Selling yourself on paper always seems easier to do than selling yourself in person. That is because on paper you can embellish and enhance yourself with words and descriptions which are harder to come up with in person. It is that reason, alone, that resumes play such a vital role in HR departments. Continue reading to discover why resumes are still so crucial to getting a job and five ways to market your skills on a resume.
Regardless of the type of job you are applying for, having a resume in hand is beneficial and will pique the interests of the hiring department. Even if all you have done in the past is work at fast-food restaurants, you likely gained valuable customer service skills that can be listed to market yourself on your resume.
According to Rockport Institute, you want your resume to stand out because only one person will get an interview out of every 200 applications and resumes that a job receives. Therefore, you want your skills listed in the best way possible to market yourself and your skills.
Some ways and tips to market yourself are:
Edit Your Resume Template for What The Job Want
As an employee, you are filling a need that a company has. Therefore, you want your resume to match what they are looking for in that position. That means using your resume template, editing your skills, and training to match what the job is looking for in employees. Make the skills that the job you are applying for prominent in the resume that you will send them. Therefore, use the exact keywords in your edited resume that they have in their ad. You want the job to look at your resume and say, “This is the person we’ve been looking for.”
Show Off Your Soft Skills Too
Your resume is an opportunity to show off your soft skills as well as your hard skills. In many instances, when your application is being reviewed, your soft skills will matter as much as any. Jobs believes that if potential employees have good communication skills, work well in teams, can multitask, and display other soft skills, they may be easier to train because they already possess skills that cannot be taught.
Make Your Target Job Captivating
The top of most resumes has a personal or mission statement speaking directly to what you want to bring to a job. You want your language in this section to be strong and stand out from other applicants. In addition to telling a job what you want to do for them, you also want them to know what you want out of a job. Some tips are:
- Determine your interests.
- Determine your values.
- Identify your strengths for anyone reviewing your resume.
- Succinctly describe your goals.
- Outline the actions you plan to take.
- Review and revise your statement often.
Include a Video Link
Jobs are captivated by creativity. When they see something different, it is likely to show them that you want the job you are applying for. Therefore, if you have a website, blog, headshots, or even a short video clip of some of your work, they will be happy to have that for review, especially if you are submitting an acting resume. Any of these things will give them a good look at you in action, which is always a bonus.
Include Testimonials in Your Resume
Although resumes shouldn’t be more than a page or two, if you have room for a few testimonials, they are a beneficial way for HR to see what others have to say about you without picking up the phone.
One way to get testimonials is by simply asking coworkers, past or current, for references. You can either copy those references for sending with your resume or include a line or two in your resume or cover letter. That gives HR a clue into the kind of worker that you were at previous jobs.
As you have read, your resume will need to be captivating to get the attention of the HR department of companies. There are multiple ways to market your skills in a resume to ensure that you get the attention and the job. Five tips are included to help you move to the next level in your career.
