Although a strong Internet presence is critical to any professional seeking to advance in their career, there is still one very important document which is an absolute must and that is a Professional Resume! Why? Because it is the core of your job search strategy and could very will be the source for seeking you out online. Perhaps you have excelled so well at establishing your personal brand online that you have simply been discovered by an interested potential employer? That’s great but you will still be asked to submit your resume prior to an interview! An experienced Certified Professional Writer has the potential to discover your most influential achievements and qualifications; those same key attributes a potential employer is looking for. Your resume should be updated and ready to send at every available opportunity. When you pay a professional to compose this most valuable and influential document, you are receiving a document which will be highly regarded by HR professionals and Recruiters but also one which will provide you with the majority of professional content needed to create your online presence. It is the consistency of content in your resume and online profiles which will ensure a credible and professional impression.

Don’t underestimate the importance of a professional resume. The most significant change in the past 15 years is not it’s relevance in today’s job market but simply that is now shared as a computer document rather than a paper document.

Why you should plan your exit before you’re in the door by Deborah Stokes for Canadian Business is written in response to the shrinking lifespan of a chief executive position. The evolving shortened tenure only heightens the need to take charge of managing an executive career and perhaps the most critical investment; a professional resume from a recognized, Certified Professional Resume Writer! This is an investment that presents a  clear and significant ROI. A resume is your ticket in the door and if it impresses the decision maker you’re one step closer to your next position. Securing a job interview is wholly dependent on a professional resume. Although networking likely led to discovering the open position, or even a recommendation, it is still your resume which will precede the interview or preclude you from the interview. The leverage to negotiate a salary increases with the number of offers to choose from and the most clearly recognized ROI that a professional resume will provide is a significant reduction of the time spent in career transition. If you secure your next position within 6 months rather than 12 months as a result of investing $1,000 for a professional resume, the ROI based on an annual salary of $150,000 would be $74,000! You may not reduce your job search by 6 months but even 1 month could result in a substantial return on your investment.

Contact Elite Resumes for a free resume critique from a Certified Professional Resume Writer.

to win over, attract, lure and entice!

Your resume must be capable of attracting the attention of the HR professional or recruiter. A professional appearance, free of spelling and grammatical errors, an enticing tag line, star quality accomplishments and key words which will be targeted in the scanning process; all are necessary for the reader to give consideration to your resume over the competition during the process of elimination!

If your resume does not eliminate you as a potential candidate on first review, it will be the words used in your resume to describe your soft skills, hard skills and experience that will attract the reader and secure the opportunity you are competing for; the job interview.

Give careful consideration to the words necessary to win over, attract, lure, entice the reader to take action and contact you! Consider the impact of the following words:

“Wrote the performance review…” vs. “Conceived and authored the performance review…”

“Establish sales strategies…” vs. “Devised and executed captivating sales strategies…”

“Committed to using my skills to succeed.” vs. “Situational leader and tactician; charismatic team builder, provides staff with the tools to succeed and deliver.”

Seductive, enticing, impressive words. These are words that are capable of winning over the potential employer and landing you a job interview. Would you go fishing without a lure?

Ho Ho Ho!

The next step for most would be a job interview but Santa will be able to skip this step in the process as his expertise eliminates any potential competition. Even the Grinch was no match for Santa. And so it is, with full confidence that Santa is ramping up for the busy season ahead!

Santa Claus is admired by children everywhere, but for those mature individuals who are currently in career transition, you may also want to look up to him as an ideal role model. He has a clearly defined career path, a professional resume filled with accomplishments and a never ending list of references,  which have all contributed to an outstanding reputation. He acknowledges the importance of personal branding, consuming cookies and milk at every stop despite his expanding physique. Santa has also been successful in establishing his online presence. Google Santa and review 1,880,000,000 search results!

Do you need a free resume critique, advice on personal branding or perhaps some ideas on how to increase your google ranking? Make your New Year’s resolution today to find out about the executive career management services available at Elite Resumes.

Age – Sex – Marital Status

These personal details have no place on a resume in North America or in most other countries. Any mention and your resume will likely to be discounted from further reading. Since this information has absolutely no impact on your ability to perform the job, it is considered discriminatory and should remain personal.

Political & Religious Affiliations

Leave them out! Although age discrimination is decreasing people will always discriminate for religious or political reasons. It’s none of their business, so why place an obstacle in your way? As much as you don’t want to be discriminated against, no potential employer wants to risk the accusation.

Hobbies

If your hobbies aren’t relevant to your career, leave them off. It’s information an employer doesn’t need to see. Again, your personal hobby could influence the reader on a personal level rather than professional, which is discrimination.

Volunteer Work – Community Involvement

Increasingly potential employers and recruiters are seeking people who participate in community activities and give their time for free. It says a lot about your character. However, if your volunteer work is related to religion or politics leave it out.

Employer Information

Including the name of your Manager and direct Supervisor and their contact details is not necessary. It has no relevance to your hiring. If the employer requires this information at the interview stage they will ask.

References

“References Available Upon Request” is a term which is severely outdated and simply a waste of space. It’s automatically assumed that you have a list of references which should be available on a separate reference sheet and taken with you to the job interview.

Remuneration

Your salary and bonus expectations are not required. Too high or too low, either could be a reason to eliminate you as a candidate or allow the potential employer to slot you into other positions that may not be of interest. Do not include any financial expectations in your resume.

Typos, outdated terminology and skills, lack of quantifiable achievements and too many pages are further mistakes on your resume that could send it to the recycle bin rather than securing a job interview. For further information on presenting a professional resume that is sure to get you recognized as a potential candidate, contact Elite Resumes for a free resume critique from Martin Buckland, Certified Professional Resume Writer.

Managing a successful executive career requires a continuous and conscious effort to seek out those initiatives that will contribute to enhancing your qualifications, maintaining a competitive edge as a potential candidate. Each position you hold will offer the opportunity to achieve results. Be sure to document all details of quantifiable accomplishments upon completion of tasks or projects. Do not wait until you need your resume written years down the road to test your ability to recall events! Reducing costs or increasing sales will not impress without corroborative numeric details.

Experience, accomplishments and promotions are sure to enhance your qualifications but there are other ways to beef up your resume. Do you have a continuing and consistent history of education? Enhance your qualifications by seeking out suitable courses or an accreditation to add to your educational background.

In addition to work history and education, volunteer work and community service will also enhance your qualifications. Focus on groups, organizations or municipal causes avoiding those with any inference towards politics or religion to avoid the risk of discrimination.

Continued attention to detailed and quantifiable accomplishments, further education and volunteer work or community service will all serve to enhance your qualifications on your resume. When was the last time you updated your resume?

If you are interested in acquiring an MBA, Canadian Business has provided an extensive report in their 2011 MBA Guide, which includes 39 institutions across Canada.

Recently, I was surprised to see the following advice offered regarding age discrimination; “most career counsellors will tell you to eliminate dates from your resume..”! (The author was not a professional career counsellor, nor did they provide any sources.) As previously stated, your age is beyond your control but lying about it or trying to hide it will most certainly result in eliminating you as a potential candidate. There may be a few decision makers who prefer to interview a younger candidate but you can be assured that all decision makers will decline interviewing any candidates that they feel are less than forthright, deceitful or trying to hide information. Employment gaps or missing graduation dates immediately sends out a red flag! More often, those who hide the dates on their resume are presumed to be much older than in reality; why else would they try to hide it unless they were really old! If you can’t be trusted to disclose basic information on your resume it is unlikely you will find anyone interested in interviewing you for a job.

Your resume is required to disclose professional information only. Do not include personal information such as religious or political affiliations. It would be easy to find those whose beliefs differed from yours or many who would not give consideration based on inappropriate content.

Contact Elite Resumes and obtain a free resume critique from a Certified Professional Resume Writer, Martin Buckland.

In addition to receiving available updates, it is also necessary to provide updates; “What’s happening? What’s on your mind? Share an update.” Active participation increases your online presence and provides friends, followers, colleagues, recruiters and potential employers a glimpse of “you”!  Are you sending a consistent stream of information necessary to establish your unique personal brand? Have you reviewed and updated all other information available within your online profiles and your resume?

A Business2Community post, September: Update Your resume Month! Don’t Forget About Linkedin, by Personal Branding Blog offers great advice on updating your resume.

Need help updating your resume? Contact Martin Buckland, Certified Professional Resume Writer for a free resume critique.

In addition to a professional resume, an online presence has become a mandatory requirement in managing an executive career. Professional profiles are expected to be found on Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook. Just as a business or organization markets a product, you too are the product requiring the necessary marketing collateral to establish yourself as a credible candidate with the necessary expertise to get the job. Personal Branding is key to establishing a memorable and respected identity and what better way to promote yourself online and off than with a tagline?

“Embraces and defeats challenges to achieve operational, management and fiscal excellence.”

“Persuasive and compelling Instructor renowned for delivering memorable training sessions.”

“Action-oriented leader, faces challenges, unravels and resolves critical business issues and encourages staff to maximize their potential.”

“Sets and maintains high standards, steers the company to deliver unparalleled results and outperform the competition.”

Unless you have established a long and exemplary career, your name may say little about you but associate it with a  tagline, maintained consistently and professionally, it could provide you with the recognition you need to excel in your career.

Whether you create your tagline for your resume, business cards or social media profiles it is sure to help you stand out from the crowd. Give consideration to where you want to be in your career, why you should be considered the ideal candidate and what will best describe your expertise? Create a tagline to be remembered, generate a positive influence and establish your competitive edge!

“I see the most recent position on your resume was from 2008 to 2011 and yet your previous employer said you left their organization in 2010. Can you explain this?”

“Your resume shows the title of your position as, VP but your Linkedin profile shows your title as Manager. Do you know what your title was when your were employed by this company?”

“The diploma you note in your resume does not reference a graduation date. Did you actually receive this accreditation and if so, in what year?”

“There is a substantial employment history gap in your resume. Was there any reason you did not want to share the information related to that time period?”

These may be questions generated by your resume but you will not have the opportunity to answer them in a job interview as the hiring professional will have eliminated you as a potential candidate. Your cover letter and resume must assure the reader you are the perfect candidate for the position to secure a job interview. If your resume generates more questions than answers, lacks pertinent details or appears to be embellished you will be cut from the competition.

If you have provided the answers in your resume that the HR professional or recruiter is looking for, you will be one step ahead of much of your competition and have the opportunity to sell yourself again in a job interview. Of course the answers in your resume must be relevant to the job description. As an accounting assistant, a solid resume will not eliminate the question, “Why are you applying for a position requiring a CGA designation?”

Does your resume generate questions or answers? Don’t take any chances! Obtain a free resume critique from a Certified Professional Resume Writer to ensure you don’t miss out on another job interview!