If your résumé is going to work for you, there are seven essential elements that you will need to include.  Here are elements five through seven.

…Continued from yesterday.

5. Succinct, Specific, and Descriptive. When writing your copy, write and edit until the statements in your document are direct and to the point, giving the most important information necessary to boldly illustrate your talent and worth.  Use powerful words, keywords, and descriptive language, and keep it succinct.  You don’t have to exaggerate, just paint a clear picture with your terms.

6. Contact Information. Make sure your name is prominent and easy to find in a stack of résumés.  Ensure your email address is professional.  If the employer is interested, you will most likely be contacted by phone, so place your phone number where it is easily found.  If your document is two pages long, place your name and phone number at the top of the second page in case the pages get separated.

7. Readability. If your résumé makes it past the scanning process and gets onto the hiring manager’s desk, readability becomes key. The hiring manager will judge you based on the look and layout of your résumé.  Use an easy to read font and a font size between 10 and 12 points with your name in a larger font.  Use category headings and balance your text with a lot of white space.  Bullet points that follow the rules listed above enhance readability.  Use a bold typeface to highlight key information, such as your name, category headings, and previous employers.  Your résumé should never be more than two pages long.

Although it may be tempting to hire someone to write your résumé for you, it is worth the time and effort to prepare your document yourself.  If you need help, hire a career coach or other professional who will work with you and advise you on putting together the document.  The work you do preparing your résumé is also preparing you for the interview.  Ideally, you need to customize your résumé for the different positions you apply for and you will need to update your résumé as time goes on, so this is a valuable skill to acquire.

The purpose of your résumé is to get you an interview.  Your résumé doesn’t tell the employer your whole story; it is an advertisement designed to stimulate enough interest so that the employer wants to know more.  Keep in mind that you are selling yourself and your goal is to communicate the benefits you have to offer the employer and to express them in a clear, concise, professionally presented manner.  By incorporating the seven essential elements above, you are well on your way to producing an exceptional résumé.

How do you prepare a résumé with the resilience to survive the onslaught of elimination drills conducted by employers these days?  How do you ensure your résumé will stand out from the other 500-plus applicants?   Although it is true that your résumé is a record of your past achievements, your training, skills, and abilities; first and foremost, your résumé is a marketing tool.  It is imperative that you showcase your unique brand and your value proposition.  When preparing your document, always start and end with the mindset of the employer, which is “What’s in it for me?”  If your résumé is going to work for you, there are seven essential elements that you will need to include.

1. Personal Brand and Value Proposition. Your résumé is an opportunity to show the employer who you are, what your unique strengths are, and how you can provide exceptional value to meet the needs of the hiring manager and the company.  You set yourself apart from the competition by highlighting your personal brand and value proposition in your Qualifications Summary at the beginning of your résumé and maintaining a consistent focus on your brand throughout the rest of the document.  Before you begin writing, take the time to reflect on what you are passionate about doing and how you can communicate your special brand and particular value to the employer.

2. Accomplishments. Avoid any and all use of the terms “responsibilities” and “duties.”  Employers are interested only in what you have accomplished.  Past results are indicative of future results, so provide explicit descriptions of your achievements.  The easiest way to compose your accomplishment statements is to use the SAR technique by writing out the Situation, the Action you took, and the Result.  Include quantitative measures whenever possible, such as dollars saved, profits earned, or percentages reduced/increased.  Reduce your SAR description to a concise accomplishment statement that begins with a strong action verb or keyword noun.  A general rule of thumb is to list five accomplishment statements for recent jobs and three to five for more distant employment.

3. Keywords. Whether by software or human eyes, your résumé is likely to be scanned for keywords.  The more keywords you include, the more likely your résumé is to move to the next stage of the process.  To identify keywords, find three or four job postings for the type of job you are seeking and incorporate the commonly used keywords and their synonyms into your résumé.  The keywords should be prominent and frequent.  One caution:  Do not overuse a keyword if you don’t have the skills or experience to support it.  This will backfire on you and you will be eliminated from consideration.

4. Relevance and Authenticity. Only include information that is relevant to the job for which you are applying.  Listing irrelevant skills doesn’t beef up the résumé; it merely dilutes your applicable qualifications.  If you are changing careers and your past experience is in a different area, concentrate on your transferable skills that are relevant to the new position.  Always be authentic and honest.  Do not exaggerate your skills or experience.  Never, ever lie!  Most companies do background checks and exaggerations and lies can cost you the job, even after you have been hired.

…Check back tomorrow for Part II