Your resume is your marketing document for getting a new job, so every little detail counts and the more focused it is, the better. Fortune magazine advises job seekers to use the “executive summary” rather than the vague “objectives” opening, and showcasing only a couple of skills areas.Photo by Aaron.
We’ve covered lots of tips for creating successful resumes before, including leaving off accomplishments that aren’t very notable. Fortune similarly says that one of the top resume mistakes is trying to convey you’re good at everything, rather than emphasising the one or two areas where you’ve accomplished the most:
Recruiters are very category-driven. They get paid to find a square peg for a square hole. If you try to convey that you’re good at a whole lot of things, you can end up not conveying anything.
Similarly, you should ditch the “objective statement” in favour of a more concise summary of your skills and achievements. Hiring managers usually only spend a couple of minutes reading resumes — in one survey, 56 per cent of HR execs said they devoted under 60 seconds to each resume — so you need to get a focused message across pretty quickly.
Have any other resume tips or tricks, either as a job-hunter or employer? Share them with us in the comments.
Top 5 Mistakes on Executive Resumes [Fortune]
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