CareerLaunchUSA

By Stephanie Clark, BA, CRS, CIS, CCS

Faced with a choice, would an employer hire a generalist or an expert? Who would you hire?

A generalist might begin her resume stating that she wants a job that “uses my skills and provides room for growth.” The idea is that being flexible is attractive to an employer. But every position, whether custodial, sales, or accounting, has a set of skills, training, and even personal attributes that are necessary to do the job well. The person who demonstrates that he or she has what it takes is much more likely to do a good job from the get-go than one who has no demonstrated background in this area.

Need a bit more convincing? You’ve applied with a general resume. Two hundred others have also applied. Out of these, 95 percent are general resumes sent to hundreds of companies. The few that “stand out” are focused on the position and, from beginning to end, describe the ideal candidate. The authors of these resumes have positioned themselves as experts.

How can you take your resume from generic to expert? It’s simple!

Create your resume with focus. Demonstrate how you have the precise set of skills, education, and past accomplishments to step into the particular job that you are applying for. Carry this strategy throughout your resume from the first word to the last, and get ready to field the calls for interviews.

Keep in mind that you must always be truthful and stay authentic to who you are.

Here’s how to do it:

• Remove the passé objective statement. Give yourself a title. (For example: Customer Service.)
• Add key words by creating a list of job-related skills. The Customer Service rep could list Conflict Resolution, Sales Follow-up, Data Entry, and Keyboarding of 60 wpm. Each position has hard skills that are needed to complete the job—list yours.
• Pen a profile. Whether in point form or paragraph, list the highlights: Number of years of related experience, the accomplishment you are most proud of, the skill you are most recognized for, and the personal attribute for which you are well-regarded. Back it up in the body of the resume.
• Strategize that profile. If you are applying for a position such as police officer your profile must address those many qualifications they are looking for: Licenses and certificates that you hold, training, even your physical condition (Conduct daily training in preparation for the New York marathon).
• Add context to your workplace accomplishments that focus on the bottom line (profits, performance and productivity). For example, improve “Responsible for the filing system,” to “Revamped a 2,000 file, and growing, filing system. Researched available systems, secured management buy-in, and received ‘Outstanding Corporate Citizen Award’.” Context makes all the difference!

Here’s another added benefit sure to convince any remaining skeptics. Everyone pays more for a name brand, whether in clothing, sporting gear or construction tools. The same holds true for employment. Do your career and your pocket book a favor: Drop the generic approach and position yourself as an expert.

Stephanie Clark is a certified professional resume writer and interview coach. Passionate about career management, and about writing succinctly and with clarity, Stephanie’s resumes have been recognized with four best-in-category awards through Career Professionals of Canada. Her work is published in Directory of Professional Resume Writers, Cover Letters for Dummies, and the Best Canadian series. Now in her sixth year as a full-time self-employed career practitioner, Stephanie indulges her love of writing with blogging and article writing.

Read Stephanie’s blogs at www.newleafresumes.com/journal, http://interviewsavvy.wordpress.com and www.newgraduateresumes.com. Read her articles at ArticlesBase.com and EzineArticles.com. For more information, visit www.newleafresumes.com.