target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="#i000025220000.jpg" alt="warning"/> You probably have an all-purpose resume lying around in a desk drawer somewhere. What legions of job seekers everywhere like about the all-purpose resume is that it casts a wide net to snag the attention of many employers – and it saves time for those of us who are too busy getting through the day to keep writing different resumes for different jobs. I appreciate that. But your one-size-fits-all work of art is obsolete, and it’s getting lost in more and more recruiting black holes.
The Core resume has been replaced by the targeted resume (which I refer to in this book as OnTarget), a customized resume tailor-made for a specific employment opportunity.
✔ Addresses a given opportunity, showing clearly how your qualifications are a close match to a job’s requirements.
✔ Uses powerful words to persuade and clean design to attract interest.
✔ Plays up strengths and downplays any factor that undermines your bid for an interview.
Of friends and resumes
“The number one way to use your OnTarget resume is to find a friend to walk it into the hiring manager’s office or recruiter’s office with the friend’s stamp of approval,” advises Mark Mehler, cofounder and principal of CareerXroads and a long-time Internet job-hunting expert. He says his firm’s annual survey of how people get hired at major corporations shows that one out of three openings is filled this way.
The word got out, slowly at first. And then – whoosh! – millions of job seekers found out how easy it is to instantly put an online resume in the hands of employers across town as well as across the country.
Post and pray became the job seeker’s mantra as everyone figured out how to manipulate online resumes and upload them into the online world with the click of a mouse.
Resume overload began in the first phase of the World Wide Web, a time frame of about 1994 to 2005. It became exponentially larger and more frustrating as commercial resume-blasting services appeared on the scene. Almost overnight, it seemed, anyone willing to pay the price could splatter resume confetti everywhere an online address could be found.
The consequences of resume spamming for employers were staggering: Despite their use of the era’s best recruiting selection software, employers were overrun with unsolicited, disorganized generic resumes containing everything but the kitchen sink.
And what about the job seekers who sent all those generic, unstructured resumes? They were left to wonder in disappointment why they never heard a peep from the recipient employer.
The answer’s in the numbers: A job advertised online by a major company creates a feeding frenzy of many thousands of resumes. Employment databases are hammered with such mismatches as sales clerks and sports trainers applying for jobs as scientists and senior managers, and vice versa.
A resume that doesn’t show off the great goods you’re selling isn’t worth much. Show off your assets in effective style by making sure you follow the suggestions in this book. I show you how to
✔ Choose the resume format that fits your goals and situation. What goes where in a resume isn’t a one-size-fits-all consideration. Chapter 6 tells you about formatting your resume and provides outlines for popular resume designs.
✔ Get your points across in powerful language. Make your strengths stronger by describing results in vibrant language that stands tall. I give you examples in Chapter 10.
✔ Use design techniques effectively. Big chunks of text cause eye strain (and boredom). Present your information in a way that enables readers instead of inhibiting them. Chapter 11 shows you how.
✔ Overcome hurdles. Getting attention from potential employers is harder in certain situations. Chapter 13 gives you suggestions for easing your transition into a new phase of life by overcoming challenges in your background.
You can use this easy system to create your resume funnel:
1. Objective Header Statement: Begin with the position you are targeting.
2. Summary of Qualifications: Add an overview of the strengths that make you a perfect fit for the job.
3. Keyword Section: List the key skills you have for the position.
4. Professional Experience/Employment: Your employment history section provides proof that supports the objective, summary, and keyword sections.
© John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Figure 1-1: Use the reverse funnel method to write your resume and strategically present yourself and your qualifications.
This simple strategy encourages employers to read the whole thing.
Technologies Facilitate Job Search
After the Internet caught job-search fire in the mid-1990s – instantly whisking resumes to and fro – little new technology changed the picture until the social web groundswell burst upon us in the mid-2000s. Now job seekers have the tools to
✔ Use social networks to dramatically enlarge personal networks
✔ Tap their networks to identify jobs and for recommendations
✔ Go directly to hiring authorities
✔ Market accomplishments in professional profiles
✔ Pinpoint employment targets with position-mapping
