Part III: Resume Makeovers; I Should Hire You?

It's time for Part III of resume make-overs. Hope you enjoyed reading the other two parts and began to redo your resume. That's what this is all about.

By this time you should have created two or three short phrases about yourself that carry impact, the best of you, and put them at the top of your resume underneath your focus. Old and outdated resumes usually have an Objective Statement next, but you won't. Objective statements are not used anymore, employers hate them! Instead (because this is not your father's resume), create a Career Summary, Career Profile, or Career Strengths section instead. Separate the sections of your resume with a borderline. There are different styles of borderlines you can use, don't just use the one that appears on the list first under "format borders and shading", scroll down the list and choose one that carries impact. When you look at resumes that are created by Certified Professional Resume Writers (CPRW), you will see they use borderlines very creatively allowing your resume to stand out more and draw the reader's attention. That's the effect you want.

When writing your Career Summary you want to talk a little about your character, your experience and expertise, followed by what you can do for the company. Talk about how you can make things better, the problems you can solve, or how you can make the more money. That's the stuff they want to see.

Here's an example:

Dynamic top-performing sales professional with more than 17 years of experience working in a highly competitive, aggressive sales and service environment, growing annual revenues consistently and providing outstanding customer service that exceeds company and customer expectations.

Make sure you read and fully understand the job description. You want to make sure the important key words are there and you are addressing what the company is looking for. So this statement can change depending on the job you are applying for. Don't just put together a bunch of words with catchy phrases, that's a big turn-off and comes off being phony. Employers can see through that. The statement has to be real. Your personality has to shine through. You need to sound like a real person, not a bigger than life person. Old resumes were written that way. And, whatever you say, has to be backed up in your work history. For example; if you say you are a top-performing sales professional, then your work history should have examples of that. Likewise, if you're going to say you have 17 years of experience, then those 17 years need to be in your work history. If you put 10 years of experience on your work history (I know we're being conscious of age discrimination), then just add a category listing additional skills or experience to cover yourself, making your resume complete.

Now, it's your turn. Create your Career Summary with some punch to it. Action verbs are the key. Use those actions verbs that carry more impact. Use a thesaurus it's very helpful. Instead of saying "great", you can say "top performing" (especially in sales). Instead of saying "excellent" you can say "polished". Remember you want your resume to look and sound different!