As a recruiter, I've seen thousands of resumes ranging from very qualified and capable candidates all over the nation. These candidates span from every industry and from administrative professionals to C level corporate executives. Each time I review a resume, I would review it under the eyes of the hiring manager. Through their eyes, I tried to get a sense of who the candidate is and how they are wired. The goal is to see if the candidate (communicated through a resume) capabilities will drive a degree of success in a particular capacity. Research has shown that a typical hiring manager or recruiter will only look at a resume for approximately 15 seconds so bearing that in mind, I perform this resume critique under three basic guidelines. If you want to be noticed and receive the proper consideration, following these suggestions will help improve your chances of landing an interview. Building Your Brand This is your professional identity and perhaps the most important element that most resumes fail to develop. You can establishing your brand and increase your marketing collateral by ensuring that your resume is concise, clearly identifying your professional traits and demonstrate how you will fit into the position and the company corporate culture, captivating, grammatically perfect and of course free of spelling error. It needs to flow, easy to read and pact with rich content organized in a format which screams "HIRE ME!� Succeed here and your resume will be pushed forward in the process. Fail here and your resume will be filed away. Differentiate Yourself Whatever you do, do not copy someone else's objective statements. Write them yourself or with the help of an expert. The more unique your profile is, the higher the chances of a full review on your resume. An effective profile should be brief and encapsulate your background while highlighting your capabilities and accomplishments. Always tailor your profile to fit the position so do not use the same profile for every submitted resume. Value How will you add value to the position? This is the first question hiring managers or recruiters look for in a candidate. After all, that's why they are hiring in the first place. You can demonstrate your value buy quantifying results. Describe how you helped a company increased revenue, lowered cost and increase productivity. Don't be afraid to use numbers even if they are not exact. Conclusion Maximizing your brand will help identify and articulate your professional skills to the decision makers the immediate value and benefit that you bring to the company. This is your chance for good first impression and believe me, first impressions are everything during your job search campaign. Differentiate yourself will give you a competitive advantage so revise your profile to create a powerful effective 15 second pitch. Finally, quantify your success and show decision makers how you can contribute to the company�s bottom-line. If you take the initiative to embrace these three essential elements in defining your resume, you will recognize greater results in your search efforts. Have an expert put together an organized, engaging and compelling cover letter that's poised for high impact. An expert can tailor our message, convincing the reader to proceed to review your resume. Sadly, first impressions count so unless you have an effective cover letter, no matter how stunning your resume is, it will not be considered. Work one-on-one with an expert to determine the approach that will get you the interview. An expert can help you identify your uniqueness, uncover your qualities and build your brand.
