Selling yourself is never easy

Creating a resume

PROBLEM:

Turning a resume that reads like a job description into one that stands out to potential employers.

Anyone who’s ever recruited for staff knows how long it takes to work your way through the large pile of resumes that land on your desk. So many of them look the same…text heavy pages, with role after role listed out, clearly little more than a “cut and paste” from the job description.

But it’s an absolute delight when one looks a little different, and it’s easy to see whether that person has the skills and experience you’re looking for.

SOLUTION:

Develop a resume that is centred around Achievements, with a quick snapshot of personal and professional attributes on the first page.

The theory behind this is that your first page acts as an introduction, so it includes contact information, your profile, an overview of key skills and a career summary.

If the potential employer or recruiter reads nothing else, they at least have a good flavour for who you are.

With the remaining pages you can focus first on Achievements and then detail role responsibilities.

This works particularly well if you’ve worked for several companies as it ensures you highlight what you have actually done and the difference you made.

FEEDBACK:

“Having worked with Sarah for over seven years, I know her to be both reliable and diligent. In a professional capacity, I have witnessed her relentless drive to focus on the customer and develop clever communications that are tailored specifically to their needs. She’s the person we always turn to when we’re stuck for words! So I had no hesitation asking her for help when I recently needed to update my resume. Sarah took what was quite a repetitive and task-based description of my career history and transformed it into a “new look” me, bringing it to life with both the words and the visual layout. And it worked – I got the new job I was applying for!”

ELAINE BROGAN