Creating That Blockbuster Resume

Jenny Ho | April 4, 2010 | 2 Comments

If you’ve sent your resume to a prospective employer and are waiting with bated breath to hear from them, don’t be disappointed if you don’t. It’s not easy to capture the attention of an employer, given that they receive hundreds of resumes every day. Why should they focus on your resume? How is it different from all the others they receive?

If your resume looks like everyone else’s then chances are that the employer hardly even glanced at it before dumping it. To ensure that this doesn’t happen with you, create a fabulous resume that will catch the eye of the HR manager instantly. How can you do it? Follow the steps below and create your own blockbuster resume.

  • Sell yourself – Figuratively speaking, yes. The resume should be able to sell you and your abilities to a prospective employer. Let them know what you’re good at and why you should be in their company.
  • Target correctly – The kind of resume you write also depends on the kind of employers you are targeting. Always remember that before you get started.
  • Stand out appeal – When writing a resume, remember that content and looks matter. Prospective employers should find everything about your resume appealing. Make it short, snappy and make sure it stands out. To do that, avoid using paragraphs and paragraphs of clunky text. Make sure to use bullet points and plenty of white space.
  • Quick read – Your resume should always be a quick read. A glance should tell prospective employers that you’re the right person for the job. Make sure you summarize your skill sets and qualifications as succinctly as possible. If an employer has to wade through even a page of text to get to this point, naturally it will work against you.
  • Oh really? – Make sure you bring on this factor immediately. Prospective employers should be able to figure out all you’ve done as soon and be impressed by your achievements as soon as they see your resume.
  • Experience- Highlight this aspect as well as you can in writing and in points because employers want to know this as soon as they can. They want to see where you’ve worked earlier and whether that will bring a positive element to you as an employee or not.
  • Education – Use tables to highlight your educational qualifications so that it stands out and employers need only to glance at it if required.

 

Remember, a good resume is one which stays in the minds of the employer for a little while longer than any other resume. This is the differentiator which helps them put aside the resume and call you for an interview.

Furthermore, think of your resume as a very short advertisement through which you have to get across as much as information as you can in as brief a time as possible. What’s even more important is that make sure your resume makes the job of the prospective employer easy. If they decide to call you for an interview, they obviously have a copy of your resume with them and they will need to look at it while asking you questions. Make their job easy. Make a resume that helps them and not hinders them!

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Filed Under: Blog

Comments

  1. Hi Jenny

    A wonderful and timely piece of guide for people like me who had not gone job-searching for nearly two decades.

    Thanks
    FK Ngai

  2. lizi says:

    thank you jenny
    it was a helpful tip to a student like me who is still to start job hunting.

    –liz

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