Sneaky tricks to overhaul your resume and selection criteria

Ask any professional resume writer and what they enjoy most is transforming a resume from a chronological work history, to a document that effectively markets a client.  Done correctly, your resume is your ultimate marketing tools and will substantially increase the odds in your favour of securing an interview.  Below are some of the key strategies that I use to transform client resumes.

Select Accomplishments / Selected demonstrable examples

The key word I use as a professional is select and it is used frequently on purpose.  This word successfully implies that you have many more accomplishments to list, or many more examples that you could incorporate into your responses to selection criteria.  In your selection criteria, just add – Selected demonstrable examples include and then insert your STAR’s or CAR’s.  In your resume, just bullet the top 3 – 5 accomplishments that are relevant to the job you want to land.  Make sure you use short phrases and action words.    For example:

• Instrumental in growing temp hours by 150% to 300% consistently exceeding consultant quotas by 150% or more.
• Architect of new benchmark assessment process within the industry, which significantly improved candidate quality and reduced the pool of unsuitable candidates.
• Drove business development with key clients, including successfully securing preferred supplier agreements.

Special Skills / Relevant Skills

You can use the term special or relevant, since it implies that you have more skills, but the ones you have listed are unique to the potential employer’s needs.

Other Work History / Prior Employment

Use this heading if you want to disguise very old work history, but this old work history it is still relevant to the position you are applying for.  Just list the various positions, without inserting the dates, after your more current work history.  For example:

PRIOR EMPLOYMENT:

Hanimex (NZ) Limited – Importing & Costings Clerk / Secretary to Sales Manager

Delivered top-level secretarial support and juggled multifaceted administrative tasks, including accurate costings and completion of weekly consignments, letters of credit, liaison with Customs Agents and general administration.

FC Mathews & Sons Limited – Sole Charge Office Manager

Autonomously managed a range of tasks, from general bookkeeping, wages, reception, bank reconciliations, through to ensuring a superior level of customer service. 

Graphics and symbols that add punch

Add a chart, which demonstrates a quantitative improvement, for example in sales. (Just ensure the chart only takes up a small amount of space on your document).

Use symbols, such as %, rather than percentage and $, rather than dollars, and numbers, namely $1,000,000 rather than one million dollars to emphasise your achievements.  Both symbols and numbers tend to jump off the page, when employers scan your documents.

Use bold to highlight key words

Bold key words, for maximum impact in your resume or selection criteria, as this is a great tactic to get reader’s to slow down and take notice.  For example:

Top performing consultant for the whole of New Zealand (consistently in 1^st position for the North Island or 2^nd overall for the whole of New Zealand).

Use online resources to write your job descriptions

Why reinvent the wheel when developing descriptions for your jobs in your resume and selection criteria.  So long as you don’t plagiarise material, the Internet is a great source for obtaining job descriptions that make you sound like a real wiz.

Mirror the employer’s language and requirements

Your resume and your responses to the selection criteria are actually not about YOU.  Yes, you heard me – they are not about YOU – they are about what you can offer THEM (the employer and agency).  Once you understand this vital principle, then you can start creating a document that meets their needs and the best way to do this, is to simply mirror their requirements, right down to the language they use.  So if they require someone with a bubbly personality, list one of your personal features in your cover letter, as a bubbly personality.  It is all about creating the linkage between what THEY require and what YOU can offer.