Candidate's Background

Robert came to me with a very simple existing résumé that neither showcased his broad skill set nor his career achievements. Despite having held significant responsibilities during each of his professional engagements, Robert's résumé did not capture the full scope of what he had performed or achieved. Additionally, his résumé was not aesthetically pleasing and aged his candidacy by including work history back to 1968.

Résumé Strategies

In addition to making Robert's résumé pleasing to the eye, information needed to be prioritized, and accomplishments had to be reviewed thoroughly in order to differentiate his candidacy from his competitors. Robert's career overview, which appeared on his original résumé, was a good attempt to provide a brief summary of his most notable skills, but needed some crucial prioritization, focus, and reformatting. His new qualifications summary is much more engaging and, through strategic formatting and presentation, easily communicates his key qualifications to a hiring manager within the ever-so-limited 7 second screening process. Additionally, to further support the screening process, a core skills list was included to explore Robert's diverse competencies.

In the professional experience section, accomplishments were explored during the consultation and displayed in an engaging and eye-catching manner. Quantifiers were added whenever possible to distinguish his experiences and achievements from others with similar roles. Key challenges were also explored and presented in order to provide a clear picture of the significance of each achievement. Additionally, only Robert's last two positions were dated in order to avoid unnecessarily aging his candidacy. Earlier engagements were presented without dates, in a byline fashion, to showcase additional skills and experiences that still supported his candidacy.

Lastly, Robert's professional development was presented to minimize the impact of not having a college degree, something that was missing from his original résumé.

Candidate's Results

Shortly after receiving his résumé, Robert called and scared the life out of me, beginning his conversation with, Samantha, I need to discuss a problem with you... As I replied, oh no, what's wrong, Robert continued, I have too many interviews and not enough time.

Later, Robert connected with me and told me of the confidence his new résumé provided: My finished résumé is without a doubt one of the best résumés that I have ever seen. It highlights all my strengths and plays down weaker areas. The response has been remarkable. The first seven résumés sent all resulted in personal interviews! Robert later reported that after 9 interviews in just 8 short weeks, he accepted a position with a new company.