The role of the resume has changed in the past five years. In the "good old days" what mattered most in the resume was CONTENT.Today, an ad in the local paper coupled with an Internet posting linked to half a dozen monster boards may draw 500 to 1,000 responses. And with time at a premium, the hiring authority cannot possibly read them all. He/she has to reduce the pile arbitrarily to a manageable 20-30 to be read.
Thus, the goal of the first pass through the pile is not to "read to accept," but to "skim to reject." What matters most here is not content but FORMAT. Your resume must be so clearly laid out and so compelling to read, that it literally forces itself to be moved to the "to be read" pile. Only then will content become important again.
Remember that the role of the resume is not to get you a job, but simply to get you an interview. It must quickly tell the interviewer that you are a "good fit" for the job, given your previous work and your future aspirations. And it must clearly point out why you are potentially better than any of the other candidates. To do this, it must answer five questions:
The Five Key Questions
1. What does this person want to do?
2. What has this person done in the past?
3. How well has she/he increased revenue, decreased costs, saved time?
4. What education or training has she/he had?
5. How can I reach him/her if interested?
If your resume is laid out so clearly that the reader can get these answers in a 20-second skim, you have a good shot at getting that interview.
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Contact: Silvio Rossi at: Silvio@bagg.com OR 416-863-0154
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