I came across this question while reading questions posted on online career boards and thought this was an excellent question to address. Are resumes still relevant today, what is the real purpose of a resume and how do you create one that gets you noticed in today’s competitive job market.
The short answer to this is yes, yes and yes. Like everything else, the world of recruitment in the west has mostly gone digital. Recruitment has evolved beyond printing copies of your resume and personally handing them out to employers. However, recruitment has not evolved beyond the need for resumes of some sort.
Most employers, in my opinion, still require a document outlining your career history, skills and experience, whether this may be a copy of your resume, an application form or access to your social networking profile like LinkedIn. Regardless of the format used, the fact is a candidate record of some sort is needed to make recruitment possible. Therefore resumes are needed and relevant.
Resumes are essential because they give a snapshot of who you are and what you are capable of achieving. As a career coach, I look through resumes for a living, and within 30 seconds of looking at a resume, I can tell a lot about a candidate and their potential, and I’m usually right. Click here if you would like me to take a look at your resume
Think about your resume as your personal advertisement, displaying who you are to the world of work. The job of your resume is to tell your story. A well-crafted resume understands how to use language and keywords and paints a picture of achievement and value to attract attention. A well-crafted resume will do this just as well as a brand’s ability to create an advert to attract their audience to buy.
Your resume is the advertisement recruiters use to decide if they want to buy into you as a candidate.
If you don’t put much effort into your resume, you’re most likely telling a recruiter that you’re lazy and don’t care much. If mistakes and discrepancies exist in your resume, you create the impression that you are not focused.This will put most recruiters off.
However, if your resume evidences your achievements and correctly focuses on your value, people will sit up and take notice.
When initially assessing candidates for job opportunities most recruiters will only have a resume to go by. Resumes are so important because they can encourage or discourage a recruiter from looking further into your application and into you as a potential candidate.
If you would like help with your resume, click here.
Because resumes play such a vital role in getting a job, here are my top tips for creating a killer resume.
To create a resume that stands out:
- Adapt your resume to the requirements and specifications of the role you are applying to.
- Incorporate industry keywords strategically and systematically throughout your resume.
- Avoid throw-away terms that do not describe your value and impact.
- Instead, tell me what you have achieved, how this added value to your current or previous employer, and why it’s significant.
- Quantify your value wherever possible.
- When listing your employment history, don’t just list your job description; focus on the impact and value achieved as best related to the job you are applying to.
- Aim to keep your resume to two pages, three if you are in senior leadership.
As a Career Coach, I read through and edit resumes regularly. I have probably looked through hundreds this year alone (no exaggeration). Because of this, I’ve come to realise that people make key mistakes on their resumes that cost them job opportunities. These are often simple mistakes that, when pointed out, can easily be rectified. But these mistakes are missed because people don’t realise they are making them.
Because I see these mistakes all the time, I’ve compiled a list of the five most common mistakes people make on their resumes that hold them back from job opportunities. You can download this list for free here to avoid making the same mistakes. Scroll down to the bottom of the page, add your details and check your inbox..
Avoiding these mistakes will instantly add a boost to your resume and may make the difference between hearing back about job opportunities or not.
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