Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Use the resume to market your skills 
Arvind Sharma

Research shows in India that only one interview is granted for every 200 (app) resumes received by the average employer. Research also tells us that your resume will be quickly scanned, rather than read. Ten to 20 seconds is all the time you have to persuade a prospective employer to read further. What this means is that the decision to interview a candidate is usually based on an overall first impression of the resume.

To write an effective resume, you have to learn how to write powerful but subtle advertising copy. Not only that, but you must sell a product in which you have a large personal investment: you.

Focus your writing efforts. Get a clear idea about what the employer is looking for and what you have to offer before you begin your resume.

Tale of two sections

In the first, you make assertions about your abilities, qualities and achievements. You write powerful, but honest, advertising copy that makes the reader immediately perk up and realize that you are someone special.

The second section, the evidence section, is where you back up your assertions with evidence that you actually did what you said you did. This is where you list and describe the jobs you have held, your education, etc. This is all the stuff you are obliged to include.

Most resumes are just the evidence section, with no assertions. If you have trouble getting to sleep, just read a few resumes each night before going to bed. The juice is in the assertions section. When a prospective employer finishes reading your resume, you want them to immediately reach for the phone to invite you in to interview.

The assertions section usually has two or three sections. In all of them, your job is to communicate, assert and declare that you are the best possible candidate for the job.

You start by naming your intended job. This may be in a separate “Objective” section, or may be folded into the second section, the “Summary.” If you are making a change to a new field, or are a young person not fully established in a career, start with a separate “Objective” section.

The ‘objective’ part

Ideally, your resume should be pointed toward conveying why you are the perfect candidate for one specific job or job title. Good advertising is directed toward a very specific target audience.

When a car company is trying to sell their inexpensive compact to an older audience, they show grandpa and grandma stuffing the car with happy, shiny grandchildren and talk about how safe and economical the car is. When they advertise the exact same car for the youth market, they show it going around corners on two wheels, with plenty of drums and power chords thundering in the background. You want to focus your resume just as specifically.

Targeting your resume requires that you be absolutely clear about your career direction — or at least that you appear to be clear.

Writing right

First of all, decide on a specific job title for your objective. Go back to your list of answers to the question “How can I demonstrate that I am the perfect candidate?” What are the two or three qualities; abilities or achievements that would make a candidate stand out as truly exceptional for that specific job?

Be sure the objective is to the point. Do not use fluffy phrases that are obvious or do not mean anything, such as: “Allowing the ability to enhance potential and utilize experience in new challenges.” An objective may be broad and still somewhat undefined in some cases, such as: “a mid-level management position in the hospitality or entertainment industry.”

Remember, your resume will only get a few seconds attention, at best!

The ‘summary’

The “Summary” or “Summary of Qualifications” consists of several concise statements that focus the reader’s attention on the most important qualities, achievements and abilities you have to offer.

The most common ingredients of a well-written “Summary” are as follows. Of course, you would not use all these ingredients in one “summary”. Use the ones that highlight you best.

  • A short phrase describing your profession

  • Followed by a statement of broad or specialized expertise

  • Followed by two or three additional statements related to any of the following:

Breadth or depth of skills

Unique mix of skills

Range of environments in which you have experience

A special or well-documented accomplishment

A history of awards, promotions, or superior performance commendations

  • One or more professional or appropriate personal characteristics

  • A sentence describing professional objective or interest.

Notice that the examples below show how to include your objective in the “Summary” section. If you are making a career change, your “Summary” section should show how what you have done in the past prepares you to do what you seek to do in the future. If you are a young person new to the job market, your “Summary” will be based more on ability than experience.