The job search journey has become a never ending battle given the fact that companies every year look at reducing manpower cost as the perfect target to improve their profitability. This has become more prominent in the startup ecosystem with funding winter & lack of focus on business fundamentals.
A compelling storyline with a value driven summary goes a long way to transform your resume into a perfect sales pitch.
Whether you have been recently fired or looking to upgrade your professional prosperity, the following strategy is the best bet to grab your next job that perfectly aligned with your long term career objective
#1 Do not carve a generic resume
As an executive resume writer, my clients often request to make a career portfolio document that can be used for a variety of roles.
Although job seekers prefer to avoid adopting a compartmentalized approach, the strategy often backfires. A generic resume appears diluted, making it hard for the reader & hiring manager to evaluate your fit for a particular role.
Under the current job market, is it rare that a company is looking for a jack of all trades profile.
#2 Headline
Reader or the hiring manager generally skims through your resume in 30 seconds or less, making the first 5 seconds most vital for evaluation of your profile. Therefore, a tailor made headline aligned with the position you are applying for can increase your chances for landing up for an interview
#3 Avoid Generic headers
Replace generic headers such as “ career overview” or “ experience” with expertise driven headers that reinforces the role you are targeting for
For instance, if you are a supply chain professional, your headline might read as “supply chain leadership experience” or “ supply chain transformation experience” based on your achievements.
#4 The keyword marriage
Go through the job posting & search for keywords & phrases unique for the role. Do not use phrases such as “ excellent communication skills” or “ multi tasker” as these are standard for every role.
If qualifications you possess are absolutely important for the role, make sure that you include them in your “ executive summary paragraph” & support the same with a few bits of information specific to your career. For instance, if supply chain financing roles asks for someone who can improve optimize the working capital financing, make sure yours reads something like “ reduced receivables by 25% in 18 months by financing them using drawee bill discounting facility”
#5 Align your bullet points based on the position your applying for
Move your achievement bullets up or down based on the opportunity you are applying for. For instance, if you are applying for agriculture financing, you may include achievements related to agri financing on the top followed by automotive financing or mortgage debts.
# 6 Connect the dots
Have you worked in diverse industries?
Are your job titles unheard or confusing?
Is your career graph scattered?
This is a problem I see with 30% of my clientele.
Although the role you are applying for may seemed unrelated but by diving deeper into the opportunity description, few commonalities may emerge
- When job title seems unrelated: Job titles sometimes fail to articulate what you do. In such situations, you may tweak your title a little for the sake of clarity. For instance, if your current role is “Zonal head- farm equipment finance” for XYZ Bank & you are looking at a sales role, yours could read as “ Zonal sales head- farm equipment finance”. This will accurately describe the role without making any major changes in the title.
- When Industry seems unrelated: If you have worked at diverse industries, you may be viewed as one who lacks industry expertise. You can transform this to your advantage by tweaking language a little.The summary paragraph could include phrases which reflect or articulate that your skills have been successful in driving benefits across diverse industries. Including some industry specific keywords could optimize it for ATS software scan & LinkedIn searches
#7 Bullets vs Paragraphs
Readers find it hard to skim through detailed paragraphs. Replace paragraphs with 1 to 2 bullets that highlight your achievements. Make sure that the achievements do not exceed a line.
#8 Front end bullets
Avoid adjectives & qualifiers. Make sure that each bullet starts with an achievement so that reader is glued to the value you bring not your job responsibility
The first step in successful job research strategy is to align your sales pitch( your resume) with the specific job you are applying for.
As the founder and executive resume coach at Sushant Kumar Ventures, I offer customized executive resume, LinkedIn profile writing services, branding & job search strategy for executive & senior roles. Sign up here for our services.
