Results tagged “profile” from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters Tips Blog

This posting is a guest entry from The Career Doctor, Randall S. Hansen

Mauro writes:

I read an article of yours — Resume Critique Worksheet for Job-Seekers — and found it very interesting. I have been applying for quite a few jobs recently and have not had much luck getting interviews, and I think this has a lot to do with my resume. I know it can be improved a lot and was wondering if you could provide me with some critique given your knowledge and experience. I sincerely appreciate any help you can provide.

The Career Doctor responds:

I’m sorry for your lack of job-searching success, but pleased that you have taken the time to analyze your situation and recognize that your resume is probably the problem. Anytime you are not getting job interviews, the problem generally lies with your resume or cover letter. (It could also be that you are applying for positions for which you are not qualified — or overqualified, but let’s assume that is not the case.)

I was kind of stunned recently when the results of a recent online poll revealed that almost 50 percent of business professionals thought their resume needed improvement. I can only imagine how high that percentage would be for all job-seekers.

Your resume is one of the most — if not the most — crucial career-marketing tool a job-seeker uses, and yet, as evidenced from the thousands and thousands of resumes I have seen over my career, many job-seekers just do not get either the importance of the resume or simply do not put the time in that is necessary to produce a resume that results in employer interest.

Sometimes, all it takes is some tweaking and minor adjustments, but other times, it is best to start from scratch. How do you decide? Get your resume professionally critiqued. If you are a college student or alum, go to your college’s career services office. Or, hire a professional resume writer (many will critique your resume at no cost). Or, even just ask some of the people in your network to critique for you.

Here are some suggested links for mastering the resume-preparation skills you need:

• Ten Easy Ways to Improve Your Resume
• Resume and CV Resources for Job-Seekers
• Resume Tutorials for all Job-Seekers
• Why Hire a Professional Resume Writer?

  A career change gives you the opportunity to sharpen the focus of your resume toward the new career or industry. Study ads and job postings in your desired new field, and frame your resume bullet points so that your skills and accomplishments in your current career can be seen as directly applicable to your new career. Use copious keywords that relate to your new career, and tailor your profile, headline, branding statement, or objective statement to your aspiration. Read more in our Frequently Asked Questions About Resumes: The Complete Resume FAQ.

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  Need help with your resume, cover letter, or other career-marketing document? Order today from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters, powered by About Jobs Resume Writing Service.

  

Here are ways to consider sharpening the focus of your resume:

• Use a branding statement or headline or both atop your resume.
• Add a profile/qualifications summary with keywords relevant to the job you seek.
• Add a keyword section relevant to the job you seek.
• Beef up portrayal of accomplishments and transferable skills. Be sure to spotlight skills that apply to what you want to do next.
• Use our Cover Letter and Resume Customization Worksheet to help you sharpen your focus.
• For college students and new grads: Consider adding class projects in your major (or other classes) that are applicable to what you want to do upon graduation.

Riskier options for sharpening your focus:

• Consider a chrono-functional format. Organize your resume around skills clusters that directly apply to the job you seek.
• Use an objective statement.

Read more in our Frequently Asked Questions About Resumes: The Complete Resume FAQ.

Need help with your resume, cover letter, or other career-marketing document? Order today from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters, powered by About Jobs Resume Writing Service.

More than 80 percent of resumes are searched for job-specific keywords. Therefore, if you apply for a job with a company that searches databases for keywords, and your resume doesn’t have the keywords the company seeks for the person who fills that job, you are pretty much dead in the water.

Summary/profile sections can be important for front-loading your resume with these all-important keywords. (Lack of front-loaded keywords decreases ability to match resumes to potential jobs quickly at critical first- and second-level scanning. Many job-seekers would likely benefit from a section of industry-specific keywords, labelled with a heading such as Areas of Expertise, Core Competencies, or Key Proficiencies. To display your keywords, you might want to use a reader-friendly table, as in this sample resume or in this sample resume.

To read more about keywords, see our article Tapping the Power of Keywords to Enhance Your Resume’s Effectiveness.

Need help with your resume, cover letter, or other career-marketing document? Order today from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters, powered by About Jobs Resume Writing Service.

To sharpen your resume’s focus, you can add a section called something like “Summary of Qualifications,” “Profile,” or the like. Such a section, in a reader-friendly bulleted format can contribute to powerful resume opener that draws the reader in; it can be part of the top third of resume that showcases your best selling points, catches the prospective employer’s attention, and immediately demonstrates your value as a candidate.

A synthesis of the ideas of two leading resume experts, Susan Britton Whitcomb, author of Resume Magic, one of the best books on the market for resumes, and Deb Wile Dib of Advantage Resumes, reveals that a Summary/Profile section can contain:

• Title/functional area/level of your current position and/or position you seek.
• Number of years of experience (which, for age-discrimination reasons, should not exceed 15-20; “15+” is a good guideline for mature workers)
• Industry you’re in or seeking to be in.
• Core competencies/areas of expertise/strengths/specialization for that field.
• Highlights of representative accomplishments, especially used to demonstrate skills and competencies you’ve used throughout your career.
• Top business, leadership, craft-related skills, both “hard skills” and “soft skills” (such as communication, interpersonal, teamwork); however, be aware that many hiring decision-makers believe soft skills can be substantiated only in person or by references, so be sure to provide strong substantiation of these skills in your resume.
• “Value-added” information: Skills/accomplishments/experience that
• add to your value because they are not necessarily expected of someone with your background (e.g., operations manager with deep knowledge of IT).
• Any advanced degrees, certifications, or licenses that are integral to the type of job you seek.
• Language and international business skills, if relevant.
• Technical/computer skills, instead of burying them at the bottom of your resume (Exception: IT professionals, who should place IT skills in a separate section).
• Personality /management style: Open a little window into your personality with your Summary/Profile (e.g., mention sense of humor)
• Possibly affiliations if integral to the job, otherwise in a separate section.
• Any extremely prestigious colleges, employers, or clients.
• Quantification whenever possible, using numbers for, e.g., revenue generated, size of accounts, typical budgets, money saved, etc.
• Positive quotes, testimonials from supervisors, clients, taken from memos, letters, performance evaluations.
• Awards you’ve earned, such as Employee of the Month and President’s Club, can also be listed in the Summary/Profile section to give them more up-front attention than if they were listed in their own section.
• Keywords/buzzwords from ads or job postings you’re responding to.

Need help with your resume, cover letter, or other career-marketing document? Order today from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters, powered by About Jobs Resume Writing Service.