The Job Search Challenge - Your Resume

I have found that for most of us, writing a resume with impact is is a challenge. A resume that truly reflects well on an individual is one of the most difficult challenges for my clients.

More often than not, resumes are the first part of the sorting process for most employers. A well written and to the point resume is a huge asset in your career search.

Your Resume - Stand Above The Crowd

As a personal business coach most of my clients have a resume. It gives a very detailed chronological summary of who they have worked for, the positions they have held and the length of time. The focus is to produce a chronological history that forces the potential employer to guess at what you truly accomplished.

The way to stand above the crowd and increase your odds of moving beyond the first cut it to recast your resume to make it accomplishments oriented. If you think about it, where you have been is important. But what really matters is what you have accomplished.

Resume - Accomplishments By Category

After you have settled on an objective at the beginning of your resume the next thing you must do is present some related accomplishments. For example, if your objective is to "Be part of a growing financial organization and contribute my expertise in marketing, management and sales support" then you must have some accomplishments that relate to that objective.

Your categories for objectives would be:

Under each category make sure to list at least 2 accomplishments and no more than 4.

Resume - How You Word Your Accomplishments

Once you have come up with your accomplishments it is important to use action verbs to start each accomplishment. For example: "Reduced marketing expense while increasing positive exposure for financial products in a large financial services company.

The word 'reduced' shows that you are a person of action and accomplishment. Notice that I didn't name the company where I reduced marketing expense. That is on purpose. We'll reveal that on page 2 of the resume.

The goal is to have this part of your resume along with the objective be on the first page. You want to catch your prospective employer's attention right away.

Resume - Career History

After your accomplishments your next category is Career History. All you do here is list the years, position and company. For example:

1996-2000 Assistant Controller XYZ Corporation

2000-2007 Controller ABC Corporation

After this list your education in the same format as your work experience.

At the end, let them know that references are available upon request. I have a suggestion here. Have your references ready in advance and written. If you have trouble getting people to write references ask them if you can write it and then have them edit it and sign off on it. You will be pleased at how this speeds up the process.

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The definitive guide to a better business and a better you for entrepreneurs, solo professionals and self-employed individuals striving to reach the top and who are serious about their success. For more information: www.businesskeystosuccess.com/resume-interviewing-promo/.

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When Providing References Is a Challenge

Most often, job seekers find themselves in a difficult position where for them to provide a reference becomes a real challenge. In some cases, the current employer of these job seekers may see them leaving the company as a sign of high treason, which for them is enough to make the lives of the employees miserable. For this reason, using your current employer as a reference could result in serious problem; hence, it requires you to be careful.

First of all, you should make it clear that your current manager and/or boss should not be contacted, during your interviews as well as on job applications. Even still, it is very unlikely that an interviewer contacts your current manager. This is simply not done this way, as everybody knows that checking on a current employer will always put the employee in a bad position.

It is best to select at least three references. One personal reference is also fine; however they do not hold much credibility. This is because most employers will be convinced that your personal references would most likely be your good friends and ally who would have no actual work experience with you.

You might want to consider people who have left your employer and are working with somebody else, while trying to search for references that are good and who knows your work well. It does not necessarily have to be your manager to speak about your work, work ethic, and your reputation. For this reason, you can turn towards your former coworkers from your previous employers. They may be with vendors, consultants, or contract workers, which you may have worked with. In addition, you can also have some associates from the volunteer work you have done, who have seen you in action. Still, if you are coming up short, you can simply explain that most of your previous employers as well as coworkers are unreachable.

In case, the interviewer makes you an offer; however, he or she insist to have a current reference, it is better that you consider using a coworker who you can easily trust. This is because; at this point it will not make much of a difference, because the news is going to leak out soon in any case. Even then they pressure you for the name of your current manager, you can reply by telling that he is one of the reason you are trying to leave your current job and he (your current employer) have been very vindictive to people who have left in the past. You can further add-on, suggesting to your interviewer to go over your past performance reviews, from which they will be able to see your excellent work performance and work habits, rather than calling your manager.

Chances are that if you have overwhelmed your interviewer during your interview, they hear good reviews about you from some other people and go through your documentation having excellent work performance, they will be satisfied enough to give you your dream job.

Bryan Goldberg is a professional writer who has helped numerous applicants with their resumes, CVs and cover letters. He is a regular contributor to online article directories for instructional articles about resume, CV and cover letter writing.

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