How do you know if yours is?
If you ask 10 people for feedback on your resume, you’ll get 10 different answers and 5 out of the 10 things will contradict each other. Even the most strategic resumes are subjective.
Do yourself a favour and take a common sense approach to your resume. It will save you a lot of suffering.
Here’s what I’ll offer:
Ask yourself if your resume gets 5/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️:
⭐️Is your resume easy to read? This requires attention to design, formatting AND content.
⭐️Is it clear to the reader why your resume landed on their desk? Like crystal clear? Are you taking a strategic approach to your resume? Have you done your homework to make sure you’re hitting the most important skills and qualifications currently in demand in your field? Then, are you taking it a step further? Are you providing evidence of the value you’ve provided by leveraging these skills and qualifications in the past?
⭐️Does the reader feel like the only job in the world you want is the one they’re trying to fill?
⭐️Does the reader exhale slowly with relief after reading your resume because it’s clear this job was made for you? That, by hiring you, their job will be easier and the workplace better?
⭐️When your resume is filtered, does the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) light up like a Christmas tree as it dings and pings from hitting just the right keywords it’s searching for?
That’s the sweet spot, friends.
Maybe it sounds like a lot of work or not possible to convey all of that through your experience and history.
You totally can.
I've worked with clients to create a principal resume doc as a starting template for every resume they’ll create moving foward. It not only helps with resumes but with cover letters, job interviews, and initial compensation and future raise negotiations.
Most importantly though, it will increase your overall confidence in the value you bring to your work. Sometimes it’s you that needs the most convincing or maybe you’re aware but need a better way to clearly articulate it.
If you'd like to work on creating a principal document yourself start wit this:
Find 5-10 job postings related to the position you want.
Highlight the skills, experience, and requirements common to the postings. Consider these the “standards” you're "speaking to" in your resume.
Put them in priority order based on your sense of how common, relevant, and important they are to this type of position.
For the top 5 “standards”, create a mini business case demonstrating how you have met this standard in previous experience or how you could due to training, transferable skills etc. YOU must convince yourself FIRST. This is going to trickle into your entire job search strategy from the interview stage to salary negotiation.
Once you’re clear on the value you’re bringing to the table, create accomplishment statements. This just means you’re giving your job duties a glow up. Go beyond simply stating what you did. These statements serve as proof of the value you brought to a role/experience. The add an element of believability to your resume.
Here are a bunch of examples and more information in the article How To Write Accomplishment Statements (With 78 Examples) from Indeed.com.
Cover letters
As a career counsellor I’ve had a hot take on cover letters for at least a decade.
They kind of tick me off a little. I think the job search process in general needs an overhaul and that we’re unnecessarily hard on job seekers.
To me a lot of the formalities seem old fashioned and continue because “it’s the way things have always been done”. I think that’s often an unhelpful sentiment in general but especially here.
And I don’t hate cover letters because I’m lazy. I hate them because they’re often ineffective and inefficient. I can whip up a really effective cover letter without batting an eye but not everyone is a wordsmith. Why should they be?
If the job being applied to is writing cover letters, then yes fair game. But, why are we assessing job fit on someone’s ability to say the right thing in the right way or because they have the ability to pay somebody else to? Or, better yet they copy and paste the first Google search or blurb thrown up by ChatGPT.
It’s all fine I suppose, I just think we can do better.
It's all made a little easier though by starting with a document that you can return to over and over. It helps to avoid the "blinking curser" effect. You know, that blank page and agonizing on your writing because you're starting from scratch. Yes, cover letters and resumes work best when the reader has a sense they've been customized but that doesn't mean you actually have to. A properly researched principal document is the secret sauce.
If you're looking for help with your career or job search, check out how to work with me below. We can work on your principal resume document, resume, cover letter, interview skills, job search or career change strategy or any other career or business related issue you may have.
Cheering you on!
Christine
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