You may have wondered at some point if there is anything you can do to strengthen your resume if it isn’t as strong as you’d like it to be. Is there anything you can do? Fortunately, the answer is yes.
First of all, examine your qualifications with a view to presenting them in the most favorable light possible. (And, NO: that doesn’t mean that you get to lie on your resume!!) What it DOES mean is that you are trying to help the employer better understand the value you can bring to his company.
To do this, you’ll need to think about those things you have accomplished in your previous positions. For example, instead of simply saying that you were responsible for setting up meetings and seminars, talk about the new system you put in place to track budgetary expenditures. Rather than stating that you sold xyz units of product, provide a brief description of what it was that made you that successful. Quantifying what it is you did is great--i.e. ‘sold 1200 doo-dads in a one month period, thereby exceeding my quota by 20%--but stating how you went about it is far more powerful.
Be sure to mention any awards you received from an employer of any new ideas you suggested that led to monies being saved. Companies are always on the look out for innovative thinkers and the more you can point to tasks you undertook voluntarily and what their results were, the better off you’ll be.
If you are just recently out of school, highlight your educational achievements such as papers you wrote or special training you received. Anything that goes above and beyond the norm is definitely worth mentioning. This is, of course, true for scholarships you may have been awarded as well.
Talk about your special skills in the area of graphics, or video production or database management, highlighting what special expertise you bring to the table. Provide your new employer with your competencies in the world of computer software.
Cite any professional organizations to which you belong and community activities in which you 've been involved. The idea is to differentiate yourself from your competition by underscoring those things that would label you as an achiever. If you held 3 part-time jobs during the summer in order to earn enough money to pay for your first semester in college, that is worth mentioning as well.
Don’t forget to include any foreign languages you speak. In our international world this is becoming an even greater necessity and all too often, Americans just don’t bother to learn another language. If you are fortunate to have that capability, by all means, don’t hide it from your interviewers.
If your forte in college was chess, you might want to mention how many tournaments you won. If you are a skilled photographer, be sure to include how many contests you’ve won. Think very carefully about your past and about the things that make you stand out. It may mean the difference between getting that job--or not...
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