If you have been sending out your resume for a while without success, it may begin to feel stale to you, let alone hiring managers and recruiters. Maybe it is time to take a fresh look at the contents and give new life to your tired resume.

1. Make sure your resume emphasizes real accomplishments, not empty clichés (for example, “highly motivated and strategic-minded professional production supervisor”). Accomplishments such as solving your current employer’s production problems or learning new processes or taking post-college courses show motivation. Accomplishments such as increasing sales 20%, lowering costs $20 million, increasing productivity or efficiency 15%, handling mergers and acquisitions, or serving and retaining customers show that you are responsive to the company’s strategy. Be sure to include quantification where possible.
2. Make sure your resume focuses on the job you want—not the jobs you had in the past. That means looking at your career to emphasize the accomplishments, skills, and education that prepared you for the job you want. Cut back on or remove information that may make you proud but is badly dated (for example, technology that no one uses anymore except if it shows your path for current technologies) or irrelevant.
3. Make sure your resume uses words that convey interest and progress in your own career. If every bullet point starts with “responsible for” or “performed,” you should consider whether words such as “led,” “reported,” “delivered,” “supported,” “planned,” or “produced” might restore energy to your tired resume. You must be honest about your role but there are countless synonyms for performing work.
4. Make sure your resume gives you credit for all you have accomplished. If your resume is a bare-bones list of past jobs or tasks, no hiring manager or recruiter will be interested. You must move beyond the thought that “anyone can do what I do.” The true point is that no one except you has had your exact experience. Once you realize what it is that sets you apart from other candidates, your tired resume will truly come to life.

Are you having trouble identifying accomplishments, focusing on the job you want, writing interesting job descriptions, and recognizing your value to an employer? It is time to bring in a professional resume writer who will help you create a resume that gives you pride and makes hiring managers and recruiters take notice. Contact Robin’s Resumes® today.