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5 Reasons Why Your Resume Isn’t Working

Jul 09 2017

You haven’t sent your resume out. Your resume can only start working for you when you actually send it to prospective employers. If you are trying to please multiple reviewers, anxious about every comma and period, or worried about presenting yourself correctly, you need the objective help of a professional resume writer.
You don’t know what employers are looking for. Research the companies and positions you are applying for. Read job postings and advertisements. You must know what companies want when they advertise for a specific job opening so that your resume covers those basics or bridges any gap between what you offer and the job demands.
Your resume is too vague. The jargon of the moment—proactive, results oriented—is very tempting but it doesn’t reveal who you are and what you have accomplished. Give specific results first and then explain how you achieved them: “Cut overhead in half by moving payroll function to outside vendor and eliminating 2 internal positions.”
Your resume is too confusing. What type of position are you looking for? What skills, experience, and education do you have for that position? Which of your past achievements are most predictive of your future success? If you don’t know, and simply throw everything into the resume in hopes that employers will sort it out, you are wasting everyone’s time.
You send your resume out only in response to job postings or advertisements. Your resume is an important tool for your job search. You should email it to friends and family, make sure that your LinkedIn or other online profile supports it, carry it with you to networking events, and use it as the basis for your elevator speech. Your research into companies (see #2 above) may reveal that they have a problem you can fix: Don’t wait for them to post a job, but contact them now about your ability to solve their problem.

When your resume isn’t working, you need the help of a professional resume writer. Contact Robin’s Resumes®. We’re here to help.

How to Use Job Postings to Create a Strong Resume

Oct 26 2014

I’ve often mentioned here the importance of reading job postings. They describe the hard and soft skills, experience, and accomplishments that companies went to see in any resume from a job applicant. Keywords like “college graduate” or “at least five years of industry experience” or “FRM certified” should find a place in your resume if you can meet those qualifications.

However, it is important not to regurgitate a job posting word for word. You also want to show in your own words that you understood the job posting and its criteria. If you merely copy the job posting, your resume proclaims that you are incapable of original thought, are a cookie-cutter candidate, and are too lazy to explain how and why you meet the recruiter’s or hiring manager’s expectations.

It is important, also, to think beyond one job posting. Many companies write job postings or advertisements that are vague, confusing or incomplete. Check out several job postings in your field from a variety of companies to build a fuller picture of what recruiters and hiring managers are expecting. A visit to the hiring company’s website might also expand your knowledge of the company’s unexpressed needs. If your resume or cover letter addresses those needs, you are definitely ahead of the pack of applicants.

When looking for job postings, do not become fixated on a specific job title. Look instead for positions that match your skill set and career goals. Job titles often vary from industry to industry, from company to company, and even from division to division. If you are excited about a job, its current rewards, and its potential, the job title should not stand in your way.

If you need help using job postings to your advantage, please contact me at Robin’s Resumes™.

Are You Sending Your Resume to All the Right People?

Dec 01 2013

In addition to sending your resume to companies that have advertised positions, you should also be sending it to:

Companies who have not advertised but who are a match for your perfect position—let them know you are interested and available.
Personal contacts, especially those who are willing to talk to their contacts about your job search. They need the right information to make an impression.
Professional contacts, such as insurance agents, lawyers, financial advisors, mortgage broker or anyone else who has multiple contacts with professional clients. These individuals often solve problems; if that includes finding the right candidate for an open position, they will certainly pass along your name.
Work contacts, including current and past co-workers and managers, retirees, customers, vendors, and suppliers. Depending on how discrete you need to be (for example, depending on whether a layoff has already been announced), your work contacts are excellent sources of information on open positions.
Educational contacts, including people you met at seminars, current and former classmates and teachers, and college career center staff.
Community contacts, including the local chamber of commerce and civic leaders.
Recruiters. You can find lists of recruiters online by industry, geographic area or keywords. Try to contact recruiters personally to avoid wasting their time and yours if you are not a match for the companies they work with and not likely to be one.

Most advertisements or online job listings specify a physical or email address to send your resume to, as well as a job reference number that must appear in the letter or in the subject line of an email. You should make sure that you follow through on all information provided by the company or recruiter as to where and how to submit your resume—and if the advertisement specifies no phone calls, do not telephone.

As a member of the National Career Development Association and a certified Master Career Director, Electronic Career Coach and Job and Career Transition Coach, I can help make sure that you are sending your resume to the right people in the right way. Contact me today.

Why Are You Writing Your Resume?

Dec 16 2012

Do you know why you are writing a resume? If you answer, “to tell a company about me,” you are missing the most important point of a resume.

When writing their own resume, many people become so wrapped up in listing all their skills and accomplishments that they forget their audience—the company they are trying to impress.

That company wants to find an employee who can deliver the specific skills and education they want, who has demonstrated an ability to use those specific skills to benefit past employers, and who will fit the company’s culture. Any other skills, education, accomplishments, and attitudes are nice to know but not immediately relevant. You want to use the limited space of your resume to relate the parts of your work history that are most important to the company you are contacting.

What is important to the company? You may get clues from the company’s advertisements, job postings, websites, LinkedIn page, or press releases. Use those clues to write a resume that sparks a company’s interest.

To learn how Robin’s Resumes® can help you, contact me today.