The Resume
Many clients forward me their resume in frustration that they are unable to procure an interview, much less a job offer. One of the reasons for this is an improperly written resume. A huge mistake that I find in most resumes is a summary of qualifications. A summary of qualifications weakens a resume as often this list is the opinion of the job seeker. For example, a summary statement may be: Hard working, dedicated professional. While this might be true, their is no evidence to back up the statement. Rather than offer this opinion, I suggest clients’ tie summary statements to a specific job and list an outcome if possible. Using this example, a bullet point pursuant to professionalism and dedication may look like this: Sold dental equipment exceeding sales quota by 10%. Notice the statement is specific and tied to an outcome. Now it needs to be placed as a bullet point under a job that the client has held or currently holds. With this specific, outcome driven statement, the employer now has a great deal of information about what the applicant can do for them; the bullet point proves that the client is a hard working, dedicated professional rather than offering just an opinion.