Key to a powerful résumé

Glenford Smith, Career Writer

A great résumé is not merely a history of your past, it is an advertisement. It is a marketing tool, designed to sell a product - yourself - by powerfully presenting specific, direct benefits to a specific buyer, that is, your targeted prospective employer.

Like all good ads, it aims to ignite interest that incites a response.

This insight requires that you adopt a marketing mindset in order to distinguish yourself from the competitive multitude of fellow job seekers. In practice, this means that you craft your résumé to persuade the prospective employer with one irresistible message: I know your needs, what you're looking for in the perfect candidate, and I am the perfect fit.

Here are three specific marketing strategies, adapted for writing a résumé that successfully conveys this message everytime:

Focus on the employer's needs, not yours.

This seems obvious, yet is frequently violated - many people write a résumé ostensibly to inform the reader about how great they are, with little attention given to the real needs of their targeted employer.

Don't guess what your prospective employer's needs are; do what a good marketer does - get the facts. Call and ask what he or she wants. Visit the company's website. Gather hints from the ad you're answering; ask other people who work in the same company or the same field.

If your résumé doesn't address the employer's real needs, you won't get a response. Clarifying the real needs of your prospective employer is the first and most critical step in writing a résumé that truly markets you rather than merely giving your work history.

Assert your exceptional candidacy.

.Every effective ad makes captivating assertions about the wonderful benefits, features and advantages of the marketed product. Your résumé should do the same about you by making assertions about your abilities, qualities and your exceptional achievements.

Assertions

Make your assertions in the first two sections of your résumé, namely, The Personal Statement (Career Objective, Personal Profile, or Career Profile) and Key Skills and Achievements sections.

Using a September 26, Sunday Gleaner ad for a graphic artist as example, a career objective might read: "a graphic artist position in an organisation where a diploma in graphics from a recognised institution, excellent communication skills and an outstanding record of being a team player would be needed."

This first sentence powerfully conveys the message: "I want exactly the job you're offering. I am a superior candidate because I have the qualities that are most important to you."

Provide proof to back up your assertions.

In the Career History, Education and Training, and Personal Interests sections of your résumé, you give evidence that you actually did as asserted, and that you actually possess the skills and qualities you claim to have.

This is done by listing the jobs you've held, your educational qualifications, awards and publications and professional affiliations.

These three elements of the marketing mindset comprise the master key to writing a powerful résumé that gets results.

Glenford Smith is a motivational speaker and personal achievement strategist.

The marketing mindset

 glenfordsmith@yahoo.com