show signs of life and with the expected increase in job growth later this year, many experts agree that the retail jobs sector is poised to grow in 2010. This is good news for me because I am in the process of launching a new niche job board that focuses on retail jobs . This is also good news for you if you are searching for jobs in retail.
Looking for resume samples?
As most of you know, I am a professional recruiter and a professional resume writer focusing on helping people write resumes. Of course, I offer my resume writing services for those that are looking to outsource this task. For those do it yourselfers out there, I do provide resume writing advice and tips.
Who is the Career CoPilot?
The owner and editor of Career Copilot is Dan Keller. Experienced in many facets of the career industry, Dan is uniquely qualified to lead the efforts of this blog and other related career services and communities. Dan possesses over a decade of recruiting experience, including retained search, contingency search and corporate recruiting. Dan is a certified resume writer and owns ProResumeWriter.com where he provides a variety of career related services with an emphasis on resume writing, personal branding and web 2.0 job search strategies. Dan holds a Master’s degree in Organization Psychology and is fascinated with the application of psychological principles and how they relate to the workplace.
