Cover Letter – Page 13 – TP Javeton WebNet

Resume objectivity vs. self-promotion

Anyone who has ever written a resume will probably agree that writing one of these documents is in many ways a process of self-discovery, because when you really give it some serious and more profound thought, writing a resume is actually the process by which you market yourself to your potential employers, which in itself is a very difficult task, since we have to walk the fine line between objectivity and self-promotion. That having been said, please read on as we will elaborate a little more on this aspect of resume writing.

Your resume must summarize the educational achievements, professional experiences, and adequate-to-the-task qualifications – inherent as well as acquired – in a way that best meets your career objective. Composing your entire professional history on one or two pages can be time consuming, because we often spend hours and sometimes days writing and re-writing our resumes in order to make the content and format as perfect as we can possibly get it before the resume reaches potential employers.

about resumes, cover letters and interviews

However, after looking at the same content over and over, it can become rather easy for us to miss some very simple typos and grammatical errors; or even poorly written statements that may raise questions in the mind of a hiring manager. Before posting your resume on job search sites, or submitting it to companies in which you are interested to work, it may be in your best interest to have someone else review it.

Boundaries and goals for your resume review

This, of course, can be a scary thought in the sense that while you may want help and feedback from your friend on one hand, you may be concerned that, on the other hand, s/he will dislike something aesthetic and you will feel the pressure to make one or more formatting changes; especially after you have already spent a considerable amount of time on your resume and really don’t want to have to start over. There is however, a method you can use to prevent such a scary thought scenario from ever occurring.

about resumes, cover letters and interviews

Consider for a moment that you know the benefit(s) that can be derived from having someone else review your resume. If this is the case, you should set some boundaries and goals for that review by ask about specific things which are of concern to you. In other words, if you know that grammar isn’t your strongest asset, ask your friend(s) to proofread the content; and the same method can be used for any gaps in your work history; simply ask your friend to act as a potential employer and review the resume and cover letter together.

Make sure your “reviewer” friends know exactly what you need them to do; ask if they have any questions about your work history, or have you addressed everything in your cover letter? Accept feedback about content, but make sure that your friends are raising valid questions about the statements you’re making. If they suggest that you change an action word, can they give you a valid reason behind the change? Or is the reasoning based on their personal preference? Don’t get into an argument over formatting; just do your research ahead of time and know what the acceptable resume style is for your field.

The benefit of a resume writing service

It is also beneficial that you have more than one additional person review your resume before you send it to your potential employers. This helps you in recognizing whether or not the feedback is based on personal preferences or professional concerns. Ideally, the person you ask for help should have experience in your chosen field, and can therefore help ensure that the action words or phrases you have chosen are appropriate for your industry and position level.

If you are unsure that you are on the right track with your resume, and you feel the research you have done is overwhelming and not helpful, seek assistance from a professional resume writing service. A professional resume writer should be able to help guide you in the right direction, revise your current resume or create a new well-written resume for you. Make sure that the professional you are working with can provide you with references and samples, and that they are well versed in writing resumes for professionals in your field of work.

While the resume writing service option requires you to pay for assistance from someone elss, it can prove to be a more beneficial option in the long run. Of curse, you can also serve as your own resume editor by stepping away from the resume document for a while, give yourself some time – usually a day or two – between writing the resume and then reviewing it. This allows you to be more objective as you review the final draft of your resume, because you are not as intimately involved with it at the moment of review, as you would be immediately after completing a draft.

Keep resume mistakes to yourself, don’t share them with employers!

No matter what option of review you chose, make sure that you do in fact review your resume before submitting it to your potential employer; because you certainly don’t want your hiring manager to catch your mistakes, do you? An error-free and otherwise well-written resume is more likely to get you noticed, and help you secure the job you really want.

The resume tone and style

It is often said, and sometimes repeated over and over again, that a well-written resume is a winning resume; and some might ask, what does that mean? And how can it be determined whether or not a resume is written in a tone and style that employers will respond to? Synthesizing educational achievements, years of professional experience, the numerous qualifications acquired since entering the job market and other inherent employable skills is not easy to document, I’m sure you will agree, if you have been in the position of having to do such synthesizing.

Every phrase or statement you write has to convince your potential employer that you are the candidate best suited for the job s/he is offering; and to do so, you would have had to use appropriate action and/or power words. Such action and power words are described as keywords (verbs) that add strength and positive implication to your job experience, performance, responsibilities and qualifications.

That having been said, however, if you are not familiar with such words, phrases and keywords, it is important to make a note of the following: When you submit your resume to a potential employer, there are two scenarios that will occur. First, your application will be ran through a computer software program that searches your resume for key terms as indicated by that employer; and if your resume contains those key words, it will be pulled aside for further review, as it could be deemed a well-written resume per that employer’s criteria.

Effect of action words on the resume

Second, a hiring manager – or sometimes a human resources associate – will receive a stack or resumes and scan through them quickly to pick out those that stand out most acceptably, based again on certain key words. It seems clear, based on such computer scans and separation of certain resumes containing specific keywords, that these action words in the resume are critical to your success in obtaining a particular job.

In view of the above you should be cognizant of the manner in which your employment history is listed on any resume document you’re sending to potential employers. In other words, your resume should list each job’s responsibilities in bullet point form with each statement starting with an action word.

Under this scenario, the use of power verbs and/or phrases will indicate to your employer that you are the type of individual (job candidate) who is driven by action and results; and that you can effectively articulate your professional experience, thus showcasing your communication skills. Such articulation of power verbs and phrases could look similar to this small sample of action words which might be helpful when formulating your own list:

Action words to personalize your resume

created
developed and implemented
managed
delivered
designed
facilitated
negotiated
coordinated
budgeted
acted
communicated
consulted, etc.

This is a very short sampling of action words, but there are many resources on the Internet containing extensive listings of action words and phrases which can be obtained with a little research; but be careful to use only those terms that are relevant to your field of experience. Your best bet would be to locate resume samples provided by professionals in your industry.

Review these resumes for ideas on how to list your responsibilities, but be mindful that you do not copy exact statements from another person’s resume; and while you can do your own research, you will want to make sure that your resume is personalized to your own professional experience.

Evaluate and review your resume action words

Also avoid falling into the trap of using the same action word(s) over and over; and if you have, in fact, managed multiple projects you may want to be a bit more specific about your role in each. For example, maybe you were the communication liaison in one project, while you were the project manager for another. If this is the case, simply begin the first bullet point with “communicated,” and the second bullet point with “managed.”

However, be aware of the words you are using and consider their value in your resume; but do not get carried away with the use of varying terms, especially those that may change your role or your responsibilities. Additionally, you can find key action words in job descriptions. Review your resume against a job description and make sure that all required qualifications are addressed in your statements.

The review will also help you identify action words that the employer uses, which you can in turn use to customize your resume or cover letter to that specific job. Always make sure that you are consistent in the way you list all your responsibilities and qualifications, and make sure that your statements exude positive attitude and focus on actions and results. By doing so, you are guaranteed to create a winning resume that will get you noticed.