Resume Evaluation: Appearance and Presentation

This is one of series of articles being written by Alpha Dog Resumes.com explaining how the online resume writing service evaluates the thousands of resumes that are sent to it each year.

One of the ten criteria that is reviewed is Appearance and Presentation.  The resume is given a score of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest score.

A score of 3 or lower indicates that your resume needs an appearance change.  Overall appearance and presentation are crucial in a resume that is fortunate enough to actually get reviewed by a real person.  The design must be clean and simple, with visual clues directing the reader to key elements of your skills and background.  Margins, fonts, headings, and a myriad of other design elements should work together to do one thing:  Sell You!

For example, is it useful to have a section entitled “Skills” at the top of resume for a CEO candidate?  Or should that heading be “Qualifications”?  Or should there be such a section but with no heading?  Or should there be no such section at all?  It makes a real difference depending on your target job and industry.

Also, did you know that many employers now use resume management software that will not detect key information included in certain portions of your resume?  If the computer cannot read it, that information might as well be invisible.

Resume Evaluation: Emphasis on Accomplishments

This is one of series of articles being written by Alpha Dog Resumes.com explaining how the online resume writing service evaluates the thousands of resumes that are sent to it each year.

One of the ten criteria that is reviewed is Emphasis on Accomplishments.  The resume is given a score of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest score.

A score of 3 or lower indicates that, while your resume may list your past job responsibilities in great detail, your current resume does not sufficiently market your accomplishments - in other words, the ways that you made or saved money for your previous employers.  Accomplishments are difficult to write.  They require the proper action verbs and, wherever possible, quantification.

For example, a properly phrased accomplishment would be “Increased market share by 25% as a result of focusing on transit finance opportunities in excess of $100 million each.”  A bad example would be “Marketed transit agencies for new deal opportunities.”

Our Background Analyzer helps you dig deeply into your professional background to allow us to work together to sell your valuable accomplishments.  Accomplishments set you apart from the hundreds of other applicants.

I Have a Job…Why Do I Need an Up-to-date Resume?

Okay, so maybe you’re earning decent money right now at a stable company; and from your current perspective, you think that you have little use for a resume at the moment.   In reality, now is the exact time that you should be updating your resume for several reasons.

Many people are unprepared for a job search when they lose their jobs unexpectedly…and just as importantly, many people are not ready with a great resume when a new job opportunity is presented to them while they are in their current jobs.  If you were fired today or if someone offered you a great chance at a new job, would you be ready with a current resume?

Updating your resume now is easier than when you are under intense time pressures.  You now have the opportunity to gather the necessary data at a reasonable pace.  Take a look at our AlphaDogResumes.com Background Analyzer, and you will see how much detail needs to be gathered to create an effective resume in today’s tough job market.  Also, the resume of today is vastly different than the resume of even three years ago.  Today, resumes must meet certain difficult parameters in order to pass muster with both Human Resources computers and staff.  Send your resume to us for a FREE Assessment, and we can tell you what needs to be done to your resume to make it fabulous….and ready for whatever happens.

Take the time now to prepare for the future…it is a good insurance policy that will make a job transition much easier.

This is another way to Dominate Your Job Search_®.