By trying to make the hiring process more efficient, employers often overlook highly qualified candidates who don't have the most compelling resumes. Hiring managers quickly skim for relevant work experience, only taking notice of candidates who present clear, cohesive selling points. If you believe you're a perfect fit for the job, capture that confidence in your resume by making it easy for recruiters to envision your career progression.
Make Your Qualifications Obvious
No matter how you format a resume, the content should be straightforward, measurable and scannable by both applicant-tracking software and humans. To survive a hiring manager's 10-second scan, your resume keywords must be placed in logical areas. Recruiters expect to see familiar titles and job duties showing your expertise in the field, and they aren't going to hunt around for related work experience buried under less-relevant positions.
If you worked for companies with quirky job titles, such as "Chief Sales Ninja," include traditional phrases as keywords in the headline and job descriptions, such as "sales director with seven years of business analytics, sales planning, marketing and forecasting experience." Make sure readers can easily see the connection between what you did in past roles and the concrete skills you can bring to the target position.
Add Context to Accomplishments
Don't assume that everyone who reads your resume understands how your work experience relates to the current position, especially when you're changing careers or industries. Applications are frequently reviewed by recruiters and HR staff who lack specialized knowledge about the position, and they may only look for specific resume keywords and competencies. The scope of job duties may also be drastically different from one company or industry to the next, making it wise to highlight the value and expertise you brought to each role.
Present your work experience as a progressive story by including a brief career profile with your headline and supportive summaries with each position. These statements help brand your professional narrative and create clear connections between roles that don't immediately seem related. In the position summaries, mention the employer's primary function and the most important problem you solved for the company. To be effective, contextual statements should always be tailored to emphasize the accomplishments most relevant to the job you're pursuing.
Get Preliminary Feedback
Think of your resume as a childhood reading assignment in which you are tasked with finding the main idea in a short passage. Every detail should support the idea that you are an undeniable match for the job, but your value proposition may not come across as clearly as you intended. Before submitting applications, test the selling power of your resume by asking a few friends whether they can determine the position you're seeking.
If your target role isn't obvious, spend more time considering how your skills, decisions and goals shaped your work experience. Did you obtain more education? Did you desire more challenges or specialization? Did a past employer offer more responsibility based on your performance? Did you create solutions that shifted your role in the company? Answering these questions can help you showcase the best reasons to hire you.
By highlighting the right details, you can develop a persuasive brand and frame your work experience to distinguish you as a knowledgeable candidate with verifiable skills to back up your claims.
Photo courtesy of stockimages at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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