Introduction
Almost everybody you can ask about how to make a resume will tell you that its job is to sell you to employers. But what does this actually mean?
Think about the last time that you made a major purchase. What attracted you to the particular product you eventually bought? To start with, your interest may have been caught by an advert. This would have given you an instant impression of the product’s appearance, while highlighting its most outstanding features. You then decided to have a closer look, perhaps by looking at a website or going into a shop to ask for more details. Encouraged by what you learned, you may then have tried the product out firsthand, to see whether it lived up to everything you’d heard.
Now think of yourself as the product and the employer the buyer. Your resume needs to have the same effect as the initial advert and the ‘closer-look’ information. If it works well, it will convince the employer to ask you to an interview, when they get to check you out firsthand. However, you are an extremely complex product. Your features include not only your past work history, but your potential in your next job, as well as your characteristics as an individual employee. resume
It’s not surprising then, that while you’re sitting staring at the blank page, it’s hard to know where to start, or indeed how to start. Here are some basic guidelines that will help you put that elusive attention-grabbing resume together.
