Recruiters in large companies often receive hundreds of résumés in response to one job advert. Since all applicants will have had similar professional titles and responsibilities, it is your achievements that will differentiate you from the crowd. This is your unique point of difference (POD).
Here are our tips for creating a résumé that will highlight your POD and get you noticed:
1. Profile section: Include your professional title and a clear description of your key skills, experience and personality traits and how you can add value. Keep it short, clear and concise – after all, recruiters are busy people who have multiple vacancies to fill. For example:
Warehouse Supervisor with management, customer service & forklift experience
• Dependable manager with 10+ years’ experience in warehouse management and staff supervision.
• Skilled in managing inventory control, customer relations and safety & compliance.
• Certified Power Equipment Trainer and Forklift Operator experienced in training and coaching.
• Strong people and project-management skills.
2. Customise your description according to the position.
3. Key achievements: In this section, describe the changes you made in previous roles, focusing on the actions you took, the problems you solved and the results you delivered. Wherever possible, quantify these achievements. For example:
• Implemented advanced quality-control procedures, resulting in a 62% decrease in product returns and complaints.
• Trained 27 warehouse employees over a 12-month period.
4. LinkedIn: Include a link to a well-written LinkedIn profile. Need help? We have a dedicated team skilled in writing LinkedIn profiles.
5. Keywords, keywords – oh, and did we say keywords? To identify these, look at the job advertisement and note all the words that appear frequently. Including these keywords in your résumé will help get it past the electronic applicant tracking system (ATS) and read by the recruiter at the next stage.
6. Font: Choose a clean, legible font and limit colours to a maximum of two.
7. Presentation: Format your résumé so that it looks attractive, is not too ‘busy’ and is easy to follow. Like a personal website, your résumé represents you and should make a good first impression; done well, your résumé is an invaluable tool for marketing yourself.
The Proven Group
Struggling to identify your point of difference or write your résumé? We are a team of professional résumé-writing experts based in Ballarat, Geelong & Melbourne that pride ourselves in assisting job seekers worldwide to prepare résumés that land interviews.
Our other services include professional cover letter-writing, interview coaching, LinkedIn profile writing, advice on how to address key selection criteria, personality profiling and career counselling. Contact us today to discuss our services.
