Resume and Interviewing Tips

Creating a Successful Resume

If it’s done right, your resume is an inventory of your interests, skills, accomplishments, experience, goals and values that attempts to match you to a job that requires those interests, skills, accomplishments, experience and values.

• Identify the key transferable skills that have led you to successful outcomes in your previous work, regardless of the industry you worked in.
• Circle key action words on the employer’s job description.
• Embed those action words into your executive summary and bulleted skills list and wherever you detail your successful outcomes in previous positions.
• Remove as much clutter as you can from the rest of the resume. Even if it’s interesting, it can drown out your action words, Hennessy said.

This tactic clearly delineates how you, as a candidate, match the job position.

The Cover Letter

Cover letters are a concise way to communicate your value to a company, and some recruiters and hiring managers do use them to winnow candidates. They demonstrate your attention to detail and anticipation of the company’s needs. They may seem like small stuff, but sweating the small stuff could make the difference between making the cut or missing your chance.

Interviewing

Be prepared! Do your research; learn all you can about the company you interview with. Learn all you can about the position you interview for.

They say that the first few minutes decide whether you get the job or not. So make sure you make a great impression, starting with wearing the appropriate attire, to the firm hand shake. There’s no question about it: In every job interview, you are going to be judged by how you look.  But how you should look varies depending on your industry and the job you’re interviewing for.

Be prepared to ask questions; questions such as what happened to the person who previously held that position, or why the interviewer chose to work there, and what keeps him there.