Tuesday, 02 October 2018 / Published in LISTINGS, Writing

The Ultimate Secret To Writing A Winning Professional Resume

So you’ve come across a job description that piques your interest. Where do you start? If you are like the majority of job seekers, you quickly look up the qualifications to establish whether you make the cut. Then you go ahead to send a prewritten professional resume and cover letter right?

If this is your style, you are selling yourself short and this might be the only reason standing between you and that coveted job.

Disturbing Facts

These facts will make you change your approach when it comes to writing your professional resume.

The hiring team wades through hundreds of job applications on daily basis in search of an outstanding resume.
With so much to do, the hiring team only spends about 10 seconds to scan through each résumé to decide whether it is worth their time.

Being a freelance writer and a software developer, part of my job is to send pitches (resume) to potential clients on daily basis. Having sent thousands of futile pitches already, I got to learn the hard way how to write a winning resume.

The goal is to make the employer think, ‘This is the right person for the job’ once he/she sees your résumé. So no matter how good your credentials are; if they are not presented clearly and concisely, you’ll never get called for an interview. Fortunately, this article will offer some resume writing tips to help you tailor it to any job description.

Step 1: Understand What The Employer Is Looking For

Having established you qualify for the job, your next move is to understand what the employer needs. Missing a few qualifications should not deter you from submitting your résumé.

So what is the employer looking for?

Skill, skill, skill! To land an interview, you will have to convince him or her that you have the right skill set. Go through the job listing, taking note of the skills and areas of expertise the employer is interested in.

Pay close attention to the job responsibilities section. This section will give you some deep insight into the types of tasks you will need to carry out in that particular role. Match the listed responsibilities to your skills, previous accomplishments, and experience.

To achieve this:

Identify your most relevant experience that relates to the critical elements of the job description.
Establish how your skills and experience can create value for the organization.
Identify what excites you most about the job.
Establish areas you have inadequate experience in and how can you make up for that.

Step 2: Check the Candidate Characteristics and Attributes

Throughout the job description, the potential employer indirectly gives hints about the attributes they are looking for. These include words such as ambitious, cooperative, achievement-oriented, diplomatic, enthusiastic, and assertive among others. Take note of the attributes that describe you and the ones that describe the organization’s culture and needs.

Step 3: Check The Organization Description

This will help you understand what the organization is all about in terms of history, size, location, and why it exists.

Details to look out for include:

How does it describe its work culture?
What is its mission and vision?
Which is its target market?
How does it carry out its operations?

Step 4: Writing The Actual Professional Resume

Once you have established what the employer is looking for, the next step is to match your skills, motivations, and experiences to that. Furnish the top third of your résumé with the must-have skills using the keywords mined from the job description.

Articulate yourself clearly and concisely to help the employer to quickly find these skills when scanning through your résumé. Moreover, draw attention to your most important skills by adding details and numbers. Being specific shows that you are confident about what you are saying. Numbers stand out from there rest of the content and thus draw attention.

Next, include the skills and experiences that you can translate from your previous jobs. Though these are not critical, they are nice to have skills. Finally, include the adaptive skills which match your personal attributes to the organization culture. These can include eloquent, hardworking among others.

The Wrap Up

These resume writing tips are meant to fuel your career to the next level by helping you to write a winning resume. This can only be achieved by matching your skills and experiences to the job description. Truth be told, this needs a bit of practice. Fortunately, you do not have to sweat it. How about you seek help from my tried and tested professional resume writing services Now!