a well-written resume – TP Javeton WebNet

Of your resume’s uniqueness

In view of the fact that a resume is limited to only one or two-pages in length, and yet must summarize a person’s career objectives, professional experiences/achievements and educational background, very important that you present a well-written resume that is also well formatted and free of errors. What may be as important, however, is to make it stand out from resumes of other candidates; and to do so you should consider the information in your resume carefully and make sure that it is unique to you (uniquely yours?).

That having been said, the following suggestions are provided in the way of tips on how you can go about making your resume unique to you:

Customize your career objective

To best accomplish the customization of your career objective, you should think of your overall resume as a sales tool in which your career objective is your opening statement. You want your potential employer to know what you want, not just restate what other people say they want; so state your commitment to your career goal, because if you are unsure of what you want, how is your employer expected to believe that you really want the job at their organization, and not that you are just applying because you want to get out of your current work environment?

Don’t be afraid to state what you want from a job and from an organization, because while you want to state your commitment, you also want to show that you are willing to take action to achieve your goal. Indicate what direction or action you are willing to take in order to accomplish your career objective; and be specific about what you are looking for in a work situation.

While you can say that you are looking for a “challenging” environment, this doesn’t mean anything to your potential employer, as people define challenges in various ways. So avoid using generic terms that are too broad defined. Simply state what you want, and what you are willing to do to get it, and in most cases that will be enough to give any potential employer a good enough idea of who you are and what you want.

Highlight best elements of your experience

This may be the most commonly overlooked aspect of writing a resume; understanding of course, that the entire professional experience section on your resume is, and should be, unique to you so you should take advantage of that particular aspect. Also, try to use power words wherever you can to list your responsibilities, while making sure that you have a winning attitude with each statement.

Focus on those responsibilities that best describe the skills you acquired while in each job that make you the most qualified candidate for the position you are seeking; and quantify your responsibilities when possible to showcase to your potential employer that you are driven by results, and you are capable of exceeding goals; but don’t be shy about promoting your qualifications, because you earned them with your hard work and dedication.

Personalize your cover letter

The biggest mistake many professionals make is not spending enough time on their cover letter; but your cover letter should receive the same attention as your resume as they go hand-in-hand. Address your cover letter to the appropriate person at the company (contact info is typically listed in the job description); and make sure to mention what position you are applying for, while demonstrating how well the information in your resume aligns with the job requirements.

Your cover letter also allows you to address any information in your resume that may raise questions; so take the time to do it right, as you don’t want your resume discarded because you chose not to create a uniquely personalized cover letter. Overall, make sure that your cover letter supports your resume and presents you as the most qualified candidate for the job.

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.