The Perfect Resume

The perfect resume presents hiring managers with a four-fold vision of who you are and what you bring to the table:

The perfect resume offers Logical Proofs:

  • Facts
  • Quantifiable data
  • Logical conclusions
  • Achievement and success statements
  • Relevant professional goals/accomplishments
  • Limits the use of jargon
  • Maximizes use of occupation/industry-specific key words
  • Your capabilities and skills
  • Clear, specific, measurable, and quantifiable words and phrases
  • Sells you based on your achievements to date

The perfect resume offers Your Vision & Creativity:

  • Balanced white space
  • Visually easy to read
  • A resume style and paper consistent with your self-marketing vision
  • Clear big picture of who you are
  • Sells you based on your potential
  • Examples of your creativity relating to your targeted position
  • Your vision of your role and your capacity to contribute

The perfect resume offers Sensible Organization:

  • Easy-to-follow resume structure
  • Presents relevant historical information in reverse chronological order
  • Places the most relevant/marketable data early in the resume
  • Omits what cannot be proved
  • Is error-free
  • Is neatly laid-out and word processed
  • Stretches to the appropriate length for someone of your experience (one page for up to 10 years of experience; 2 pages for up to 15 years of experience, and 3 pages for senior-level positions demanding over 15 years of experience)
  • Sells your past

The perfect resume offers Your Personality and Values:

  • Stresses your interpersonal/written communication skills
  • Describes your teamwork skills and cites examples of your cross-functionality
  • Highlights your work-related values
  • Showcases your work-related personality
  • Previews who you are
  • Emphasizes your uniqueness
  • Is enjoyable to read
  • Sells who you are

Why not review your resume by comparing it with these four critical categories? You may discover why your resume isn't winning you the interview response you'd hoped for with hiring managers.

Cheryl Lynch Simpson is a Spiritual Director and Solutions Coach who helps women discover and create the life they've always wanted to live. Cheryl is the author of over 30 print/Internet articles and the founder of Coaching Solutions For Women, a coaching website that produces and showcases career, business, and life solutions that improve the life balance of today's busy women. For a complimentary copy of her latest e-book, Ten-Minute Stress Zappers for Women Service Business Owners, visit http://www.coachingsolutionsforwomen.com.

More Resources

Stand Out From the Crowd with Simple Marketing Methods
Although today's job market can be very competitive, many job seekers overlook simple techniques that will catch potential employers' attention. Apply these eight ideas to stay ahead of your competitors and get hired now!1.
Job Search Blurts
I coined this word to draw attention to the nervous and apprehensive way of saying something in the job search that makes you feel like a buffoon. A "blurt" is a catchy way of saing: Gaffe.
Make Your Résumé Sizzle with Success Stories
In today's competitive job market you can't afford a résumé that fizzles. Power up your résumé with solid success stories.
Do You Have What it Takes to be a Successful Petite Model?
Want to break into the petite modeling industry but wondering if you have what it takes to succeed? There are lots of magazine and commercial modeling opportunities for good modeling jobs. Take this quiz to find out if you qualify to be the next top face in the petite modeling industry.
The Pros and Cons of Telecommuting - As Seen Through The Eyes of a Seasoned Telecommuter
Janelle Delacorte has been happily answering calls for the Home Shopping Network and various infomercials since November 2004.Several nights out of the week she tucks the kids in to bed, turns around, takes 20 or so odd steps, and arrives at the office.
Ten Things To Do When You Really, Really Hate Your Job
1. Begin focusing on what you want instead of how much you want to escape.
Your Job Search -- a Marketing Campaign?
The successful job search is really just a personal marketing campaign. And the same techniques used in infomercials and junk mail can help you get hired, too.
Job Interviews: Plan Your Appearance to Make a Great First Impression
Your personal appearance is a critical component of that all-important first impression when you walk into the room for your interview.So plan ahead!Some people don't think about what they're going to wear until the morning of the interview.
Job Interviews: How to Answer the How Do You Handle Stressful Situations? Question
When answering the "How do you handle stressful situations?" question during an interview, the best strategy is to give some examples of stressful situations you've dealt successfully with in the past.Everyone faces some form of stress on the job now and then.
Tell Me About Yourself
The need to tell people about yourself may present itself during an informal conversation with a colleague, on the Little League field with a neighbor, on the phone with a past acquaintance, or in a face-to-face meeting for a job opportunity. "Tell me about yourself" is a favorite question that has befuddled many an unsuspecting candidate.
The Top 10 Mistakes Job Seekers Should Avoid In Contacting An Employer
There are numerous tools and resources available to guide job seekers through the steps of a career transition. These tools are very useful and suggest much that you should do.
Searching for an Executive Job
A job search for executives is far less complicated today than it has been in the past. Anyone who is looking for an executive job can simply look to the Internet where there are hundreds of employment websites, with many specifically geared towards executives.
How to Terminate an Employee and Live to Tell the Tale
1. Employee Backdrop in AustraliaThe whole arena of Industrial Relations and the interaction between employer and employee is conducted within the complex framework of various statutes, state and federal, regulations and rulings and common law.
The 6 Stages of Modern Career Development
Career experts say that people will change careers (not jobs) 5-7 times in a lifetime. This being true, career management is an important life skill to develop and cultivate.
Necessary Psychological Skills When Working in the Executive Protection Field
The "hard" skills necessary for an executive protection specialist (EPS) and/or personal protection specialist (PPS) are often perceived as being that of a policeman or (elite) soldier. Though there can be certain similarities i.
Sweeping Up Worms
With the opening of a new venture and numerous reporters arriving in an hour, it felt like one of those "chickens with heads off" days. We were close, but not ready.
Settling Successfully Into Your New Job
The euphoria of getting a new job can sometimes be overcome by apprehension about what comes next. After all, you're "the new kid on the block," and there's much to learn--about your new job duties and much more.
5 Things Every New Caterer Should Know
It has been over twenty five years since I started a small catering company that specialized in International Tapas, tiny silver trays of finger foods to delight the eyes and satisfied the stomach. These little morels were tasty, light and filling.
Three Myths About Resume Writing
Your perspective on resumes - what they are and how they function - will doubtless influence how well you can write your own. To create an outstanding resume, begin by questioning and replacing some of the commonly held assumptions about resume writing.
You Are Lucky in Your Career!
You Are Lucky in Being Satisfied in Your CareerJust for fun let's you and I, reader, considerthat you are satisifed with your current career.It's good to find out why.

More Careers & Employment Information:

Related Articles

Career Strategy When Your Boss is a Bully
Q. Right after I accepted my new position, the manager who hired me quit.
How to Write a Resume That Stands Out From The Crowd
Today's job market is competitive. Many companies receive hundreds of resumes a year, making it difficult for yours to stand out from the crowd.
Top Ten Reasons to Start A Catering Business
There is little doubt that Americans still have a deep abiding love for all things eatable. Despite the health craze that has forced Ronald McDonald to sport a jogging suit, Whoppers, Big Mac's, and French Fries is truly why we have fat thighs.
Interview Preparation Made Easy: Create An Interview Preparation List
Here's a quick way to compare your own job experience and qualifications with those that your prospective employer is looking for in a specific job position. Make an "Interview Preparation List".
Ten Great Careers That Don't Require A Four Year Degree
One of the great myths associated with the "American Dream" is that you need to have a four-year college degree to be successful. As the economy has shifted to the information age, with a greater reliance on technology and services, this belief applies less and less.
Analysing Adverts for the Creative Response
The fundamental rule is: if you are going to apply for advertised jobs then only apply for the right ones. Don't waste time by applying for the ones you've no chance of getting; not only is your time lost but your morale will suffer if you keep getting rejections.
Do You Work to Live or Live to Work?
Let's be realistic here - hands up all of you who bounce out of bed every single morning, raring to get to work and enjoying yourself every minute of the day?If you didn't put your hand up (even metaphorically), you're not alone. There have been so many articles published recently about working statistics in the UK - that Brits work the longest hours in the EU, that we have higher risks of heart disease than our continental friends due to stress and poor diet, there has been a rise in people "downshifting" and moving to the country to raise chickens and weave baskets.
Yesterdays Hero
Wonder Woman makes it looks so easy. She gets up every morning, fights the good fight, calls it a day, and starts the whole process all over again.
Taking Your Words Seriously
When we ordered the stained glass window as an accent piece for our home, the artist-proprietor told us he was a bit behind. "So," he said, "to be on safe side, plan on six months.
Update Your Resume Today
A friend was just promoted to a position of vice-president of a company. I am happy for him and the first thing I told him after congratulations was "update your resume".
Why You Should Never Complain About Former Bosses
You're at a job interview. You're doing great, answering questions left and right.
The Top 10 Ways to Manage Your Career
Many people in the last decade have experienced either a layoff or termination in their lives or the lives of somebody they know. While many of these people affected have experienced outplacement-consulting services, some have not and they may be in for a rude awakening - corporations no longer "take care of you".
Resume Writing Tips
Resume Writing doesn't have to be a solo gigResume writing can be the bottleneck to advancements in your career. If you find yourself getting writer's block consider getting help.
How Important Is It To Stand Apart From Others In An Interview And How Difficult Is It?
Any professionally trained interviewer can attest these questions are the most asked by people involved with job-hunting. How important is it? Absolutely vital! ? How difficult is it? Not hard at all.
Ten Great Careers For Single Parents
The challenges of raising a child by yourself, whether you're a mother or father, can be very difficult. Add the burden of having to be out of the home for 40+ hours per week to work and raising a child at the same time can be nearly impossible.
Simple Interviewing That Works
Powerful questions to get below the surface1. Ask for specific "stories" of complete situations"We all meet situations where people disagree on the correct way to proceed.
Oil, Lube and Filter Employee Pay
We have been studying the labor rates of Oil, Lube and Filter Quick Lube Facilities and we are finding that the pay is lower than you might expect. We also believe this is part of the problem with recruiting and retaining key employees.
How to Manage Your Career Like a Business
Look upon yourself as a company with a product or service to sell. Understand your market and devise a dynamic marketing campaign, remembering that companies hire employees who offer them the best results and the best value for money.
Get a Raise: How To Ask Your Boss For More Money
How many people do you know who think they deserve a pay rise, but are too scared to ask? You might even be one of those people! Why is it we are afraid to ask for what we believe we are worth? It's time to stop worrying and start asking, but before you charge into your boss's office give yourself the best chance of success with these helpful tips?then book that meeting with the boss.Do an audit.
Learn Some Useful Feng Shui Career Tips
As it does with every main life aspect, feng shui also provides tips and guidelines to help you improving your career. If your career is not moving on in the way you wish, that is due to a lack of balance and harmony within your environment and the elements that affect it.