Resume Writing depends on selling yourself to the market - but the first market to understand is yourself. Are you prepared?
In keeping within the topic of Resume Writing - Section by Section, it is important to realize and remember your Resume is the back up of your Cover Letter, and must contain your skills in a manner that is appealing to the potential employer. In other words, you are selling yourself on the market to the end user. How well you can do that depends on understanding your skill set in terms of worth to the buyer - the potential employer; and this of course will depend on how well you really understand what skills you possess.
Yep, now comes the soul searching. Get the paper and pen, and be prepared to commit to an honest evaluation of your skills. Sometimes painful, this process will enable you to actually understand what skills you have and how you can effectively market those skills to their full potential.
Start with the so-called easy ones - what have you learned from any job/what did you DO at any job? Stock shelves of the canned goods section? Searched for the "right" actor for that upcoming film? Sourced for parts for the next NASA launch? WHERE you were does not matter as much as WHAT you did - and ALL of what you did matters - whether it was a simple clerical or manual labour task, or as complex as the creation of engineering plans. Don't be afraid to put it down - you can always decide not to use an item (but really it should be in your skill set - if you did it, it DOES mean something) - but you can't do that unless it's on that list to start with!
Now, think about your other skills - and yes you DO have them! What have you learned in that job called LIFE? Do you prefer to take the lead - why do you feel that way (examples). Tell ne (the paper) what you are proud of in all your accomplishments. Kids now off to College - that IS a major achievement. Renovated the house and it's now how you wanted it in the first place? That's also another triumph.
But don't forget your SOFT SKILLS - those skills shown by your attitude. Do you have a way with people - able to calm down the angry person, or at least not get into a shouting match? Do you handle pressure well - in fact, do you thrive on it? Prefer known deadlines and work better that way? Love to organize those office picnics? Get these skills down.
The idea here is two-fold - for your paper documents as well as your personal meetings: Create a sheet of your Skills - be it in short form or paragraph format - whatever suits YOU. From this sheet you can create a skill set on your Resume; help pull out information for your Cover Letter; and use it as an aid to your self esteem and proven accomplishments for an interview. Yes - you can even give a copy to those present at an interview!
This Skill Set or Skill Sheet proves you know what you are worth, what your accomplishments are, and that you are prepared.
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Copyright April 11, 2007. Paym Bergson and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use of this material will constitute an infringement of copyright.
