Today’s post is a guest post by Troy Lilly, who penned this after taking my free resume writing course and experiencing the transformative power of a strong resume. It’s my hope that his experience will inspire you all to do the same …. Louise Fletcher
I had to write about your free resume course online. Like many other people, I didn’t have the money to pay for professional resume writing services, but as someone in the communications field, I am a competent writer and only needed to grasp the concepts in the tutorial.
I took your suggestions and applied them carefully and thoroughly. My resume transformed from a bland, vague list of duties to an impressive summary of exceptional achievements that made me want to hire myself.
Most importantly, I learned to tailor my resume to the position and organization I was applying to. Instead of including every single skill or technology I was aware of (whether it was relevant or not), I deleted the unnecessary ones and scanned the job description to make sure I mentioned the ones they asked the applicant to have.
Also, I took the time to address each of the core job responsibilities and dedicated at least one bullet per past job experience to show I had accomplished something similar before. For example, this position calls for a project specialist to facilitate online mentoring between young entrepreneurs and emerging students. I stated that I had helped execute a mentoring network of media professionals and high school students at a Washington Post journalism workshop for two years. Basically stating, I have done this and done it well on a major scale.
Then there was the cover letter! When I set down to craft it, I identified two of the most crucial responsibilities from the job listing and explained specifically how I had successfully tackled them in past jobs, and alluded to the fact that I already had some ideas as to how to address them should I be hired for the job.
I submitted my resume on last Thursday at 5 p.m. My application package was routed through HR and to the hiring manager, and I got a call by 1 p.m. Friday afternoon — the very next day!
Looking at my resume and cover letter, I can say I am very impressed.
Your best tip for me was to tailor the resume to the job listing. The employer tells you EXACTLY what they need. We as the applicants usually waste our resumes telling the most narcissistic things we’ve ever done — most of which the employer has no use for. Telling them what you can do to solve their problems makes your resume surge to the top of the pack.
If you’d like to learn the principles that catapulted Troy’s resume to the top of the pile, take the free course for yourself. It’s easy to follow and takes less than 2 weeks. When it ends you’ll have a resume that will truly open doors.
(Photo by Kretyen)
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