By the end of this post you should have a killer targeted resume that is ready to go out. If you’re joining us now, be sure to catch up on Part I and Part II.
Back to writing your resume. You should have the headline, sub-headline, and first bullet point of each experience complete at this point. All you do to finish up is align your second bullets with the second most important thing in the job description and so on. Now, of course you won’t be able to perfectly align everything but a) it will do you good to try and, b) HR probably isn’t reading that far down anyway.
Here’s a really critical piece though: don’t fall into the trap of using your old sentences or old stories just because you are proud of them. If the information is not relevant, don’t include it. For example, if our hypothetical CPA candidate had six months of a side project managing IT that he was really successful with, he still should not include it on his resume because a hiring manager is unlikely to care.
Once you’re done with all the bullets there’s one more thing you have to do. That’s your Skills and Tools section. Something I find a lot of people forget is there’s not just the concern of “what will someone think when they’re reading my resume,” but “how will they find my resume in the first place.”
This is where a great Skill and Tools section will work magic. It is simply a listing of essential industry keywords that you can derive from the job description. For example, for our buddy with the C.P.A, if the targeted job description has Sarbanes Oxley on it, then you need to have Sarbanes Oxley on your resume.
Finding the right industry keywords is easy. Think , “if I was going to use Google to find someone to fit this job description, what keywords would I use,” because the person who is vetting the resumes probably isn’t seeing the resumes as they come in, rather he or she is running searches through some sort of database.
Once you’ve done all that, get your resume analyzed for weaknesses for free by RezScore, and then apply. Let me know any success or failure stories in your comments below. As always, you’re also welcome to email me directly.
Happy hunting!
Sean Weinberg is the COO and co-founder of RezScore, a free web application that reads, analyzes, and grades resumes – instantly. Also the founder of Freedom Resumes, Sean has dedicated his career to helping job seekers write the best possible resumes.
