A resume basically is a piece of paper that sums up all of your work experiences, professional knowledge, achievements, awards, recognition and educational back story. Think of it like a permanent record that you actually get to see and can alter as you see fit. Having a good resume can really score a job for you. It’s like having that one golden pickup line that works every time, all the time. Still, people’s professional history is pretty broad. There are a lot of bases to cover and that can actually be hurting your job chances rather than hurting.

If you’re just coming out of college, fresh faced and free of work history, this may not be totally relevant to you. But for college grads with multiple internships and prior jobs, especially grads who are a bit more seasoned by the time they graduate, need to pay attention. It is quite likely that your resume is too generic. What do I mean by having a resume that is too generic? It’s not boring. It’s not messy or ugly. It’s just unfocused. You need to be like a laser beam when you starting making up your resume.

Most job seekers create one master resume and then drop copies of this document all over town. It makes sense on the surface. You want to serve up a slice of you and a big resume with your whole history on it seems like a good way to show that you’re no slouch. However, companies need to find the best fit for them. That means they want employees who have a specific skill set and background in the field they’re applying to. Sure your resume may indicate that you have experience working in finance, but if you also have heavy doses of occupation X and Y then it’s showing that your career is as unfocused as your resume.

It’s unfair to say that your burgeoning career is unfocused, especially coming out of college and trying to gain some traction, but that’s what a lot of employers will come to the conclusion of. For many, if your resume isn’t a straight line from birth to this position then you immediately blend in with the faceless mass of other job seekers.

So, how do you rectify this problem? Cherry pick information to put on your resume. Don’t just rely on one master resume. For each job you apply to you should craft a resume that is unique to that position. Just tweak what info you highlight and what stuff you ditch. Doing so can go a long way to helping you nab the attention of employers. A unique cover letter is a perfect way to augment a resume in this situation. A cover letter is really just a more detailed resume made up of sentences rather than bullet points. Hone your resume to get the attention of the bosses.

Need more help with honing your resume and overcome being generic? Leave a comment below.

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A lot of first time job seekers have this preoccupation with putting down their free time activities on their resumes. It’s a common mistake. After all, a resume if supposed to be a one or two page piece of paper that sums up what you have to offer. Why wouldn’t your interests and activities be included?

For starters, putting down your leisure activities and interests is a waste of time for employers. To be honest, they couldn’t really care if you like to go kayaking or play baseball. It doesn’t translate to a professional setting. It’s like being in class who bring all sorts of out of context tidbits and activities that have no bearing on the class. We just want to know your name and major, not that you like to crochet or listen to country music. That isn’t going to make the grade.

Furthermore, depending on what activities you put on a resume, you can be sending a bad message to a possible employer. For instance, if you like to skydive, bungee jump or white water raft, a potential boss is going to look at you as a liability. You’re risk of dying is way up there compared to people with more subdued activities like knitting or staying alive. You’ve heard that companies were cracking down on employee health care for workers who smoked or were obese? Saying you like dangerous hobbies is one more reason to not cover you underneath some workplace insurance program.

Having your activities, beyond making it seem that you get off on almost killing yourself, can also make it seem that you value your free time in excess. It’s a given that leisure time is fun time and that working can be a drag. However, employers don’t want to hear it. They want to know what you can bring professionally, not personally. You may be adventurous and energetic but an employer wants to know that you’ll bring that to the workplace instead of being a weekend warrior. Listing you personal interest and activities can send the signal that you might be taking a lot of days off to pursue your hobbies.

So, what do you put under the personal interests section of your resume? Nothing. Get rid of it. It’s filler, nothing more. Ditch it right away during the revision process of fining tuning your CV. It is tempting to include this section because it gives your resume some bulk that compensates for lacking work experience. This is especially a concern for college graduates who likely have only one or two prior jobs that can be billed as substantive.

Go more into depth about your work experience and college career. Provide more instances of academic experience and what functions you performed at your old jobs. This will allow employers to get a better sense of your professional side rather than your personal side. Save all of your gushing about the rush of base jumping until after you’re hired.

Sound good to you? Leave a comment below if you need some more help on what to include on your resume.

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As you have probably figured out, getting your resume out there is not enough.  Job competition has gotten fierce, and you want to master good resume writing that can get yours to the top of the stack and keep it there.  Here are 3 simple tricks for doing just that:

1.  Do Some Research

While research is important for when you talk to the employer in an actual interview so that you can show you have prepared, it is also crucial in order to find out what buttons to push both in the job resume and in the interview should you get that far.  Zero in on what the employer needs by reviewing position postings in local newspapers or online.  Realize that postings on different platforms may have varying amounts of information, and you can dig up some real nuggets by doing some searching around.

Networking with people who know about the company or the industry can also do wonders, or you can speak with people who currently work at the company without revealing that you are applying for a position, or at least without revealing exactly who you are.  You can also get informative interviews ahead of time or just do good old fashioned research about the company and industry in general, this will actually lead you to good resume writing.

2.  Strategically Position Your Information

Good resume writing is laid out with the realization in mind that no one is going to pick up your resume intending to read it from start to finish.  Not at all.  Experts have shown that screeners and hiring managers scan the resumes instead, looking mostly for disqualifiers but also for stuff that jumps out at them.

You can minimize the risk of obvious disqualifiers by paying attention to the details, but you can also maximize the chance of them catching goodies by placing them all in the top third of your resume document.  Good organization and use of bullet points and headings can also make your selling points jump off the paper.

3.  Don’t Hide Behind Your Resume

Never forget that the resume is not playing a supporting role in your hunt for that dream career; it is not the star of the job search show.  Some people mistakenly think of the job process as a numbers game, convinced that if they send out enough resumes a job will materialize from their efforts.

The truth is that the resume is one small part, and you must combine good resume writing with good networking skills.  It’s appropriate to email a resume or post it on a website for a company that takes online posting, but if you don’t back up these moves with some extreme networking tactics, you are going to keep rolling and rolling the dice with no guarantee anything will ever land in your favor.

It is humans that make hiring decisions.  Get face to face with them, show them you are human as well, and communicate how your skills can add great value to their company through good resume writing.

Any other good ideas on standing out in this job climate or about good resume writing skills that can help you showcase your strengths in a subtle yet powerful way?  Post a comment and fill us in.

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