What is a Resume?
The Resume is a document, usually two or three pages long, used to display a candidate’s credentials. The structure of the document makes it great at meeting a number of job search needs.
A well structured resume will:Highlighting your best credentials relative to the position.
Hiring companies are only interested in what you can do for them. As you review your past experiences and successes, you will have far more skills and achievements, in a number of different areas than the position needs. Focusing on how closely your skills and achievements match the opening, will help you to list only those that are most relevant. Use the job description to guide you and if you have access to insider knowledge from one of your contacts, include their input too.
Formatted to read easily.
Choosing a resume layout that will display your credentials in an easy to read way is very important. You will need to put the most relevant information very near the beginning of the resume to be the first items the reader looks at. Employers and recruiters scan resumes very quickly, sometimes giving only 10-20 seconds for each one, as they search for reasons to include or exclude you from their interview process.
Well written to keep them reading.
Customizing each resume may take some more time and research but is well worth the effort. Submitting the same resume to each opportunity is indeed faster, but you are better served when you customize each resume to each the opening, and show the reader how you are the best qualified for the position. There is no such thing as “one size fits all”, and there is a fine balance between including enough good relevant information, and putting in too much. It’s common for job searchers to have more than one career goal or target position and a resume suited to one position will not work as well for another position.
Get invited for an interview.
The resume is your opportunity to distinguish yourself from all the others, to state your unique value proposition and how that matches exactly what the reader is looking for. A successful resume generates enough interest to get you an interview, when the reader sees a clear link between your track record of results, achievements and skills, and their needs.
Interview document.
Interviewers use the resume as a basis for the discussion, so they can better understand how your skills fit with their needs. Your resume already has some information you want them to know about you and so the interview becomes an opportunity for you to elaborate on those achievements and bring in other relevant achievements.