Résumé Help: Getting to the Heart of the Matter
Julia Hart has strong accomplishments that are excellent evidence that she would be successful in her target job as a recruiting consultant. However, she risks losing the reader’s attention by starting her résumé with a long summary that is about 50% fluff. If she removes the fluff and gets to the heart of the matter, her major skills and knowledge, she can pique the reader’s interest.
For example, one of the first things Julia shares is her goal, the job she wants. Employers are not interested in what you want. Instead they want to hear how you fill a need in their company. It is more effective to demonstrate your values that mirror the needs expressed in the company’s job posting (when a posting is available) than to have a self-focused objective statement. If there is no posting, search for a sample job posting for inspiration.
Long and complete sentences are not necessary. We want short phrases to facilitate a quick read. Also, any extra phrases with clichés or baseline skills should be omitted. If Julia rewrites this summary using these tips, it should be half the length it was and ten times more appealing.
For more tips on effective résumé writing, follow these links:
Be Strategic About Your Content
Résumé Help: Objective and Summary Format
Résumé Help: From Never Read to Get Ahead
To see additional résumé suggestions that will help you as you create your own résumé, please click on the image below.
If you would like a résumé critique, please contact Debra Wheatman at debra@careersdonewrite.com or visit us at http://careersdonewrite.com. The Résumé Help blog appears weekly on Mondays.
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