Start With A Resume Template, Identify Your Skills, Land That Job!

Seen a promising job in the newspaper today but application date deadline is also today? Get ahead by using a resume template! Yes you might be a good writer but it doesn’t hurt to have a pre formatted template to work with.

Remember that recruitment managers scan through hundreds of resumes in a day. You only have a few seconds before yours get to the rejected pile. You need to make sure that yours has both a professional looking appearance and reasonably good content.

Will yours get eliminated first?

Recruiters get a daily pile of job applications. Needless to say, they too are bored and would like to get their job done as quickly as possible. With a hundred resumes to sift through, the HR Manager will simply do the first scan which means that anything remotely annoying about your resume will cause him or her to discard it. This is where using a resume template can help. So what exactly are these annoying things to avoid?

1. No clear description of what you can actually do. When you are applying for a job, remember that you are selling your skills. If the recruitment manager finds it difficult to know what they are, how can he or she match it with what the job requires?

2. Lengthy sleepy resume. The pile is high enough as it is. Don’t add to the recruiters discomfort by adding every small detail of your work history. It doesn’t have to be curt but it does not have to be lengthy as well. Keep a good balance. Keep what is worth keeping by filling in what the resume template suggests.

3. Topsy turvy formatting. Yes, you might not exactly have the best programming skills but if your resume looks as if it were written by an organized geek, yours will be on the second glance pile. It doesn’t matter if you program like Steve Jobs if you have underlined so many words, italicized random sentences and introduced 3 fonts in your resume.

4. Long boring objectives and run on sentences. Added to No. 2 above, ensure that you keep your sentences short and simple. Don’t write an objective that is long enough to put your reader to sleep before he can finish reading it. Be direct to the point. Yes use powerful words but don’t put them all together in one boring sentence.

You passed the first test, now what?

Ok, so let’s assume that you have passed the first test on general appearance. Now, the recruitment manager will be looking at the content more specifically. The question is, how closely does your skill set match the job requirement?

Here it is very important that you understand what it is that you are applying for. Try to analyze what skills are relevant in performing the job. Identify which of these skills match your own. When you are able to do this, make sure that you highlight these in your resume. The recruitment manager will go through the second glance pile to look for these. If you don’t have it, yours will be discarded.

This is where job hunting techniques also come into play. Yes, a professional looking resume definitely helps but it will not help you in applying for the position of Chief Technology Officer when you are merely a fresh college graduate, unless of course you created a Yahoo! like website with Yahoo! like success before graduating from college.

The important thing is to know what skills you can sell and identifying who can be the best buyers. It’s really common sense. If you are a fruit vendor, you don’t go to the gas station to sell your apples, right? You go the market. The same thing applies in the hiring process. Recruiters know what they want. It is your job to assess which recruiters would want the skills you have.

Your resume is good, you have a skill set match, now what should you do in the interview?

Here is the interesting part. You get called. You got excited. You prepared for the big day. And now here goes the day of the interview. Remember to look your best. Best, doesn’t mean wedding day best. Be in your best professional looking ensemble. More importantly, prepare for the interview. The cure for nervousness is knowing that you are prepared. Rehearse your answers to the common questions. Do your homework.

If you do all of the above, your resume would not be lost among the rest and you can be sure you can bag the job!