When I first started writing resumes, the Objective statement ruled the resume world. Now, an Objective statement dates the resume back to the late 1990’s. Today’s resumes must focus on 3 key areas: personal brand, keywords and career achievements.
Personal branding is the art of marketing yourself in your resume and is especially important in enticing a hiring influencer to pursue your candidacy. Position your personal brand in the upper third of your resume, what I call above the fold, where the objective statement used to reside.
There has been a tremendous explosion in the use of Applicant Tracking Software by companies to quickly conduct an initial pass / fail test of all applicant resumes. Basically, a robot reads each resume and makes a decision to accept or reject the resume based on keywords. Failure to include the right keywords in your resume will results in your resume being filed in the online recycle bin, never to be seen by a human being and, most importantly, a decision maker.
Often a hiring influencer spends less than 60 seconds reading a resume; don’t waste their time on relaying job duties and responsibilities. I ask all my clients to share STAR stories, quantifiable career achievements. Ideally, you should have 1.5 STAR stories per year of employment.
Lastly, the entire job search process has changed dramatically since I first entered the realm of career management. Anyone serious about looking for a job and/or managing their career, MUST have a well documented and highly ranked online presence. I no longer write a resume without including a link to the clients LinkedIn profile and am starting to see the additional inclusion of Twitter, Facebook and Google+ url’s and Skype accessibility.
In a society so open to embracing technological change (hello iPad’s, smart watches and Google Glass™), I am amazed that clients at all career levels simply resurrect an outdated resume and job search strategy when faced with the need to seek a new career challenge.
The team at Downsize With Dignity are experts in resume and job search trends and specialize in creating a captivating suite of career management tools customized to the senior executive.
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