Looking at hiring from an employer’s perspective is an essential first step in preparing your resume and launching your job search. Generally speaking, companies hire people who have the skills needed to do a particular job and the attributes that will make them a good employee, one who will contribute to the mission and goals of the organization.

Please don’t assume that your new college degree automatically qualifies you for a great job. Yes, you’ve worked hard, learned a lot, and feel prepared to launch your career. Now it’s essential that you show employers that you have skills, attributes, and abilities that will help them be more successful.

Your resume is the tool that you will use to show employers that you have those skills, attributes, and abilities. The result—you hope—is that they will be motivated to call you for an interview to better determine whether you are, in fact, a good fit for their needs. Your resume must clearly relate your education, activities, and work experiences to specific job qualifications—both the “hard” and “soft” skills that together paint the picture of the ideal candidate.

STEP 1: Identify Your Job Target and Write Job Target Statements

Before you can create a resume that is effective—that presents your skills, abilities, and potential that will interest employers—you must know what kind of job you want.

Don’t worry that by writing your resume for a specific job you’ll be aiming for a target that’s too narrow. The skills and accomplishments approach I recommend—which you’ll be learning as you work your way through the exercises in this chapter and the next—will result in a versatile resume that you can use when applying for a variety of related jobs, or one that you can change quickly and easily to steer toward a slightly different target.

But if you’re interested in several jobs that are quite diverse—say you’re a business major torn between a job in human resources and one in retail sales management—you’ll want to develop two different resumes so that you are a credible candidate for each position. Start by choosing one target and completing your resume. Then repeat the process for the second target. (It will be much quicker and easier the second time, and you will be able to use much of the same information.) You’ll end up with a focused and effective resume for each target.

STEP 2: Identify Your Core Job Qualifications

To identify the core qualifications for your specific job target—the combination of “hard” and “soft” skills that make up the ideal candidate.

Hard skills are the core knowledge and abilities needed to do the job. A C# programmer must know how to program in C#. A social worker must be able to perform assessments, counseling, case planning, and case management. Hard skills are the kinds of things that can be proven through education and experience—you can do the job because you’ve been trained in the discipline or you’ve worked in a similar job. Or maybe both. Your resume must show that you have the core knowledge and skills needed to do the job.

Soft skills describe personal attributes—how you get things done. Soft skills are more difficult to measure and quantify. They include things such as teamwork, drive, leadership, a positive attitude, a good work ethic, attention to detail, or a customer-first attitude. To be believable, your resume must prove your soft skills—not just list them.

STEP 3: Compile Evidence of Your Hard and Soft Skills

You’ve clarified your job target and defined the hard and soft skills needed to be considered a great candidate for that job. Now your resume needs to prove that you have those skills. In this step, you’ll dig through your various experiences to find that proof—specific examples of when you used or demonstrated those skills and attributes.

At this point, don’t worry about how to word your experiences or how they will fit into your resume. You can now start to put together your “evidence” information that shows you have what it takes to be successful for the jobs you’re seeking. This evidence includes:

Educaton

Academic honors and awards

Other honors and awards

Extracurricular activities

Internship or co-op experience

Volunteer activities

High school

Family background

Special skills and interests

STEP 4: Start Strongly with Well-Organized Contact Information

Give potential employers the information they need in a format that makes it easy for them to find what they’re looking for. Your name should be prominent. Use bold and/or larger type to catch the reader’s attention.

Should you use a nickname? Because a resume is a fairly formal business document, it’s traditional to use your full given name (Brad M. Peterson, not Brad Peterson).

If you are sending out your resume while you are still living at school, you’ll need to include both school and home addresses and telephone numbers. If the best way to reach you is on your mobile phone, be sure to include that number as well. And be certain that you have a reliable answering service for any number you include. Don’t include pagers or fax numbers unless there really is no better way to contact you.

You must have an e-mail address that’s professional, permanent, and reliable. Consider getting a separate Hotmail or Yahoo! address just for your job search (this is especially important if your everyday e-mail address is something like This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

STEP 5: Sell Your Strongest Qualifications in a Powerful Skills Summary

This important introductory section of your resume should present a quick “snapshot” of who you are and what you have to offer. Whether you use a formal Objective statement, use both an Objective and a Skills Summary, or combine the two into some kind of Summary/Profile, be sure you do the following for greatest impact:

- Instantly communicate just what kind of job you’re looking for.

- Highlight your strongest qualifications.

This essential information must be crystal-clear in just a quick glance at the top part of your resume. Equally important, you must write this section with the employer’s interests in mind. Stating what you want is not nearly as effective as telling employers what you can do for them.

STEP 6: Emphasize Education as a Key Credential

Because you’ve just completed a degree, the Education section of your resume is quite important. As you mature in your career, this section will become less prominent and will simply take its place, in abbreviated form, toward the end of your resume. But for now, create a section that communicates the value of your education in terms of your career target and a company’s desired core qualifications.

STEP 7: Describe Your Work Experience with a Focus on Skills and Achievements

Even if your jobs have been totally unrelated to your current goal, they gave you the chance to learn and practice specific skills. When you describe your work experience, relate what you did to a skill you learned or a contribution you made to the business. Try to phrase your work experience in the form of achievements rather than job duties.

Wherever possible, support your achievement statements with specific numbers and results. Numbers add substance and credibility and are ten times more effective at selling your capabilities than words are. (Doesn’t that last sentence have greater impact and believability than if I just said “much more effective”?)

Even if you can’t add numbers, demonstrate that you contributed to the success of the business where you worked. Did you save money or increase efficiency? Multiply sales? Improve customer service or customer satisfaction? Think of a better way to do things? Help coworkers be more productive? Save a sale or placate an unhappy customer? Come to the rescue when the business was short-handed? Come up with an idea for a partnership with another business that added to the success of both? Your achievement statements don’t have to be earthshaking; even small things that you did on the job will demonstrate your value as an employee.

STEP 8: Add the Extras to Give You a Competitive Advantage

What makes you special? Each person has unique attributes, knowledge, and experiences that might not fit into the standard resume sections or match a list of job requirements. Perhaps you speak fluent Urdu, backpacked across Europe for a summer, or devoted hours and hours of time to disadvantaged kids. Sometimes these “extras” are related to your job target, even though they might seem to be totally irrelevant. They say something unique about you and can set you apart from other candidates.

Just as you did in the Work Experience section of your resume, try to communicate skills and accomplishments, with results where possible, when detailing these “extras.” If you volunteered, what were the benefits of your efforts? If you held a leadership role with an organization, did you introduce new programs that boosted membership or increased member involvement? Did you self-finance a summer of travel through nine months of part-time work experience? Use this section of your resume to continue the message of capability and success you’ve communicated throughout your resume.

STEP 9: Format, Edit, and Polish Your Draft

Now that you’ve finished drafting the material for your resume, it’s time to wordsmith your draft copy, and then organize and format the material to create an attractive, easily skimmed document.

STEP 10: Cross-Check Your Evidence Against Core Job Qualifications

You’ve finished your resume…almost. Before you start circulating it, review your resume with a critical eye to be sure that it does the following:

- Clearly communicates skills and capabilities that match the core job qualifications.

- Uses accomplishments and results to add credibility.

- Makes it easy for readers by using a clear organizational structure and hierarchy.

- Draws attention to important facts and categories.

- Conveys employability—communicates that you have what it takes to be a good employee.

- Presents information that is meaningful to employers and shows that you understand business priorities (profitability, customer service, and other contributions to business success).

STEP 11: Proofread Your Final Resume

Take the time to proofread your resume one last time before sending it out. Don’t let a careless error derail your job search.

STEP 12: Convert Your Resume for an Online Job Search

You can use the Internet to sift through job postings, apply for jobs, and make your resume available to recruiters and companies. There are thousands of resume-posting sites, job banks, and corporate Web sites with employment information. And you’ll use e-mail extensively during your job search—it’s a fast, convenient way to send your resume to employers or networking contacts.

Up to this point in this book, you’ve created a traditional resume—meant to be printed and read on paper. It can also be read onscreen, provided that the person you send it to has compatible word-processing software. But there are a few limitations to your traditional resume:

- It won’t flow easily into an online resume bank or job application.

- Depending on format, it might not scan cleanly into a company’s resume-scanning system.

- Formatting problems can also occur for any number of reasons when you e-mail your traditional resume.

Clearly, then, you’ll need to adapt your resume for an online search. You will need a text (also known as ASCII) version, and you may need a scannable version, PDF version, and possibly a Web resume. Here’s when you’ll use each of the different resume formats:

- When e-mailing: Often you can send the traditional or PDF version of your resume as a file attachment, particularly if you’re e-mailing to someone you know or someone you’ve already had a conversation with.

- When a job posting specifies “no attachments”: In these cases, paste the text version of your resume into the body of your e-mail message. Put your cover letter first.

- When filling in online applications or posting your resume to online resume banks: Use the text version of your resume to be certain that there are no formatting glitches.

- When you are snail-mailing or faxing your resume to a large company: Send the scannable version of your resume. Most large and many smaller companies use scanning software to enter resumes into their applicant-tracking system. But you might never need a scannable resume. Their use has decreased dramatically as electronic transmission has increased, because the electronic version of your resume can be entered into the resume database without having to be physically scanned.

- When an advertisement specifies “scannable” or gives other formatting details that make it clear they’ll be scanning your document: The ad might specify, “No bold or italics; minimum 12-point type; no rules, lines, or graphics.” Send the scannable version of your resume.

- If you’re in a design field or have superior computer skills: You could create a PDF version of your resume to be sure that the design and format do not get altered during transmission. And you might want to create a Web resume that you can store online as well as on a CD-ROM. You can include color, graphics, animation, and other advanced features. You might expand your resume into an online portfolio, which enables you to include samples of your design work, important projects, or other material to demonstrate your capabilities.

STEP 13: Make Networking Work for You

With the ease of online search strategies, a lot of job seekers reach no further than their computers when starting to look for jobs. Don’t make this mistake! Instead, spend most of your time talking to people you know who can give you advice, suggestions, leads, and referrals that will bring you to the notice of people who can hire you.

There’s nothing mysterious or frightening about networking. What it means, quite simply, is talking to people. One contact often leads to another, and in this way your web of contacts grows and your visibility expands tremendously beyond your own inner circle.

There are several keys to successful networking:

- Don’t ask for a job. Most people you talk with will not be able to give you a job, and they’ll feel badly if they can’t help you. Instead, ask for their advice or suggestions. Tell them you respect their expertise and would appreciate their advice and assistance. And don’t worry—if they’re looking for someone with your skills, they’ll be sure to let you know.

- Don’t assume anyone won’t be able to help. You never know how people are connected, so make a point to mention your job search to everyone you know and everyone you meet. It’s surprising how often a casual comment will lead to a solid job lead.

-  Prepare and practice your introduction. So that you can approach each phone call or meeting with a feeling of confidence, prepare a 30-second to one-minute introduction that tells your contacts who you are (if they don’t already know), why you’re contacting them, and what specifically they can do for you.

- Try to set up an in-person meeting, whenever possible. A personal meeting is more formal, usually lengthier, and more memorable than a phone conversation. If meeting in person is out of the question (your contact is in Detroit and you’re in Mobile), set up a time for a formal phone meeting. In either case, e-mail your resume prior to the meeting and reiterate how you think your contact can help you. (Be specific.) Always be on time for your meetings. Dress appropriately in business attire for an in-person meeting.

- Don’t expect your contacts to run your job search for you. Your job search might be your number-one priority, but it’s not that high on the list for most of the people you talk with. Keep the ball in your court and follow up regularly with people you’ve contacted.

- Be clear about your job target and how your contacts can help you. Asking a contact to “help you find a job” doesn’t give them much information to go on. Instead, tell them you’re interested in Megacorporation and ask whether they know someone there. Tell them you’re thinking about a career in marketing—do they have any suggestions, or can they refer you to someone in that field? Make it easy for them to help you and they’ll be delighted to do so.

- Follow up on all leads and let your contacts know how helpful they’ve been. If

your contact gives you a referral, be appreciative, follow up, and then get back to your

original contact to let them know how it went. When you’ve landed your job, send

thank-you notes to everyone who helped you in your search. And once you’re employed, be ready to help others when you can!