Let Your Resume Speak for You

By Haley Way, Career Counselor

Even though it may feel like it at times, your resume is not just about putting your life on paper. Your ultimate goal is to impress the reader enough to convince them to have you in for an official interview. Your resume needs to speak on your behalf, to say all the things that you may not have the opportunity to say---at least until you get that interview! So this begs the question: How do I impress my audience (aka, the reader… aka, your potential employer)? Keep these tips in mind:

Tip #1 – Try viewing your resume from an employer’s point of view. Take a step away from the document for a few hours. Come back to it and read it from an employer’s perspective. Look at it through the lens of what is relevant to that employer and what is not. If you are a having a hard time distinguishing what is relevant, ask a mentor in the field or a professor to look at it, but with an insider’s perspective.

Tip #2 – Don’t be generic. Unless you are at a job fair or networking event, don’t include clichéd phrases like “entry level job” in the “blank” field. Employers get tons of resumes every day for varying positions, and it is not their job to figure out where you fit in. Instead, tailor your resume to the position or positions and company you are applying for. This extra specific step really shows the employer that you are interested in them!

Tip #3 – It’s not about you. It’s about the company’s needs. So, in your resume you need to convey how you fulfill an employer’s needs. The secret tool that most job applicants never use correctly is the job posting itself. Print out the job description or posting and highlight all action verbs. For example: Communicated, collaborated, revised, managed, etc. Use this as a measuring stick: Does your resume measure up? Can you begin to see areas that you might have better addressed? For instance, did you forget to mention that important project that you led? This tip will make your resume relevant to the employer’s needs and will put you at the top of the stack!