Cast aside the belief that the resume is about you - because it isn’t. Though the resume is your “story”, the heart of it should focus on the needs of the employer. When developing your resume give thought to the person who will be reading it. What are his or her immediate concerns? How will you be able to solve that person’s problems?

When writing your resume, how much information is too much and how much is too little?

Your resume is the bridge to the entire job search. Companies use the resume to screen potential employees. Your resume needs to create a quick connection with the reader to spin the interview process your way.

When a resume causes interest, an interviewer is more likely to talk about those things in your resume instead of using a canned set of questions. When you get the interviewer talking about what is in your resume, you know you are a front-runner in the hiring process!

And, let’s not forget that when done correctly this process also helps get you a higher salary offer.

Think of your job resume as a trophy case. Think of what achievements you would put in it, what you would put in the front, and what the engraved plates would say.

Job search time is one of the most valuable commodities we have. It is considered by most as being more valuable than the money you can make on the job because you can earn more money, but you can’t make more time.

Waking up each morning, your job search is faced with “today”, and that comes with the accountability of you making the most of every opportunity. That means - don’t let today’s job search time go to waste - don’t be unfocused, negative, or defeated. Make the most out of every day.

Evaluate how you are spending your time during your job search. Make sure you are focused and remove any distractions. Get rid of any self-pity, discouragements or disappointments and execute the job search with purpose.

To put a dollar value on job search time, consider this – if you are a $100k+ person, then you are “losing” a minimum of $1,900 of income every week you are unemployed. Don’t let time, and income, slip away.

I was listening to the radio today, and there was a segment on about job search. It was talking about how there are thousands of people applying for a single job posting. It was also talking about how some of the people applying may be over-qualified.

This is all true. What really caught my attention was that the radio show guest was suggesting that jobseekers have 4 to 6 resumes – and this simply is not true, unless you have no idea what your job target is.

This is simply a myth, and my professional opinion is that a single resume can fully support the job target of someone who is focused on a specific type of career. For example, it is easy to have a sales-oriented resume that could be used across a number of industries for a variety of roles (ranging from account management to sales management and business development). It’s when you start using a “shotgun” job search approach that you can’t match your resume with a job opportunity – and then - you don’t get any interviews or job offers.

Have you ever seen pictures of a palm tree in the middle of a strong storm or tornado? It may be bent so far down that the top of the tree is almost touching the ground. Have you noticed that after the storm passes that the palm tree snaps right back into place, like nothing ever happened? Sure, it may be missing a few leaves from all the punishment, but it is still standing strong. It has actually grown stronger during the time it was being beaten down.

The palm tree has tenacity, and so should your job search. Job search tenacity is weathering the storm of time, energy, effort and maybe lost income while networking and prospecting for the career opportunity you know is out there. It is holding on firmly, being persistent and refusing to be knocked down – it’s snapping back upright when you have a bad day of job hunting.

There are going to be difficult periods during a job search. If you understand what employers are looking for, apply some good job search tips and know how to write a resume that sends the right message, then you will come out of each storm stronger, wiser and better off than you were before.

Feel free to contact us with job search or resume questions.

How to create resume content that really appeals to readers is a challenge that every do-it-yourself jobseeker struggles with when trying to put together a resume on their own. Even when they enlist help from family and friends, who think they know how to create resume layouts that will catch the eye, it just does not seem to come together as nicely, or as quickly, as pictured or hoped. Why is this? The reason is that there are multiple pieces that positively, absolutely need to come together to make a resume reader-friendly, while dynamically demonstrating how the job candidate can add value to the potential employer

As an Internationally Certified Resume Writer, I have been trained on how to create resume layouts, with strong content, that sparks interest quickly. It is as easy as A-B-C or 1-2-3 for me to immediately spot problem areas in a resume and make recommendations to improve the chances of the resume generating interviews. After all, you can’t get a job offer if you don’t get the interview first, and that is what the resume has to do – get you in the door for a face-to-face meeting where you have the opportunity to demonstrate your qualifications and have the opportunity to close the deal with a job offer.

Here are some main points to remember and consider for how to create resume visibility, either by the human eye or by automated resume scanning software.

The first thing to remember is that a resume is not read like a book – it is skimmed.

The opening of the resume needs to serve as the hook to entice the reader to read more.

The overall look and feel should not oversell or undersell your abilities – all based on your job target.

How to create resume keywords is HUGE. Industry specific keywords need to be sprinkled throughout the resume.

Company descriptions and job descriptions add tremendous value if presented correctly.

You MUST separate duties from accomplishments, and accomplishments need to be action filled.

Any overlapping employment or gaps in employment needs to be managed effectively.

Aging of information needs to be controlled (obvious reasons).

You need to either dummy-down or ramp-up the wording content (wordsmithing) based on entry-level versus executive-level job targets.

There are many other factors that go into preparing a top-notch resume that all help get more interview requests than the average resume. A couple of closing comments to share on how to create resume writing success – and this wraps the job search process up in a nice package – know where your job target is headed (what to put in the resume) and know how you are going to drive your resume across the bridge (how to circulate or distribute your resume to the job targets you’ve identified).

Do you have career, job search, résumé, networking or interview questions? If you want to remain anonymous in your job search, feel free to send your questions to my personal email. I will do my best to answer as many questions as possible (including in my blog) while keeping the sources of questions confidential.

Ken Moore is an Internationally Certified Resume Writer – helping connect people with careers. Having personal experience with unexpected job loss, and putting others through it, he has a first-hand understanding when answering job search questions. Visit Ken on the web.

One of the quickest ways for a résumé to find its way to the round file, or the no thanks stack, is to start it out with the ho-hum, everybody does it, old school approach of The Objective. The Objective – the phrase sounds like it should be the name or the title of some drama based TV show or motion picture. When it comes to a job résumé, everybody knows what the objective is – and that is to get a job – wrong (tricked ya), it is to get an interview. Don’t bring drama into your résumé with The Objective – or you run the risk of the reader turning your résumé into a small basketball used to shoot three pointers at the buzzer from the comfort of the office chair. This is not going to get you any closer to your personal goal of getting hired.

To effectively start the bridging process, taking you from where you are in your job search process to where you want to go, the résumé opening needs to start out with some real POP. It needs to set the tone of who you are, what you do, and why you are good (or the best) at what you do. If you don’t immediately start to differentiate yourself from other jobseekers, then the odds of you getting noticed start to drop faster than the stock market.

Results-Oriented, Self-Starting, Motivated, Great Communication, and Good Time Management are all samples of what not to include in the opening of a résumé. Why? Because, these are traits or actions that are fundamental and basically expected of every employee, so you should avoid using these general phrases and elevate the content to a higher level.

Think of it this way – if you could make the opening of your résumé read like a well designed billboard along a busy city street, what would you have it say?

Do you have career, job search, résumé, networking or interview questions? If you want to remain anonymous in your job search, feel free to send your questions to my personal email. I will do my best to answer as many questions as possible (including in my blog) while keeping the sources of questions confidential.

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Some people are ready for a disaster from Mother Nature. There are survival kits and first aid kits nearby with flashlights, water, a radio, and maybe some personal items you want to make sure are safe. People who do not prepare for these things quickly realize the downfalls of not being prepared. So, why aren’t more people proactive toward the possibility of unexpected job loss?

It is emotional when a job gets eliminated or the company you work for goes under. It can take several days to snap out of the shock. Then you start writing or updating your résumé and start spending time surfing the job boards. After a few weeks go by, the nervousness starts to set in and then maybe the panic stage arrives.

With hindsight being 20/20, you start to look back and ask what you could or should have done different to prepare for this work and possible lifestyle disaster. You feel you should have been proactive stocking your job search survival kit, just like you stock water and lights in your natural disaster kit.

Here are a few ideas for a job transition kit:

A dynamic resume that is job targeted, and has been carefully proofed.

A list of your closest allies (family and friends) to let them know you’re looking for a job.

Up-to-date contact information of your professional network.

Poise and assertiveness to let casual acquaintances and strangers know you are looking for work.

Join professional organizations / associations.

Stay in contact with your alumni group, if you have one.

Don’t wait for the job to go dark before you think about the key things that will help you endure an unexpected job change. Keep critical tools and contact information updated for the unexpected.

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I need help deciding what career to choose – this is a frequent comment or concern from people of all ages. It comes from those who are in mid-life looking for a change, people who have found their jobs eliminated for whatever reason, and also from high school and college students trying to figure it out before they spend too much time and money going a direction that might not be the best.

This can be a confusing, frustrating, and intimidating thing to work through. So, many people turn to career tests to help find direction. When taking a career test, remember that this is not really a test. There are no right or wrong answers, and you don’t get a passing or failing grade.

It is better to refer to this kind of exercise as career profiling. What you are attempting to do is create a profile of yourself and then match (or profile) the best careers and occupations to your personal profile.