Are you ready to turn over a new leaf?

If you are, the article below gives great tips on creating a resume that will generate action - that all-important invitation to an interview!

5 Essential Steps to a Resume that Generates Interviews
by Stephanie Clark

Writing a resume can be a daunting task. So much information must be at hand – past employers, dates, job descriptions and more. And that’s just the beginning. That information alone certainly won’t land you a job. Your resume needs more than a framework: it needs vital information that entices the recruiter, and spurs him into action, including your resume in that small elite group, with the sticky instructing, “Please arrange an interview.”

Follow the five steps below for a resume that will generate interviews.

Step 1: Focus
Many job hunters are mistaken in their assumption that a resume that claims “Will do anything,” will generate results. They write an Objective that states “A position where I can use my communication and organizational skills in a company with room for advancement.” Although I never say never, I will say that an unfocused resume is highly unlikely to land an interview. A focused resume is a better bet. Consider the following scenario: Out of 100 resumes received, 20 are focused, showcasing skills, education and experience that directly relate to the position applied for. Do you think a recruiter would even bother with those resumes that are unfocused? Instead of coining an Objective statement, try using a headline: “Expert Key Grinder,” or “Award-winning Customer Service Professional.” Right away the recruiter knows the position you are after and a little something about your level of achievement. Very enticing.

Step 2: Like the tip of an iceberg

The top third of your first page is crucial. It must emphasize your added value dynamically, and with key words. It’s like the tip of an iceberg: beautiful, with more substance below. Under that heading, “Innovative Network Administrator,” you might compose a paragraph full of key words. Key words are those “buzz” words in your specialty that describe the tasks completed day in and day out, or your “hard” skills. The network administrator may write (ever-mindful of the job posting requirements):
“Highly regarded professional with solid educational credentials, well-honed network administration skills, and up-to-date software and hardware knowledge. Deliver training that “sticks,” and always achieve departmental goals.”
What do you say? Makes you want to read on, no?

Step 3: Back it up

Now that you’ve made those claims, you must back them up. Our administrator above, having claimed to have educational credentials, administration skills and software knowledge, must now address each of these and back them up with from-a-job examples. Obviously the education will be listed under its own heading. And speaking of education, don’t limit yourself to years of formal education at college or university. Someone in technology likely continues learning year in and year out – after all, software is outdated almost as soon as it’s released. (If you have lots of ongoing training, consider listing it on a separate page, as an addendum.)

But what of those other claims? What is an enticing way to explain those? Think SAR: Situation→ Action→ Result. Expand on those claims you made with examples of achievements in jobs held. Here’s an example from our network administrator:
“Addressed network inefficiencies and significantly decreased computer down-time”
That’s good, but it can be better. If you can add some ballpark figures to further boost your accomplishment, the impact on the reader is greater. Here’s another try:
“Addressed chronic network inefficiencies, which were contributing to downtimes of up to 3 hours per week for 500 employees. 2-month project resulted in problem-free operations, with no downtime over 120 days.”
Now that’s enticing to a potential employer. Employers are interested in the bottom line, in profit, performance and productivity – address these needs and you are almost guaranteed an interview.

Step 4: Seek Perfection

Your grammar, punctuation and spelling must be perfect. Don’t rely on spell-check; it doesn’t catch homonyms, for example. (Words that sound the same, but have different meanings and spellings, like “so” and “sew.”) Have a knowledgeable friend read over your resume. Or read it backwards. It is ten minutes well spent. Here are some real-life resume gaffes:
“Here are my qualifications for you to overlook.”
“Proven ability to track down and correct erors.”
“I am a perfectionist and never if if ever forget details.”

Step 5: Looks are important

When you arrive for an interview, you must be clean, well-groomed and smell nice! Similarly, your resume must convey your uniqueness, be well-formatted, typed, not hand written, and thus stand out from the average. Aim not for a “blue jeans and t-shirt” look, nor for a “party dress” look, but for a tailored, yet individualized, “suit” look. Here are a few strategies:
§ Stay away from templates: you simply look like so many others, and it may convey a lack of initiative.
§ Update contact information. And never cross out an outdated address and pencil in a new one. Hand written updates convey a lack of planning and perhaps even laziness.
§ Don’t ramble on in the content, stretching what should be a one or two page resume into three or four. Recruiters are busy people. They are also skilled at making quick judgments. They may decide that you can’t organize your information well or that you are over inflating your credentials.

These five steps will go a long way in helping you stand out in the resume crowd. Everyone deserves to work, and a great resume can help you land not just any job, but a job that you enjoy.

Stephanie Clark is owner of New Leaf Resumes. She can be contacted at 519-505-5627, or at stephaniec@newleafresumes.ca.