A good resume cannot get you a job, but a bad resume will not get you an interview, and without an interview there is less chance of you getting the job.

A resume is usually the first impression that you make with a prospective employer. It gives you the opportunity to gain their interest and hold their attention by displaying your skills and experience before them.

Being in the recruitment business, we come across all kinds of resumes with fancy presentations, fonts, language, etc. A resume is a professional document and should be treated as such. Your qualifications should speak for you and not your degree of innovation in presentation.  Here are some guidelines on how to create a resume that works for you.

Cover letter

A cover letter is a very important part of your job application. While responding to a specific job advertisement, treat the cover letter as a value addition to your resume and not just any general letter of introduction. The letter should be concise with crisp sentences giving a brief introduction about yourself and your strengths.

Determine the objective of your job search

With a clear idea of what you want to achieve from your resume, the information that you want to include will flow easily. If you don’t have an objective to focus on, your resume will not be structured and easy to read.

Your resume is a marketing tool

Imagine yourself as a product and your prospective employers as customers. Use your resume to highlight your uniqueness.

Aim for an interview, not the job

A good resume should get you an interview. So you don’t need to go into great detail about each accomplishment. Save that for the interview. The objective of a resume is to create enough interest for the prospective employer to want to meet you.

A resume should always be reviewed at regular intervals. Alter the format of your resume if a particular job role demands certain skills to be highlighted. And finally, here are some tips to keep in mind.

Top 10 resume tips

1. Keep your audience in mind when you write your resume.
2. Use simple but effective language to convey your abilities.
3. Highlight achievements by using bulleted points. Avoid long sentences or paragraphs.
4. Use figures and statistics to quantify your achievements, especially if you are applying for a sales related role.
5. Highlight the positives. Don’t be shy about showing off your strengths.
6. Use relevant action buzzwords that will grab the attention of the reader.
7. Be honest about what you convey.  Never lie on your resume.
8. Have someone else review your resume for grammatical or typing errors.
9. Limit your resume’s length to not more than 2 – max 3 pages.

10.In case of emailing your resume, recheck how the file attachment will be received.  Use the most commonly used software programs for example a PDF or Word file.

Good luck in your job search!

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At our self leadership programs we emphasise the importance of turning ideas into action or closing the ‘knowing-doing’ gap. Zurina is the embodiment of this principle and once again she has demonstrated her commitment to transform thoughts into reality.

Zurina loves taking photographs and one year ago decided that she would like to make her passion a career – not a new concept but the difference is how she executed this idea. In April 2009 she charged for her first professional shoot, today (12 months later) she is a busy photographer and is having her first gallery exhibition, ‘Shades of Pink’. The exhibition showcases 30 pieces of her work around a theme and for the benefit of the Breast Cancer Foundation;  plus, 150 people have bought tickets for tonight’s charity launch!

The exhibition was put together in 3 months during which time Zurina was also a mother of 2 toddlers and a director of Self Leadership International. When I asked Zurina to share with our blog readers her secret for being able to manifest so quickly, she answered that she uses many of the steps of the NLP Well Formed Outcome Pattern. Here are the steps she used:

1. Visualise the big picture – what will the end result look like.
2. Cover off the details such as; pick a realistic but ambitious date for the exhibition, locate a suitable venue, come up with a list of topics to photograph.
3. Identify the required resources such as; sponsors for the event, volunteers and subjects to be photographed.
4. Take action – start shooting and editing.
5. Make Adjustments – when things do not work out quite as planned make changes and then take action again.
6. Be consistent – do a bit or a lot every day.
7. Create excitement about the project – this translates into the marketing which resulted in paying customers whilst maintaining relationships.

There is of course a ’secret’ ingredient that she believed it could be done. It is my experience that many a good idea never reaches frution because of a lack of self-belief, planning and action. Do you have a good idea locked inside you?

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Would you be interested in getting to the top of your game in less time and before the competition?

The secret is to get past the plateau. With most simple tasks we reach our highest level of proficiency after about 50 hours of practice and then our performance skills become automated and we stop learning. This explains why a 20-year-veteran brain surgeon is not likely to be more skilled than a 5-year newbie by virtue of time on the job.

What makes the difference between those that reach the top in sport and business is two things:

1. Intentional Practice
2. Immediate feedback against predetermined standards

Intentional practice is perfect practice and perfect practice makes perfect. Intentional practice requires knowing “Why” you are doing what you are doing and complete “Attention” to the task. Usually it is only possible to maintain this high level of concentration for an hour and usually in the morning when our minds are fresh.

Getting feedback against a known standard coupled with intentional practice, accelerates learning. With feedback we can make minute adjustments to our behaviour that makes the difference between a silver and gold medal. If this feedback is also positive and encouraging it will also build self-confidence and therefore motivation to keep practicing.

So what would fast track your career?

Skills such as getting along with peers, motivating a team to improve performance, influencing you boss to make better decisions are key components of leadership development, yet most people don’t think of these as things to practice.  We might read a book, take a course, even an MBA but do we think about practicing and getting feedback from a coach?

If you are serious about wanting to fast track your career you need to identify which competencies are going to make the difference and then I advise start your intentional practice and get some feedback.

Remember PPP – Perfect Practice makes Perfect!

BTW The picture is of my son Nathan who is not yet 2. He is imitating me giving a speech which he has seen on video! The shot is taken by my wife Zurina who is a professional photographer.

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