Posted By Amanda Collins on April 24, 2011

A large part of what I do is educate my clients. Often, though, I feel as if my words fall on deaf ears. Whether I’m giving a presentation to a large audience or speaking with clients one-on-one, the components I tend to repeat over and over are:

A résumé is not about you.
You might think this document IS, especially because your name is at the top, but the truth is that a résumé is truly about the value you can provide an employer. This is often referred to as the WIIFM factor, or “What’s in it for me?”—from the perspective of the employer. Everything on your résumé should explain how you can benefit the employer.

A résumé is not designed to get you a job.
Although a résumé is certainly a component of finding a job, the goal of a résumé is to get you an interview. To do that, you want to make sure you have the right keywords on there for scanning searches and that it reads well for the human eye as well. After you get the interview, nailing that to get the job is, well, your job.

A generic résumé is not effective.
There was a time when you could put pretty much anything and everything on your résumé and the employer would figure out where you fit. However, with the glut of résumés employers receive these days, they simply don’t have time to figure out where you fit. Instead, you need to let them know how you fit to their needs, not the other way around. Have a clear career goal in mind, which will dictate all of the content on the résumé, as well as your strategy.

Category: Job Search, Resumes
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