Start with the basics
Questions that will guide your job search
• What am I good at?
• What do I really enjoy doing?
Define your skills
Your Unique Value Proposition (UVP) tells a prospective employer why they would want to hire you. To define your UVP ask yourself:
• What are my core skill sets (i.e. team building, product development, closing sales…etc.)?
• How have I utilized these skills in the past?
• How transferable are these core skills?
• What value add can I bring to an employer?
Structure your Resume
A Resume is not a mere chronological list of jobs
• Your resume is not an autobiography.
• Make your resume relevant to the opportunity. Make it adaptable and modular to show how your core skills are appropriate for the role you seek.
• Build your resume using your career highlights while underscoring your core skills.
• Your resume is a ‘value proposition’ that demonstrates how you can add value to the employer.
• Seek out advice on your resume and be prepared to take criticism – your resume is a means to a desirable end.
• Never add anything in a resume that you are not prepared to demonstrate or elaborate on.
• Stick to the facts – not opinions.
• Include testimonials with your resume. This is particularly relevant for candidates who have come from a management environment where delivery was key.
Get the Interview
Your resume has but one purpose, to focus a prospective employer on your positive attributes. Approach each opportunity as though it were your first. Avoid the ‘negative spiral’ of a frustrated job seeker. This becomes increasingly important the longer the search goes on. Enhance your chances of obtaining your ideal role by staying focused on your abilities, their fit and their function within your prospective new role:
• What are your major career accomplishments?
• What were the ultimate ‘outcomes’
• How did you achieve these successes?
• Is the core activity replicable?
• What challenges did you overcome along the way?
• Which of your core skills were utilized?
Don’t forget to obtain testimonials and references to validate these achievements.
And finally
Listen to others. Always be prepared to take advice. Make yourself available for the best opportunities by being proactive and demonstrating tenacity.