Kelly Butler, NCOPE, CARW

You have 𝟭𝟬 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝘀 to convince a hiring manager or recruiter that you're the best person for the role, which leaves no time to FOFO. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗺𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝗷𝘂𝗶𝗰𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘁: 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗶𝗱: Brought redesign of food service catalog consisting of 265 SKUs in-house... 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗶𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱: ... resulting in savings of $20K. Think of each of your bullets in the above way, and you'll have a powerful results-driven document. 👍

It may sound daunting to customize your resume for specific roles, but you can create a resume template that makes customization a breeze. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝗵𝗼𝘄: After your professional summary at the top, add three bullets where you will highlight your MOST relevant experience. Then 𝘀𝘄𝗮𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗷𝗼𝗯, using the job description to identify the most important requirements. See? Easy! 🙌

When it comes to streamlining resume content, the key is ruthless editing. Every word in your resume should have a purpose: to show employers why you're the best person for the job. Use job descriptions to pare down your resume. Check which qualifications are most important and prioritize them. If you focus on sharing measurable results and hard skills, you'll have a hardworking resume at your fingertips!

Don't wait to complete your resume until you see a job you want to apply for, as you want to be one of the first applicants. Here's a resume creation task list to follow: 1- Download an ATS-friendly resume template and choose your font and color scheme. 2- Review your current resume and pinpoint where you lack results. 3- Seek out any data you can pull from to demonstrate your measurable wins. 4- As former colleagues, write you a recommendation and use one of them on your resume. 5- Have someone proofread your resume before you send it out and make corrections as needed.

Here's a way to stay on track when creating or updating your resume. 1- List each role you've held in the last 10 years of your career. 2- List out your responsibilities under each role. 3- Now, look at each of your responsibilities in this role. Give examples of how your actions impacted or improved the team/department/company. Were you the first to do something? Did you create new ways to make things run smoother, faster, cheaper, etc.? By how much? Try to provide measurable results like %, $, time, etc. By doing the above, you'll have a results-driven resume showcasing all your accomplishments!

Don't wait until you NEED a job to create a quality resume. Set aside time to update every job on your resume BEFORE you decide to leave it, gather information/quotes from performance reviews, capture measurable wins from projects, and collect any files you may need for later (such as creative for your portfolio). This will put you in a great place when you decide to start looking or face an unexpected layoff or change in your employment status. Remember, some companies don't even let you go back to your desk after a firing or layoff, so don't wait until the last minute to collect the above!