7 Quality Questions for Rockin Resume Results

7 Quality Questions for Rockin Resume Results Take this job LOVE it by BluLima As ironic as it sounds, the day before I published my newsletter with the article Jobs Suck (about how I hate career coaches who exist to “find you your next job” (job should be a 4-letter word!) or “fix your resume” (eye roll)) , I found myself spending two hours cleaning up on of my favorite clients you guessed it resume. Suzy (not her real name â€" confidentiality, people!) spent 11 sessions working with me to figure out what she wanted to be when she grew up. It was drilled into her from a young age that everyone has just one path, while she had a million hobbies passions she was never able to commit to That One Thing she was “supposed” to be doing with her life. In working with me, Suzy realized that she can make a career being a Jackie of All Trades, wanted to promote herself as a Girl Friday (adorable, right?!). She was so excited to get started, but she was stuck on just one lil’ thing (say it with me): her resume! When it arrived in my Inbox, I was floored by the sheer boring/averageness of it. Where was the vivacious, funny, spunky, hard-working, intelligent, sweet, do-anything woman that I’ve been working with for 3 months?! Here she was telling me how she got promoted to manager of a bakery partly because she learned the name orders of every regular (along with their jobs, the names of their family members pets, their allergies!), while her resume said, “Maintained customer relationships Prepared daily menus.” WHAT?! I gave her The Business (but in a mostly nice, life coachy way) and forged ahead to work with her on having her resume reflect her awesome self by having her ask these questions: Does my resume showcase my skills accomplishments? Does my resume highlight what Im especially gifted or experienced at doing? Do I have enough measurable information on my resume (ie Increased bakery sales by 20% as Retail Manager or Managed a team of 25 full part-time employees)? Does my resume make me stand out from the crowd? Does my resume sell me? Does my resume have enough key words to enable it to get picked up by a search engine? If not, how many of these power words can I throw in there? If youre having a super tough time finding the answers to these questions, then ask just one all-consuming question: If I was hiring for this position, would I pick up the phone and call me? Why or why not? Think of your tasks accomplishments in a measurable way, along with the skills you used to make it happen. If its totally unrelated to the career youre applying for, just tweak it to make sure it highlights your abilities. For example, when I decided to apply for a job as an executive assistant, I didnt remove the 2 years I spent as a successful real estate agent, as I knew it was impressive for future employers to see that I Received the Top Agent Award in an office of 30 for a total of 6 months, which led to collecting the highest commission split in the companys history. That brief bulletpoint showed that Im a driven, self-motivating, hard-working people-person, which are great attributes for almost any position! If its the design of the resume youre stuck on, you can pick up (free!) templates on Google Docs Microsoft Office with a kajillion options to choose from. If its the wording youre worried about, these Resume Samples give you a ton of examples to pull from. If youre stressed about what you have to include on your resume (chronological order? objectives? skills?), just think of what will best sell you to your potentail employer or clients, include that. The rest can be tossed. Really. As someone who secured 5 different jobs (3 sales, 1 customer service, 1 exec asst) in less than 3 years, I know how to put my best foot forward, am passionate about making sure my kick-ass clients show their prospective employers their best foot, too. So…is there a footprint on your resume, my kick-ass reader? This article originally appeared in the 7th edition of my newsletter. You can read all of my past newsletters here. The next onell be out this coming Monday, so if you wanna get it along with some delicious discounts, freakin freebies, promotable promotions love in your Inbox, subscribe here!