Your résumé is your Golden Ticket to the interview.
Charlie Bucket needed a Golden Ticket to tour the Wonka Chocolate Factory. You need a Golden Ticket to get invited to interview. Charlie was lucky to find a ticket in a candy bar. You aren’t that lucky. You need a résumé that will get you to the interview.
The only duty your résumé has is to get you to the interview. It doesn’t get you a job, only the interview. After that, it’s up to you to get the job. Wonka only issued five tickets. Companies don’t invite many more than that to interview. You can’t buy an interview; your résumé has to show you are the best candidate available.
To be successful in its purpose, your résumé has to capture the attention of the reader within seconds for the reader to continue reading. Therefore, place your best information above the fold. Your accomplishments, achievements, honors, awards, skills, and other information should distinguish you from among all the other candidates.
To be read by a human, the résumé must turn up in a search of the application tracking database. Accomplish this by using keywords found in the job posting that will match the search criteria. The higher the match between your qualifications expressed by the keywords and the job requirements, the better chance your résumé gets read.
A résumé filled with keywords take practice and skill. It isn’t difficult after you get the hang of it. Isolating the terms that are keywords is easy to do. I isolate the terms into separate bullet statements then match the skills and experience of the candidate to each bullet statement. Once done, it is easy to insert the keywords into the proper places in the résumé.
Other elements are important in the creation of the resume. One–include only relevant information. Two–the format should be clean and easy to read. Three–avoid design elements that are not accepted by the application tracking system. And four–write a résumé that demonstrates what you can do for the company.
A résumé that follows these guidelines creates the Golden Ticket to the interview. While at the interview, you are under inspection to see if you match your résumé. Honesty and are in all your statements. Bragging is important, but there is a fine line between bragging and exaggerating.
Charlie Bucket was honest; kind and well-behaved. Charlie won the factory. If you want to win the job you need to be honest, kind and knowledgeable. Even though you are these things and more, you need to get to the interview. Your Golden Ticket is your precisely crafted resume.
How can I help you in your job search?
image: freedigitalphotos.net digitalarts
