Finding it hard to get a foot in the door?  If you are starting to feel that you are sending your resume into a bottomless and very silent cyberspace, perhaps it is time to conduct this five point check-up and determine if it needs a tune-up or a complete overhaul.

1.  Opening Statement

Does your resume open with a long paragraph titled, “Summary of Qualifications”?  Long laundry lists of skills and assorted keywords with two of the biggest offenders being “Results-Driven” and “Proven Track Record” don’t achieve the results you are looking for.  Don’t bore your reader by emphasising keywords and hackneyed clichés. Employers want to know how you can solve their problem right now.  Don’t annoy them by failing to answer this urgent question.

A simple, concise opening statement of one sentence will be your Unique Selling Proposition.  It should define who you are, your single biggest strength and end with a benefit that you offer. Ideally it should be something measurable, since everything boils down to dollars.  This cuts through the fluff and quickly answers that critical question in their mind.

2.  Measurable Results

Now you have an opening statement, you must back that up with added proof.  Don’t rely on tired clichés.  You need a bulleted list of specific achievements.

Achievements are an end result that reaped some benefit for either your employer or the client/clients you’ve worked for.

This may require that you think outside the square.  Regardless of your role, you will have had a bottom line impact. Your job is to communicate your true value clearly and specifically to your next employer.  Your bullets are a one-sentence brief description of the benefit or result and how you accomplished it. 

If you can put together a concise list of five to seven good achievements that are Return-on-Investment (ROI)-oriented, your resume will start to get noticed. 

3.  One Job Title, One Resume

Resume readers are focused on specific items.  If you are responding for a position as a project manager, tell them why you are a great project manager. That’s all they want to know. Don’t tell them about how you used to work as a carpenter or how you managed and ran your own consulting business. They don’t want or need to know about your other unrelated careers or positions.

Use one resume to sell one job title. If the resume doesn’t clearly explain why you’re the best project manager in town, then either drop the information or minimise it because it doesn’t belong there.  Promote one career on one resume and you will have less chance of getting screened out. 

If your career has spanned some decades, you don’t need to go back your first role/s.  By all means list the title/s but leave out the details.  If a prospective employer is interested, it will come up at interview.

4.  “Above the Fold”

Place all of your most important selling information at the top half of page one. Most resume readers spend about 20 seconds of actual eyeball time before they decide to move to the next resume. They are not going to waste their time looking through your resume to find critical information, such as how you “increased revenues $350K”, or you “decreased labor costs by 12%”. This information should be glaringly obvious and presented on a silver platter at the very top of the first page.

5.  Professional means professional

The layout and language of your resume needs to be first class.  Yes, it can reflect your personal style but please, no photographs.  Use spell check and make sure page alignment is consistent.