You submit resume after resume and receive no response. You have a family; you take any dead-end job you can find. You work like a dog and spend most of your waking hours worrying what’s going to happen next. All you want is what you had before all this mess – a career with a future.
No bites from your resume – what happened?
Rule 14: successful employment campaigns are built on knowledge, awareness, and truthfulness. The way you address these three characteristics will determine if you are hired or passed-over.
KNOWLEDGE
Grammar and spelling errors. To HR professionals, these are flashing neon lights that are spotted immediately. Some ask why so fast to toss a resume because of a minor problem? Easy, it’s not a minor problem. If you won’t or can’t ensure the most important document about you is correct, then you’ll exercise the same carelessness and poor judgment at work.
Your resume was never heard from again. You sent it to the wrong address, wrong fax number, wrong e-mail, wrong web-site, wrong person, wrong department, wrong company, you sent it too early, you sent it too late. In other words, you failed to follow directions.
AWARENESS
Which resume format to use? Chronological to show your steady career progression. Functional to highlight your skills and achievements. Functional hybrid to emphasize skill and achievement with the familiarity of a chronological style. Choosing the right style for the job opportunity, industry and/or employment status can be the difference between success and failure.
Resume problems to avoid: sending out 50 generic resumes to perspective employers is a recipe for obscurity. The successful candidate will craft their resume to promote specific and quantifiable skills and achievements to match a specific job description and the company.
Worse yet are resumes from candidates that state “I excel at (fill-in-the-blank)” and do not identify why. If you excel at something than quantify your statement with why – “Excel at customer saves with an 86% retention rate, highest in the department.” With that statement, you have a talking point hiring managers want to discuss.
TRUTHFULNESS
A majority of the information in your resume will also be included on your job application. For your application to be accepted, you will have to certify with your signature, all of your information is true and accurate. It happens more than you think, a new hire is pulled from orientation and terminated due to falsification of a company document – his/her job application.
WHAT’S THIS ALL MEAN?
How does a large corporation sort through 1,000 resumes submitted for a hand-full of open positions? How does a small company do the same when it receives 100 resumes for a single job opening? Very easy, any resume that displays any of the knowledge or awareness problems cited above are immediately tossed. This leaves a very small and manageable number of resumes to review.
When your resume is rock solid, you have improved your chances of securing an interview from zero (if it was never received) to 96% or better. Approximately 5% of all resumes make it through the elimination process. This final 5% are people that can follow directions and articulate their skills, experience, education and value to a hiring manager.
The truthfulness factor is easy, be truthful. There are news stories everyday where trusted employees (including CEO’s) are terminated due to “improper credentials”, or “inaccurate work history”. You spend blood, sweat and tears getting that job, only to lose it over a poor decision.
WHAT’S THIS MEAN TO ME?
A hot resume will not get you the job, but it will get you on the interview list.
The INTERVIEW TEAM utilizes a comprehensive survey and assessment tool to identify your strengths, unique skills and personality traits. Your interview coach working with you, guides you on how best to use this information to distinguish yourself from other candidates. Effective use of this data allows you and your interview coach to:
- Build an effective resume, styled to present your distinctive skill-sets and value, and crafted for a specific job opportunity.
- Prepare you for your interviews, including general workplace and job specific issues.
- Avoid missteps that can end an interview prematurely.
FREE LIMITED TIME OFFER: complete the INTERVIEW TEAM survey and assessment test and receive a comprehensive report. Get started now, contact us today.
[...] During your lifetime you will work for 3 to 7 different companies all of which would require a targeted resume to get you on the interview list. Each new job is an opportunity for you to develop new skills, [...]