During an interview for my first post-college job, the recruiter asked me, “If you were to write an advertisement about why someone should hire you, what would it say?”  I thought this was an odd question, and I think I rattled off something about being hard working, creative, blah, blah, blah.  I suppose the idea of writing an advertisements about me just a seemed a little foreign.  Who does that?

Flash forward several years.  One of my responsibilities these days is advising jobseekers on how they should present their expertise and experience via a resume … and one big theme I always find is that most jobseekers don’t realize that their resume is an advertisement, just like that silly ad I made up in my head for the recruiter.  In school, we are trained to write a resume that covers major highlights like education and work experience.  And truly, most resumes I read are just that … lists upon lists of work responsibilities, training, extra curricular activities, etc.  Most students and professionals (and I was one of them) view their resume as a document where you capture as much of your history as possible. 

Instead, a resumes is a place where you should highlight your most relevant history, and while you want to be truthful, you should always approach it as advertisement to the employer.  This is your chance to sell; don’t make the employer read between the lines. 

Here’s what I suggest doing to infuse relevancy into your resume: 

Determine a general career plan and start with a general resume.   Ok, so you are software engineer and you want to stay a software engineer?  Great.  That’s your first hook:  show the employer why you have been and continue to be a great software engineer.  If details you might normally include – like specific job responsibilities or past training – don’t show a direct correlation between you and a software engineering job, consider if they even need to be on your resume.  In most cases, they probably don’t, but at the very least, you can move them near the end.

Pinpoint specific jobs, companies, or industries.  Beyond your general career plan, do you have specific goals?  Maybe you want to work on web technologies.  Or maybe you want to work in the healthcare industry.  Or work as a developer but definitely not a tester.  Or  work for a specific company.  Comb through your resume once more to make sure you are highlighting the most appropriate experiences.  At this stage, you (hopefully) have more than one employer or job in mind so it’s ok to have a few customized versions of your general resume.

Include a clear WIIFM (what’s-in-it-for-me?) for employers.  A summary statement at the top of your resume which states why you are qualified for the role is a great place to start.  This is, in essence, your 3 sentence advertisement and should prove a direct correlation between your experience and skills and the advertised job.  A summary statement is the "new" objective statment. :)

Call out your accomplishments, not just your responsibilities.  This sounds self explanatory but there’s a fine line between describing what you did and describing why what you did was important.  If it wasn’t important and just a task you did as part of your daily job (administrative work, for example), consider if you should include it.  And if it was important, be sure to include as many details as possible.  The reader will want to understand your specific role, the scope of the work, and the result.

And with a targeted and relevant resume, the next time a recruiter asks, "If you were to write an advertisement about why someone should hire you, what would it say?”, you'll know exactly how to respond. ;-)

gretchen