professional resume writing experts

professional resume writing experts

The Art and Science of Professional Resume Writing: Strategies and Techniques for Success

1. Introduction to the Importance of a Well-Written Resume

Given today’s current extremely competitive job market, to the contrary, a job seeker needs an impressive resume written by an attorney who can help “craft” their persuasive position. Since this is the heart of the matter, we shall be discussing the art and science of producing a competitive resume. The definition and strategy for a factual, accurate, persuasive resume is not the special, secret knowledge retained by attorneys, resume writers, or members of the HR team. However, with detailed resume strategies and proven, recorded results, the resume creation “presentation resume” is strengthened and many of the pitfalls encountered using non-“presentation” format are avoided. Add to that the key “lingo” HR managers desire and require, as well as a superior presentation format, and you further enhance persuasive power.

For business professionals, the most powerful weapon in an attorney’s arsenal is not their fact-finding ability, oral advocate skills, personal charisma, or ability to negotiate a win-win solution. A business professional’s most persuasive power is their resume. It is not possible to gain a position – by any means – without sharing evidence of one’s most powerful weapon. Given the mass of applicants, it is essential your resume distinguishes your proven skills, experience, competencies, and accomplishments – that is, a resume’s content – that will demonstrate qualifications far exceeding the minimum task requirements. Persistence, confidence in one’s ability, and an interview-winning resume will convince a potential employer because the interviewer’s opinions will be framed by the content of the resume. Knowing you will be successful is simply addressing only the fact that successful people possess compelling, persuasive, powerful resumes that are professionally prepared.

2. Understanding the Key Components of an Effective Resume

Numerous components that are considered when writing a resume can be categorized into different headings that will produce an effective document. To begin, a resume must include necessary components such as contact information, a summary, and education. Following these obvious items are ones an employer looks for but may not be specifically mentioned in a job description. Then, the writer needs to think about what they want the employer to consider on their behalf and include when writing the resume. This may include objective, generalized job history (a profile that is general and reflects all jobs performed), awards, threats, assumptions, restrictions, foci, and opportunities, or specific job history and specialized training.

An effective resume requires the integration of content, format, and most importantly, an understanding of how an employer will use the resume. As an applicant tracking system (ATS) may initially evaluate the resume before an actual person sees it, composing the resume with ATS in mind not only may determine whether it gets seen by an employer but is also key to getting the interview.

3. Crafting a Strong Professional Summary and Objective Statement

The professional summary is a concise statement between three and five lines pithy and punchy that immediately spells out the kind of job desired, major skills, and credentials. Sometimes the information contained can lead to a specific position or industry. It might contain specialties, competencies, core skills, even an inherent or untapped personality trait. Whether a candidate has twenty years of experience in strategic and tactical marketing or a new graduate with a degree focusing on research and analytics, she tells me everything she needs to put into the client candidate headline. In the professional summary, the age of indicators is debatable, although it is not recommended to include age, sex, race, religious beliefs, ethnicity, weight, height, marital status, children, socioeconomic standing, or health. The candidate emphasizes her unique skill set in the professional summary and then details general or unique experiences in the body. A related memorable quote circling the human resource departments is that description is selling and a resume is a sales tool.

As pointed out previously, the professional summary and objective statement are important components of a resume because they are the attention-getters that impart the who, what, why, and how of the candidate in one to three power-packed sentences. Think of the professional summary and the objective as a branding tool, the identifier that sets the candidate’s resume apart and hopefully leads to an interview. The professional summary and objective statement should answer the question: What can you offer and what do you want? Why a resume either should be considered further or filed for future needs. The professional summary may include core competencies, business strengths, specialty, relevance to a particular position, personality type, or anything that sets the candidate apart and screams “The one to interview.” The objective statement immediately follows the professional summary. This statement defines job targets, summarizing skills and goals, and the root of a candidate’s motivation.

4. Highlighting Skills and Accomplishments with Impactful Language

In addition to being clear and precise in their use of language, a successful professional resume writer would write creatively and humanize the candidate. In many cases, an employer can get an idea of a candidate’s skills and responsibilities from the job title and employer list alone. Their resume is a reflection of their unique experiences. Throughout the resume, the use of powerful verbs, including those listed as a genre-lesson activity, create a strong first impression, but make sure that the verbs utilized are the most effective choice. The accomplished professional resume writer effectively uses the resume as a marketing tool for their client. One of the most critical aspects of determining the resume’s marketing value is the use of accomplishment statements. Companies are interested in employees who can solve their problems. Accomplishment statements provide tangible evidence that the candidate can fulfill that need. Accomplishment statements need to communicate a skill, a task, and the benefit derived from the applicant performing that task.

Given that the resume is a written medium that allows only a few pages of key information to represent an entire career, the words that fill that paper need to be carefully chosen. When it comes to resume writing, every word counts. Whether it is the action verb selected or the preposition used to tie a phrase together, the message conveyed needs to be clear and on target. The resume not only needs to communicate facts and information in order to convey abstracts and ideals, it needs to move people to action. Remember the resume’s ultimate goal is not just to inform; it is to generate interest in the reader’s mind, leading to an interview.

5. Formatting and Design Tips to Enhance Visual Appeal

Use bullet items with bullet faces or dingbats. Asterisks (*) are much too common. Additionally, limit bullet items to a line or two, and try not to punctuate individual items unless absolutely necessary. Do not use bullet faces with the “indent” light on if it makes the indentation uneven. The shorter the bullet item, the less indent there should be. The first line of the bullet in a resume should barely align with the first line of the text in the previous section. Group bullet items wherever applicable. Use the paragraph style rather than the header style to format bullets. Make sure that the bullet faces meet the other text exactly, and capitalize the beginnings and use periods at the ends.

Use 2-3 line spaces to separate sections. To save space, use .5 to .75 inch margins, depending on the length of the document. Decrease vertical or horizontal spacing between bullet items, text, and section titles by .05 to .15 inch. Your resume should have consistent spacing and margins all around (top, bottom, left, and right).

Use serif fonts such as New Century Schoolbook, Book Antiqua, and Garamond. The most versatile is Georgia. In 12- to 14-point, it is very readable on the web, in printed or e-mailed documents, and at different scanning or printing resolutions. Use sans-serif fonts such as Arial and Verdana for titles.

Enhance the design.