Content is the Key
An attractive resume catches attention; a content-rich resume holds it. To increase the likelihood of your resume being read in its entirety, make sure it contains the right stuff – in the right order.
From an employer’s perspective, the first three questions that your resume should answer are:
Who Are You? What Do You Want? How Can You Help Me?
The first question is answered by your name and contact information at the top of the resume. You don’t want to miss a phone call from an employer, so unless you have both Call Waiting and an answering machine/service, provide an alternate phone number or other method of contact. A fax number and/or e-mail address is a good idea.
The “What do you want?” question is answered in your Objective statement. A good Objective identifies the position you’re applying for initially, suggests where you want to be in a year or two, and specifies what you hope to achieve in that time – all in one statement.
Example 1: A part-time Office Clerk position leading to full-time Team Representative, with the goal of increasing productivity and reducing costs.
Example 2: A Sales & Service position leading to New Business Associate, with the aim of expanding services and recruiting new clients.
Stating what you hope to achieve is the clincher: employers will continue reading your resume when your goal corresponds to theirs.
The “How can you help me?” question is answered in a Profile or Skills & Accomplishments section. For each of your relevant skills, provide an example that shows the benefit to an employer. Anyone can say they have this or that skill, but backing it up with concrete evidence and illustrating its value in terms of achieving a goal will make any employer smile. At this point, they might abruptly stop reading your resume – and pick up the phone.
Why might an employer contact you at this point? Because you’ve answered the three most important questions by stating Who you are, What you want, and How you can help the employer. And you did it in a minimal amount of time, using the fewest number of words. Do you remember the Old Style Resume of 10 to 15 years ago? It listed your education and employment history but it didn’t specify what you wanted or how you could help the employer, forcing them to guess or try to “read between the lines” for answers. That’s why the Old Style Resume became extinct.
Don’t make an employer guess or search for information; a resume whose answers leap from the page is much more likely to grab an employer’s attention – and win you an interview.