3 Points On Your Resume That Make Your Phone Ring

3 Points On Your Resume That Make Your Phone Ring 3 Points On Your Resume That Make Your Phone Ring “Hi Jewel. I think I need to approach the job search a new way. The problem is I’m seeing jobs that I know I can do, even though my resume doesn’t necessarily speak to those roles. I’m positive I have the skills, but I’m not getting calls back at the rate I would like.” When a candidate laid out the scenario above, I had a few questions: What are the job titles you’re targeting? What are the areas of expertise you’re emphasizing? How are you demonstrating you’ve done the things the job requires at some point in your (hopefully, recent) past? It’s important that your resume answer all these questions â€" preferably in the initial 6 seconds â€" so that you don’t cause the recruiter or employer to scratch their head and wonder, “Why is THIS person applying for THIS job, because their background doesn’t seem like a fit?” I know you don’t want to do this: but it will serve you best (translation: make your job search shorter) to customize your resume every time. “Customize” does not equal “overhaul” â€" having multiple versions of your resume is a recipe for crazy-making that you’ll never be able to keep straight, regardless of how good your spreadsheet skills are. Customizing your resume for each opportunity simply means spending a few minutes tweaking 3 points. These points are what your resume must communicate in order to make your phone ring. 1. The expertise the ad is looking for. Note that I didn’t say, “the expertise you bring to the table.” You can lull yourself into a false sense of security by thinking that what you’re presenting is what they want, but it’s easy to be wrong here. Make sure your resume presents your expertise in terms relevant to the employer. The best way to know what those terms are is to lift the keywords from the ad itself. For example, if a candidate is targeting a VP, Sales role that calls for, “10+ years’ experience in B2B technology sales and management,” then the 1st area of expertise on the resume needs to be, “B2B Technology Sales.” Even if that candidate has 10+ years’ experience in, say, “Enterprise Solution Sales,” it’s fundamentally the same thing, but those terms are different. Use the wording the ad uses â€" that’s what the employer’s eyeballs are looking for. 2. The brand featured in your profile. You’re an experienced professional, with decades of work history and leadership success, who can come into your next employer’s organization and do a number of things. Great. But make sure your profile says you can do the top 3 things the employer is looking for you to do. The operative word here is, “DO.” Not, “be.” Being a “solid team player,” is not what the employer is paying someone for. The employer is paying someone to do things like, “drive customer acquisition,” and “create the digital experience.” You may be in marketing, and you may have done those things. So, in your mind you offer those skills. However, it’s important that your resume actually SAY those things in those words for the employer or recruiter to quickly make that connection. For example, if your profile positions you as an, “Executive offering 20+ years in digital marketing,” then take a moment to modify that to, “Executive who creates a digital experience that drives customer acquisition…” 3. The proof. How about this: don’t be the 1st candidate of 2018 to tell me your grand plan to, “save your stories for the interview.” Every candidate who told me that in 2017 felt me jump through the computer to physically shake some sense into them, because this concept of savings stories for the interview is the reason why you’re not making it to the interview. The employer or recruiter doesn’t have the magical power to read through the lines. No one is putting the story together. If you have skills the ad is looking for, SAY so, particularly in your bulleted achievements. You can cut and paste achievements on a case-by-case basis. Refer back to the main things the ad is asking for, and make sure your achievements indicate you’ve done those things successfully. The 5-10 minutes it takes to tweak your resume in these 3 ways is time well-invested, and it’s significantly less than the time you spend worrying about why you’re not getting calls back for the jobs you know perfectly well you can do. Speak the language the employer speaks, emphasize what you can come in and actually do, and prove it! Now that your resume says the right thing, find out what the smart candidates are doing to make sure the resume directly reaches the right decision makers. I’m laying that out in, “3 Simple Steps To Cut Your Job Search Time In HALF!” It’s a free online presentation. Register here.