Before you begin your search for senior employment you need to have one thing finished: your resume.
A resume’s objective is to gain you entry into an employer’s door; it grabs the attention of future employers and is the first impression when jobs are looking at people to bring in for an interview.
Whereas you might have needed a resume for your previous career, the chances that you’ve updated are pretty slim. Formatting and having correct information with accurate forms of contact are crucial. Here are a few resume objectives and how they relate to your job search:
- Your First Impression – Even before speaking to you on the phone or meeting you in person, employers get their first impression of you by what is written on your cover letter and resume. Making a positive impression and standing out among the crowd on paper or through email is just as important as dressing for success at an interview.
- Gets You Organized – If you think your life is too jumbled to jump back into the working world, writing a resume will help you get things back into order…at least in writing. You need to reach back into your mind for past work employment, classes you might have taken recently and achievements that can be displayed on your resume in chronological order. If you are capable of organizing your resume, then a cover letter will be a piece of cake.
- Reveals Who You Are - If a company is going to read some of your personal information, don’t you want them to be convinced that you’re a good person? Of course you do, so choose wisely exactly what you want to say about yourself. Instead of just writing down what you did, explain how it advanced your position and helped out the company.
- Shows You Your Individual Importance – Don’t underestimate the importance of what you have accomplished in your personal and professional career. When you actually see your skills and responsibilities written down, you will gain the confidence that you need for your interview.
- Gets You the Interview - The most important point of having a resume is to get you an interview. It’s almost like the first paragraph of a book: If it’s interesting enough it will make you want to read more. So if your resume is unique enough it will make the employer want to meet you in person. That’s when you want to make sure that you dress for success.