Have you been worrying about your dismal career condition? You were once at the top of your class as an honorary crème of the crop batch leader and you have observed that despite your sterling academic achievements, you find yourself on the sofa waiting for the phone to ring.
If it does ring, it is probably the pizza deliveryman checking out on your order. Corporate America could care less about how meritorious you were back in college. Hiring managers want a professional resume that will clearly speak about you and your qualifications.
Have you reviewed your resume today? Does it feel like your curriculum vitae is barricaded with hurdles and has no direction at all? Perhaps, it is time to revise your resume and remove all the obstacles that hinder it from being an effective job application document.
Remember that a resume is not an obstacle course. Your application should not sound ostentatious or too simple. Do not give hiring managers a difficult interpretation of who you really are. Metaphorically, do not include rubber tires, barbed wire traps, monkey bars, and vine ropes on the resume and give the hiring manager a clear path description to why you are applying for the job.
Here are just some ways to dispose of obstacle course objects on your professional resume:
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Get straight to the point
Explain your objective succinctly. Fill your resume with substance and powerful descriptions. Do not pretend doing something that you are not familiar with. In short, do not pad the application with pretentious statements because hiring managers are smart enough to spot on inconsistencies on the resume. Do not obfuscate the resume with sensationalized dreams of grandeur.
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Arrange all key roles
Applicants who have been working for the past five years should arrange all past roles chronologically. This is a traditional and the most accepted style in writing a resume. Nobody wants to flip a resume with unorganized and messy employment history.
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Start the application on a high note
Hiring managers encourage applicants to start a resume in a positive light. Writing a resume positively on your part gives you an incremental morale boost necessary to ace job interviews or panel discussions.
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Consult professional help
When in doubt, ask a professional resume writer to help you with your application.
Allan Shelton holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration and a regular magazine contributor on career development.
