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.