When preparing for a first encounter with someone of importance, people desire to make a good impression. Toward this end, extra time may be spent in grooming. We will seek to pick the right words, ask the right questions, use appropriate body language, etc. All of these aspects are important because a person will never get a second chance to make a good first impression. In the job market, this first impression happens most often through a resume or CV (curriculum vitae). Like a personal meeting, great attention and effort should be invested into a resume to make it successful.
The purpose of a resume is to advance the job search to the next stage—an interview. Though the document will not secure a job in most cases, it is an essential first step to begin a process that hopefully will end with a successful result.
For the person preparing and submitting the resume, it is a tool to move forward. However, for the manager reviewing the resume it is a quick screening tool to determine whether or not to spend more time on a job candidate. Managers that review numerous resumes generally develop a screening process that allows them to separate out the job applicants for interview or those to refuse. The amount of time a manager spends reviewing a resume varies, however, some managers spend as little as 7 seconds on this task. With so little time for the job applicant’s biographical document to make a positive first impression, it is imperative that a person work hard to communicate well in this piece.
Following are some key points to work through to help improve the overall impression:
The document should not exceed one page with normal margins and normal font size. Though there may be exceptions to this in some cases, generally speaking, brevity is preferred by managers. Including the right pieces of information are necessary to get to the interview stage. Just as important, though is selecting the information to leave out. A candidate demonstrates their decision-making ability by determining what information to omit. The content that is or is not in a resume or CV begins to tell the manager about the candidate’s work style and ability. The information that is contained in the document should demonstrate a candidate’s ability to perform well in some aspects of the job that they are pursuing.
Arranging the pertinent information in a logical, systematic manner demonstrates a candidate’s logic and ability to organize information. This hierarchy of information should list things both in order of importance and be chronologically consistent. To start developing the hierarchy of information, it may be helpful to develop an outline. (See example.) The most important points should be listed first. For example, if a candidate has little work experience that is not in a related field to the job they are pursuing, then their university education is more important than work experience. However, if aspects of their work experience are relevant, then this information should rise above education in the hierarchy of information.
The resume objective should answer the question, “Why did you send me this resume?” This is the place where the job applicant states their reason(s) for pursuing a job. As a result, this is also where an individual begins communicating their values. The objective should share about why is this position interesting for the candidate and why should the candidate be a desirable employee for the company. Each resume sent out should have the objective clearly oriented to that company and the position an individual is pursuing. Here are a couple of examples of an objective for resume or CV use.
To obtain a challenging position utilizing my strengths and experience to work with people in an atmosphere conducive to professional growth and development.
To promote the mission, vision and values of a company by utilizing my experience, expertise and enthusiasm.
When writing the copy for each work experience entry, it is important to use active, demonstrative, and descriptive text. The first word in the entry should communicate action. Generally this will be a verb in the form of a gerund. For example, instead of writing “I worked as a sales representative….”, it would be much more effective to put “Growing sales by 40% over two years, I managed key accounts in the FMCG industry….” Putting your information in this format communicates to employers that you understand the core elements of business and that you are a person that gets things done. When putting specific information clearly showing results, it becomes unnecessary—and possibly even counter-productive—to put general information about your characteristics or abilities at another point in the resume in the form of a list. This saves space for more important information as the skills are not claims a person is making, but something demonstrated by past action. Communicate with integrity that you have been responsible for creating a new program, managing people, increasing efficiency, introducing new concepts, attracting new customers, or something else that the employer desires for a person in that position to achieve and you will advance your cause significantly. If a candidate has not had opportunities to demonstrate tangible successes in their career yet, then it is helpful to demonstrate transferable skills. In this case it is helpful to communicate team work, experience working with data, etc. To prepare a good resume or CV, it is important to spend the time working on how you can market yourself and what aspects of this would be of value for a specific potential employer.
