The sport of writing your resume where the job description left off
For me, writing a resume is a kind of sport. I’ve taken my friends’ resumes and tweaked them just for the pain of having their email inboxes flooded in a few hours.
There are a few reasons why writing a resume can be tricky and the first is that not many employers have the time to write a four page job description.
Because writing a job description is such a tedious task, many employers don’t have the time or patience to spend 16 hours writing down and/or remembering every important detail that pertains to the job position they are responsible for filling.
This is why a simple “cut and paste” from job description to resume is often unsuccessful.
Doing the best they can, resume writers are often forced to read between the lines and infer the most significant points to transfer from the job description to their resumes (and cover letters). Sometimes these points are not written at all.
For example:
If the employer says they need someone well-dressed near the top, it probably means the last incumbent was a bum or the clientele is intellectual. Put a photo on your resume.
Also, use your knowledge and common sense to decipher the daily activities that are likely to be of the utmost urgency (not always important) to the hiring party and place these additional bullet points throughout your unpretentious resume.
In most cases, use the buzzwords or industry terms that correspond to those tasks.
Finally, they need to know how to verbalize on a piece of paper that someone will probably look at it for 30 seconds before determining whether it warrants a full minute of review.
All this is a daunting task, but doable. To get you started, I’ve included mock resume objectives and resume tips for sales/sales management, marketing, and recent college grads looking for jobs.
All of these stem from self-taught business knowledge and writing skills that I wasn’t taught in college.
Sales target example:
Leverage my business knowledge, sales acumen, and marketing skills to align with a progressive, growing company that rewards results, team effort, and forward-thinking…
To write a good sales transition or sales management resume, you need to think like the employer or hiring manager. Remember that both think differently and have different personal and professional objectives that will be the engine of a final decision.
When transitioning into a sales management role for the first time, remember that you are a risk factor and I personally would spend more time in smaller, more entrepreneurial companies that are more prone to risk taking.
Contrary to the practice of many, it is sometimes good to acknowledge this commitment on your resume and encourage the entrepreneur or progressive thinker.
Remember that you are a sales professional. Focus on how you can make them money; no more no less.
Sample Recent Graduate Resume Objective:
After spending four years studying x, y, and z, I feel like I can greatly contribute to an employer’s bottom line…
tips
Just as there are apprenticeships/internships in law, accounting, and medicine, newcomers to sales and marketing have to pay their fair share. When it comes to writing a resume or cover letter, the young job seeker should have 2 different versions: corporate and business.
Larger companies are going to look for stability, while smaller companies, regardless of influence or marketing, are more willing to accept someone with no internship experience. It doesn’t make one better than the other; it just makes knowing that difference a part of your job search.
Remember that as a recent college grad, your only existence is to do the tasks that employees who are “recent college grad +1 year” do. worked hard enough not to have to. Proving yourself is a marathon; Any employer that says it’s an absolute sprint has inaccurate information.
Sample Resume Objective – Marketing Careers:
After a four-year tenure at x corp., I began to transition to the more analytical side of marketing and want to…
Resume and Cover Letter Marketing Tips:
The main reason many marketing job seekers, especially entry- to mid-level ones, miss the initial “resume scan cut” when looking for a marketing position is that they focus on the knowledge employers assume. they want, and it turns out that you guessed wrong.
From countless interactions with younger job seekers looking to get into marketing, I have noticed that most have all the relevant skills and knowledge. However, for a reason I can’t understand, many colleges, writers, coaches, friends, and colleagues tell many to focus on other, far too creative, and less lucrative skills.
The last bit of advice I can give potential job seekers who want to work in marketing is to focus on both the analytical side of the employer’s needs and the creative aspects listed in the job description.
Whether you’re writing a sales, sales management, recent college grad, or marketing resume, writing a resume is all about telling the employer exactly what they want to hear. Whoever gets them the most excited before the initial interview will usually be the winner.
Like anything else, luck often plays a role in whether the employer picks up the phone to call you after you submit your CV, although it’s not a big factor.
“For me, losing a tennis match is not a failure, it’s an investigation.”
billy jean king
As the tennis champ says, writing a resume is simply a test and the right adjustments after each perceived mistake.
