Boredom gets many resumes thrown away.
What makes a resume boring is that you write it like a job description instead of an advertisement. Boring resumes hide the most important information. They are written the way HR forces managers to write job descriptions. Let me show you what I mean.
Like HR or Like a star
There is a hiring manager in with a problem. That’s why he spent hours writing a job description. He could have sent a 3 sentence description, but HR wouldn’t let him. HR said, “We need to really define what is needed here. Can you be more thorough?” To be honest, HR really needed to know more to do their job.
So instead of a 3 sentences telling what would describe the job to an expert, you see a laundry list of 40 things that would be nice to have. There are entries like: “Does not drool while typing”, or, “Shows up for work.”
You can’t afford to put the same boring and useless descriptions on your resume. You ARE an expert. Don’t let your resume say, “I showed up for work.” That is HR language. That is not what you accomplished. It is what anyone would do.
Your resume as a Star
A star is a point of light in a vast sky of bleakness. Our eyes are attracted to stars, not to the inky places in between. You only need to shine like a star to attract attention. You don’t need to shine like the sun.
So, make a list of things that are better only because YOU did them. What did you do better than anyone else? What did you do to get official recognition? Did you win a contest at work? How did you make things go faster? How did you save money or make more money for your company. You don’t have to shine like the sun, only twinkle like a star. If your resume is short but has irresistible sparkle, you will get an interview.
The way to shine is to talk about a specific thing that got done better because you were there. If you talk about five things that only got done well because of you, you will shine like a constellation. Hiring managers will pay attention to your resume and give you a call back.
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