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RESUME SNAPSHOTS

Article by Jacqui Barrett, MRW
Executive Resume Writer

Have you ever noticed how an impactful photograph directs attention to a particular message, striving to influence the viewer's interpretation, such as a flower emerging from the bitterness of an early spring snow, signifying its strength and perseverance? In the same picture, background items are blurred or cropped from the picture entirely, the object of the picture framed for viewer attention.

The same strategy should be utilized when building a resume: Identify your resume focus based on a specific job target. For example, if you are pursuing an executive-level position in technology for a company that describes successful candidates as possessing leadership expertise and experience in revenue and customer growth, marketing, engineering development and more, then the resume must zoom in on those key requirements, using keywords that match the job description and create a focused snapshot of the candidate that the company desires.

Furthermore, if the same job description or series of job descriptions you have pinpointed asks for team leadership abilities, success in driving vision and strategy and operational flexibility, then you should list those words and phrases on your resume as well. Even better if you can back up keywords / phrases with the action plans you have developed, the hurdles you crossed executing the plans and the measurable end results from employing those skills.

It is easy to pepper your resume with information from target jobs, while maintaining true to the integrity of your unique voice. Bear in mind that the initial resume screener might have neither the training nor the experience to translate similar skills into the job's specific requirements.

Therefore, if your personal marketing document misses the mark in using the target job's exact keywords or very similar variations of the key language in describing you, then the resume may be cut from the pile of contenders, just as a fuzzy photograph is sent to the trash bin.

A resume that is clearly focused on the resume screener's / hiring company's needs, grabs attention with its sharply focused image and leads to interviews between you and the desired company.

By Jacqui D. Barrett, MRW, President - Career Trend
Article originally published in Association of Online Resume and Career Professionals Newsletter.