Career Opportunities, Career Information, Career Success, Career Guidance

As a recruiter, I've seen thousands of resumes ranging from veryqualified and capable candidates all over the nation. These candidatesspan from every industry and from administrative professionals to Clevel corporate executives. Each time I review a resume, I would reviewit under the eyes of the hiring manager. Through their eyes, I tried toget a sense of who the candidate is and how they are wired. The goal isto see if the candidate (communicated through a resume) capabilitieswill drive a degree of success in a particular capacity. Research hasshown that a typical hiring manager or recruiter will only look at aresume for approximately 15 seconds so bearing that in mind, I performthis resume critique under three basic guidelines. If you want to benoticed and receive the proper consideration, following thesesuggestions will help improve your chances of landing an interview.

Building Your Brand
This is your professional identity and perhaps the most importantelement that most resumes fail to develop. You can establishing your brand and increase your marketing collateral by ensuring that yourresume is concise, clearly identifying your professional traits anddemonstrate how you will fit into the position and the company corporateculture, captivating, grammatically perfect and of course free ofspelling error. It needs to flow, easy to read and pact with rich content organized in a format which screams "HIRE ME!” Succeed here and your resume will be pushed forward in the process. Fail here and your resume will be filed away.

Differentiate Yourself
Whatever you do, do not copy someone else's objective statements. Write them yourself or with the help of an expert. The more unique your profile is, the higher the chances of a full review on your resume. An effective profile should be brief and encapsulate your background while highlighting your capabilities and accomplishments. Always tailor your profile to fit the position so do not use the same profile for every submitted resume.

Value
How will you add value to the position? This is the first question hiring managers or recruiters look for in a candidate. After all, that's why they are hiring in the first place. You can demonstrate your value buy quantifying results. Describe how you helped a company increased revenue, lowered cost and increase productivity. Don't be afraid to use numbers even if they are not exact.

Conclusion
Maximizing your brand will help identify and articulate your professional skills to the decision makers the immediate value and benefit that you bring to the company. This is your chance for good first impression and believe me, first impressions are everything during your job search campaign. Differentiate yourself will give you a competitive advantage so revise your profile to create a powerful effective 15 second pitch. Finally, quantify your success and show decision makers how you can contribute to the company’s bottom-line. If you take the initiative to embrace these three essential elements in defining your resume, you will recognize greater results in your search efforts.

Have an expert put together an organized, engaging and compelling cover letter that's poised for high impact. An expert can tailor our message, convincing the reader to proceed to review your resume. Sadly, first impressions count so unless you have an effective cover letter, no matter how stunning your resume is, it will not be considered. Work one-on-one with an expert to determine the approach that will get you the interview. An expert can help you identify your uniqueness, uncover your qualities and build your brand.

Resumes are often difficult for people to write. Attempting to list your experience, qualifications and educational background all condensed into a single page can seem almost impossible. With such limited space it is important that each point listed on your resume lets your potential employer know exactly why they should consider you for the position. To achieve this, certain resume power words should be used.

A power word is a term given to a verb that has been shown to give a positive effect when included on your resume. Many employers will receive dozens, sometimes hundreds of applications for any advertised position. In such cases most resumes received will be quickly scanned in order to create a short list for further consideration. You will want your resume to stand out by using strong, action oriented words and phrases that will catch any employers attention.

When writing your resume it is recommended to list your details in bullet or point form with each statement beginning with a resume power word. This shows you to be an action oriented person who can communicate clearly and effectively.

Below is an alphabetical listing of some resume power words you should try to include in your application.

- accomplished, achieved, advised, acquired, analyzed, augmented, administered.
- briefed, broadened, brought, built.
- communicated, compiled, completed, conceived, conducted, conceptualized, consolidated, constructed, contracted, converted, coordinated, corrected, created.
- defined, delegated, delivered, designed, developed, devised, diagnosed, directed, drafted.
- effected, eliminated, endorsed, enlisted, established, evaluated, executed, expanded, expedited, explored, extended.
- focused, formulated, founded.
- generated, graded, guided.
- handled, helped.
- identified, implemented, incorporated, indexed, initiated, innovated, installed, instituted, insured, interpreted, invented, invested, issued.
- learned, leased, led, listed logged.
- maintained, managed, measured, mediated, monitored, motivated.
- navigated, negotiated.
- observed, operated, ordered, oversaw.
- performed, persuaded, presented, procured, programmed, promoted, proposed, published, pursued.
- qualified, questioned.
- raised, rated, recommended, reconciled, recruited, redesigned, regulated, reported, represented, researched, resolved, restored, reviewed, revised.
- scheduled, serviced, shaped, simplified, sorted, staffed, started, streamlined, strengthened, structured, submitted, succeeded, suggested, summarized, supervised.
- tackled, targeted, taught, tested, tracked, trained, transformed, tutored.
- uncovered, understood, unified, updated, upgraded, utilized.
- verbalized, verified, visited.
- waged weighed widened won worked wrote.

It should be noted that you should not repeat the same power word or phrase over and over again within your resume. Also, you will need to choose your words and phrases carefully so that they accurately convey your key skills and qualities.