Does Your Resume Do This?

From https://www.6figurejobs.com/ExecNewsletter.cfm?intNewsletterID=500#one

Does Your Resume Do This?

By Michael Collins
Executive Career Expert / Recruitment Strategist
Employers in this market are inundated with more resumes than ever before. In most industries, there is now a much greater pool of qualified applicants looking for jobs. The competition is fierce. And while you can’t control market conditions, there is one factor you can control – the effectiveness of your career message.
Most executives are not aware how they present themselves on paper. The common reasoning is that a resume is not that important, and an interview is what determines whether or not they get hired. This is partially true – interviews seal the deal. But if the resume is not compelling enough, few interviews happen in the first place.
How do you improve your message and increase your marketability? The answer lies in your executive resume, and whether or not it positions you as the type of candidate employers are looking for. If you are presenting your unique career using a template format and overused lingo, the uniqueness of what you have to offer becomes largely unnoticed. This is why so many experienced, qualified and capable executives get rejected, while those with less to offer but with a more influential presentation get the prize.
What do employers really want to see on your resume? Not what you might expect. Sure, your responsibilities and accomplishments are important. But they are only a part of your message. If you compare resumes of executives applying for similar opportunities, you’ll quickly see that the list of responsibilities and achievements is similar. Of course there are some variations, but the overall theme is virtually identical. After all, executives working within the same industry have many common characteristics when it comes to their job functions.
As you are embarking on your job search, remember that the objective of your resume is NOT just to present your past experience. It IS to convince employers that you have something ‘extra’, something ‘uncommon’ and frankly, something ‘exclusive’. In other words, make sure that your resume gives you a distinctive appeal.
So here it is. To be effective, your resume needs to persuasively answer THIS important question - From all the available choices employers have, what makes you more desirable and valuable than other qualified candidates?
The way to achieve this is to move beyond typical resume descriptions and conventional formats. From the start of your resume, purposefully spotlight what you can do to help prospective employers achieve success. Don’t mistake this with a contrived ‘career summary’. Strategically convey to employers what is important to THEM, not only to you or to previous employers. Bring out specific potential benefits of having you as part of their organization.
In summary, before you apply for any job, make sure that your resume reads like a proposal and has an outline of pragmatic results you expect to deliver. While others compete with commonplace resumes that get ignored or rejected, your message can stand above the rest. If you DON’T want to waste time and opportunities, give employers a stronger incentive to see you as the type of candidate they want to hire.
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