Send the Right Message With Your Resume

By Jerre Calle

Your resume is your passport to job opportunity. It's a sales pitch whose main selling point is you — your skills, credentials, abilities. Without a winning resume, you won't land the interview that positions you to capture the job you're seeking. But if you know what firms are looking for in a resume, you can use that knowledge to present yourself in the most favorable light possible.

Keep in mind that most resumes receive no more than a 15- to 30-second glance. That's all the resume receives to convince a prospective employer that you're a perfect match for the position. To stand out among the blizzard of resumes that cross the desks of corporate decisionmakers, your resume has to communicate, quickly and clearly, that you can do the job. Articulate your strengths effectively, and you'll afford yourself the best chance to nail down the position you're pursuing.

What you say, how you say it, and the overall impression are critical in the crafting of a successful resume. Here are some tips to help you produce that winning document:

• Present a strong summary statement.
  Everything starts with your lead statement. This sets the tone; it's what employers look at first. It's imperative that you open with your strongest qualifications. The statement should summarize, in four or five sentences, your experience and the most important skills you are offering. A dynamic, well-written lead statement will hold the prospective employer's attention and give cause for more serious consideration.
  
  
• Sell your skills.
  Emphasize your practical experience in the field you're targeting. Companies want to see results. If you have contributed to cost savings and productivity increases in a prior job, for example, tell how you did it and accentuate the resulting benefits.
  
  
• Customize your resume.
  If you are applying for a specific job, tailor your resume toward that position. If you are building a resume for an accountant's position, for instance, include only information relevant to that job.
  
  Keep it to one page. The easiest way to lose your prospective employer is to provide several pages of detail-laden material. Employers care primarily about your latest skills, so stress your most recent experiences, and allot just a line listing job title and company for earlier positions.
  
  
• Be concise, accurate and complete.
  Make your point clearly and in the fewest words possible. Describe your qualifications and experience as accurately as possible, and if a past job title is vague or misleading, specify precisely what you did. For example, if your title was staff supervisor but your work required you to be an accounting manager, use the latter term. Spell out all abbreviations, names of schools, companies, organizations and titles. Giving complete information is a more professional approach, since some readers may not recognize abbreviations or acronyms.
  
  
• Don't include personal statistics.
  There is no need to include information about age, marital status, sex, height, weight or health on a resume. Companies that request this information from job candidates violate anti-discrimination laws.
  
  
• Don't list references. It is understood by prospective employers that you will furnish references if requested. If you reach the interview stage, a better approach is to bring to the interview a separate sheet that includes your name and a list of three to four solid references.
  
  
• Present a neat, professional document.
  Your resume should be visually inviting but not overly fancy. Arrange the headings so the information is easy to find and read. For example, category headings can be highlighted or set to one side; dates should be consistent in another location. Check the spacing and margins and allow for sufficient white space and borders. Emphasize important points by using elements such as italics, underscoring, boldface type, and bullet points. Use high-quality, white or off-white paper. Keep it simple, organized, and clean.
  
  
• Edit and proofread.
  After completing the resume, scrutinize it carefully. Delete any unnecessary or irrelevant information. Avoid a narrative style; use simple, descriptive statements rather than complete sentences. Make sure everything is grammatically correct. Solicit feedback on your resume from others.

Remember, your resume is an advertisement, and you are the star product. It must substantiate persuasively that your qualifications make you ideally suited to the position you are seeking. If you have communicated that message clearly and concisely, you have done all you can to earn that passport to job opportunity.

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