Understand what makes a good advertisement cause a
reader to take action.
A resume is the starting
point of job searching. All too often the resume causes rejection or
non-response, making it the ending point of the search as well. Writing skill is
certainly critical but it's not the only consideration for creating a resume
that postures the candidate in a professional way. Three gross mistakes can
jeopardize an otherwise excellent job candidate.
Applicant Tracking System (ATS) software may
reject you regardless of your qualifications:
How
your resume is prepared is often the cause of rejection by ATS before a human
ever sees it.
It's not just what is written, but how it is
created. There are over 40 resume attributes that are potential ATS issues. One
example: Don't use tables; ATS may not read information contained in tables.
People will often reject you and move on to
the next resume if your resume is difficult to read quickly:
On the first pass most
people really do not actually read resumes!
At best people scan very quickly looking
for keywords and data they are interested in. The first 5 seconds are
critical. In that brief time they look at your name, contact information, personal
brand, skills, and the results of your work. Sometimes who you have worked for
is important to them, but not always.
Resumes are merely advertisements. If they find
nothing that interests them they are likely to reject you without further
review. It's usually a final, binary decision because there are simply too many
other resumes to read.
Further scanning, perhaps 25 more seconds,
occurs only for the few people who pass the initial review. A more detailed
review by a human occurs only for the top candidates. Even those companies who
do not use ATS may reject or fail to respond if a human reader is unable to
quickly find points of interest.
To be effective resumes must address the
specific needs of the hiring manager:
Edit your resume to be responsive to the critical needs of each job. If you don't it
is certain some of your competition will.
One resume usually does not fit all jobs. Tailoring resumes to be responsive to each hiring manager is
challenging and intensive work, but necessary for success.
These are just a few considerations for writing an effective
resume. If you use a resume writer make certain he or she is a good writer, understands
what causes all possible problems for ATS (not just the need for keywords), and
understands advertising.
Visit bit.ly/1TEqj93 and send your resume to kl@hoochresumes.com for a FREE analysis Today!
