With current economic times it is more important than ever to ensure your resume is water tight to follow every rule applicable for it to stand out. Are you currently looking for employment and not having much luck with your ratio of follow up contact to get to the next step (and interview)?

For the majority of job seekers this is a fact. The good new is there is a lot that can be done to get your resume noticed in the 5 second window of opportunity. Get your old resume out and check it off to ensure it has all the following conformity.

Having worked in recruitment and now in resume services I feel it necessary to explain the process behind reviewing resumes. For each job application, we are bombarded with 200-1000 applications.
Normally from the time the job advertise closes until we shortlist candidates for interview we have approx 3-5 days. (With multiple job placements occurring at once).

In short this basically means we get about 5 seconds or a quick flash over the email and job application to decide whether it warrants being sorted into the “review for interview” pile (meaning to read further) or “unsuccessful”. Only a handful out of the hundreds are read further to assess their suitability to the role.

Many elements contribute to your resume being noticed or not. Sometimes it does not even get opened and all is decided upon with the email or cover letter.

I recommend everyone spending a little money on a professional resume being written by someone who has actually worked in recruitment and not merely a secretary that types a well presented document.

If you are wondering if your resume fits the bill of good health, read on and tick off the areas your resume can be improved. After all, a great job occupies a major part of time and we all have a right to be content with a great employment opportunity.
First of all we are going to look at the first step in the door which is the email that usually accompanies online applications.

Sometimes the email is the only thing that will be looked at
- Check your English and grammar with your written email.
- Subject

If the application guidelines ask to include a application number in the subject heading then do that, but add something to grab their attention such as “I think you have found your star” or “experienced and well adapted to [add the position]” to grab their attention

- Don’t make the email your cover letter (too much writing will turn the recruiter away)
- Do however try adding this to the first line of the email (special trick that works well)….

“I’m sure you’re busy, so I’ll keep this letter short and simple. I would like to apply for the role of [add position]. My cover letter and resume have my work experience details to verify my dependable and worthy skills. In short my last role that has major relevance was [put in the last position that was relevant]. My background is [complete with one sentence with power words]. I would very much like the opportunity to work with you. Please don’t hesitate to contact me to discuss my suitability further.”

Secondly we look at the accompanying cover letter

- Aim for no more than one page (more than this will loose interest)

- Begin again with …. As mentioned in my email, I’m sure you’re busy, so I’ll keep this letter short and to the point.

- do break it up with 1-2 subtitles if they are relevant and eye catching

- last paragraph should be a call to action (eg. I am very interested to find out more about the position and discuss my suitability with you. Please feel free to contact me to discuss your needs further and thanks for your time).

Get a friend to check over it to ensure there are no typos, contextual faults with sentence layout etc.

A great test is to give your cover letter to a friend and remove it after 5 seconds and ask them to tell you what they learned from it?

If they cant say much then nothing is standing out! Good luck with your job application and remember to consider a resume writing service if you aren’t getting a high rate of call backs for an interview.

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