Polishing Your Resume

Use your Resume to Land that Dream Job

Whether a lay-off has you back on the road to viable employment or you are out job-hunting for the first time, you'll quickly learn that polishing your resume is the key to landing employment that meets your requirements. Right now, it's a tough market. Many are looking for jobs, while supply and demand makes it easy for employers to negotiate in their favor.

Construct a Resume that Makes You Shine

When you're reading a book, how do you respond to a lot of filler? If the author includes too many details that detract from the plot, most of us give up. The same is true of an employer. They are looking for a resume that captures and holds their attention. Make sure your employment history is thorough and demonstrates that you've been handed additional duties as time progresses. Your most current job should be covered in more depth than a job you had a decade ago.

Formatting is critical. If your resume isn't organized clearly and effectively, you will lose your potential employer's attention. Avoid long lists of bullets and instead break down your resume into clear categories that make it easy for an employer to find exactly what he or she requires.

Make sure your resume is quality and also stands out. The 1980s trick of using brightly colored paper is not acceptable, stick to cream or off-white. The quality of your print is important. Using your home printer, you can construct a quality resume for a fraction of what it would cost to have it printed at an area printer. However, you may want to go to a local office supply store that can print your resume using one of their high quality printers with heavier stock paper.

Using Business Cards to Stand Out

If you haven't ordered business cards, you are making a huge mistake. An employer may receive up to four-dozen resumes per week. That's a lot of reading for anyone on a normal day; imagine having to read those resumes in a short time frame! If you attach a few business cards to your resume, you'll find employers don't forget you. It's easy to lose a resume in a shuffle of papers, but a business card can be taped to a computer monitor or pinned to a corkboard where it will not go unnoticed.

You should include a number of items on this business card. Start with your contact numbers, list home and cell for best luck. Also include your mailing address, email and a Web site if you have one. This helps a potential employer do his or her research on you. You may not know it, but most employers turn to the Internet to search out potential employees. They look to see how they present themselves online and find out as much information about their past job history as possible. You may want to double check your postings on common social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and others to ensure that you are presenting a professional image there...because most employers will search those sites.