By
Michelle Roberts
Working Mother Magazine
February 2008
Excerpt from full article:
Write a killer resume
A resume has one function: to land you an interview. And experts
agree that the way to wow potential employers is to be sure
you have the basics covered.
Make your resume easy to read: a vertical
format, not too much bold or underlining, plenty of white
space.
Keep it specific to the industry and don't
include a lot of extraneous information.
Answer the three most important questions
employers have: Can you either make or save them money? Are
you innovative? Do you have the skills necessary to do the
job?
The secret to a great resume, says Kathy
Sweeney, president of The Write Resume, a Phoenix-area resume
writing and career consulting firm, is to think of it as product
packaging or a 30-second commercial about you.
Be sure the "profile" section at the top
of your resume details your core competencies. For instance,
an accountant might have the words "accounts payable, accounts
receivable, general ledger and financial statements" in her
profile.
Recruiters want to see a good mix of duties
and accomplishments. Illustrate where you have increased revenue
or decreased costs. It's best to use numbers, whether it's
dollar figures or percentages.
Instead of writing "responsible for" and
then listing what you did in a certain position, quantify
your employment history in ways that focus not only on what
you did, but how well you did it.
For example, instead of "Responsible for
managing marketing," say, "Launched a marketing initiative
that resulted in a 40 percent increase in sales and improved
customer services."
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