As a society our attention span has exponentially been reduced; a topic covered in psychologist Daniel Goleman’s book “Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence”. To adapt, job hunters must craft their personal value proposition on resumes in a concise and direct manner.
As you craft your resume, consider its purpose, content, format and length.
Purpose of your Resume
I’ve never heard of a scenario where a candidate was hired by simply submitting a resume. Employers utilize resumes to determine which candidates in the pool of individuals applying are worth exploring further. As a candidate it’s important to take that perspective into consideration when crafting your document. Resumes are intended to secure an interview, not to land you the job. Providing enough relevant information to pique the reader’s attention should be the resume’s focus.
Updating Resume Content
Being judicious with content is critical. It’s highly likely that when a hiring authority is reviewing one resume, they are reviewing many. Keeping content relevant and easily digestible is key to differentiating yourself from your competition. Highlighting results-oriented content should be the primary goal whereas focusing on the daily activity conducted to achieve end results should be excluded – that’s what you discuss during the interview!
Results oriented content can include:
- Challenging assignments and positive end results.
- Quantitative success which can include overachieving on expectations such as quotas or objectives.
- Expertise such as relevant or unique certificates, skills or degrees.
Any hire a company makes is intended to, in some degree, positively impact its bottom line. Your content should be geared to communicating your ability to do so.
Formatting your Resume
A resume is not a biography of your work history, it is a presentation of qualifications. The goal is to have the relevant information – results oriented success – jump out at the reader. The best way to ensure all your accomplishments are front and center is to utilize concise bullets and eliminate paragraphs from the resume.
Length of your Resume
While keeping your resume concise has been the theme, it’s isn’t necessary to keep it to one page. Especially for more senior level professionals, communicating accomplishments in previous roles that led to your career growth is critical. For junior level professionals, a multi-page resume is preferred over struggling to read a document where the font size has been reduced to a 7.
The Pinpoint Search Group team takes our relationship with candidates seriously. Visit us to learn more about a partnership with our team.
