MONDAY'S TIP: Getting Noticed

[Abby]

I mentioned a few weeks ago that having multiple resume formats was important. And it is true that you should have a resume created for each of the types or levels of job you are looking for. But I think that you should not forget to make sure that you have a resume formated for the resume's first audience and not just your final audience.

What do I mean by that?
If you were going to a job fair with your resume you would hopefully format it nicely and make sure that your margins were spaced evenly and that your headers were in bold and that you made smart use of your italics. This is the smart thing to due for sure.

But what if you are not going to a job fair but are instead putting your resume into a company career site or a major job board? Some boards maintain your format if you upload it in a pdf or word doc format but this is not really the "format" that I am referring to.

Your resume is found online by recruiters and hiring managers because it is a great match for a search string they have entered and not because it looks great and you seem confident when you upload it. Those recruiters or managers type in a few keywords in the hopes that they will find a resume containing the perfect skills they are after.

For instances if I were looking for a sales manager I might do a search in Monster.com for "sales manager" to start. What would come back would be a listing of every resume with the phrase "sales manager" contained within. This is a very general search and would likely bring me thousands of resumes so I would need to work my way towards something more manageable like including the industry I would want my best candidate to have sales management experience in. Without getting too wrapped up in the art of searching there are some basic things you may want to know about how the resumes come back to me, the recruiter.

Frequency and clarity of keywords that describe your skills and work experience are the key to getting to the top of the list. If your resume shows that you have been a Sales Manager for 10 years at ABC company like this:

ABC Company Sales Manager - 1998-2008
Worked way up from entry level sales person on team to specialized teams for division a, b, and c within the first 7 years. 3 years as leader of the division d with higher revenue generation in company.

Then you could be cheating yourself from getting noticed more quickly had you formated more like this:

ABC Company Sales Manager, Division D - 2006-Current As Sales Manager for Division D I led the team with the highest revenue within the company and exceeded goals in x market consistently.
Sales Manager, Division C - 2004-2006
Successfully lead team productivity beyond previous 5 year trends as Sales Manager for Division C. Sales Manager, Division B - 2002-2004

You would obviously add much more detail to each positions accomplishments but you should notice a trend in terms of the titles frequency. The fact that the term "Sales Manager" is more frequent will get the resume ranked higher in most search results. Of course there are other keywords that you might want to use. The above is just a bit of an exaggeration to help make a point.
Be sure that you aren't shy about your accomplishments and that you're careful to include both the full definition with each acronym. Yes, use both the acronym AND the definition for industry specific certifications and systems. This could help give you the edge should a lazy recruiter only search for one or the other.

Again the above is just an extreme example. If after bulking up your resume with keywords it loses its readability and just sounds silly when you read it out loud then you've spammed your keywords. Pull back a bit and find a balance.

Best of luck to you and your updates!