1 Thing Your Resume Writer Must Know to Build the Resume

Resume writing can be a lot harder than it looks. There is 1 thing your writer must know before they begin to build your resume.

Resume writing can be a lot harder than it looks. A resume writer must master the art of connecting the dots, picking out ATS-friendly keywords, and optimizing your resume to make it more skimmable to increase your interview chances.

But as a job hunter, you can help your resume writer write your resume fast by doing yourself a favor.

When I first started writing resumes the sheer amount of information to digest overwhelmed me. It’s cringe-worthy to admit this, but I almost quit my job. It was only when I focused on key areas of resume writing that I began to see gradual improvements.

So worry no more, I’m going to make it a lot easier for your resume writer. In this post, I’ll reveal to you one thing your resume writer needs to know to prepare the resume.

Without further ado, here it is.

Question to ponder

“What’s the next job I want to have?” Asking yourself this question and sharing your answer with your resume writer will definitely move the needle on your job search. Taking the time to ponder on the question and coming up with a solid answer will save you and your resume writer time. Your answer to the question will serve as the theme in putting together the nuts and bolts of your resume. It means having the info will make it easier to associate concepts between your previous or current job and your dream job. Skipping to pay attention to the question will just keep you going around in circles looking for a job, increasing your probability of not landing one.

In my experience writing resumes, I’ve encountered a few job seekers who already know their next career move or which career path to take. They contact us through our website and share with us their old resume and a link to the website of the specific job they want to apply to. The materials they provide serve as a reference in writing a tailored resume—keyword optimized, ATS-friendly, and skimmable, hence increasing chances for an interview.

On the other hand, most job hunters would get in touch with us with their arrows pointing to different directions, not knowing which target to hit with regard to finding a job. In these cases, we provide a free consultation to guide them in figuring out what career they want to pursue. Another option they could avail of is to have their general resume written for them.

General to specific

It’s a common mistake for some to choose a general resume over a specific job resume for the reason that they are jack of all trades as reflected in their work experience. Fortunately, The Contingent Plan’s resume writers could assist you in turning your jack-of-all-trades work experience into a career advantage so you can move from a general resume to a specific job resume.

To go about the process of moving from a general to a specific job resume, the easiest route to take is to go to your favorite job board and choose a job post that tickles your fancy. This exercise helps you make sense of what’s the next job you want to have. You can then save the link to the job post and share it to your resume writer through The Contingent Plan website for reference.

At The Contingent Plan, we distill your transferrable skills out of your work experiences and use them to make your resume standout even more in a volatile, highly competitive job market. Also, we identify the soft skills that you have based on your work experience and incorporate them into your resume. Furthermore, we research about the achievements and responsibilities you had but not aware of. At the same time, we can make logical connections between related concepts from your work experiences to your target specific job.

Content is always king

For resumes, content is always king. If you don’t have the details on the page, you’ll not get the interview. It’s that simple. So, we focus our energy in creating resumes that get read by giving due consideration to the fact that attention spans of humans are dwindling. And remember that before your resumes land into that hands of humans, most of the time they go through the scrutiny of the machines first. So, your resume should be built for the machines, but easily readable by the people who will skim it to make decisions (and hopefully) interview you.

To sum it up, spend some time reflecting on what do you really want in your career. You don’t have to know all the answers or be totally clear on one answer either. Instead, simply think about how you will use the resume so that your resume writer can build you a resume that will actually work. You may find that the exercise of pulling jobs of interest will also make you excited about the possibilities and enable you to focus your energies in the process. You may also find that you need more than 1 resume in the process. Whatever the discovery may be, it all starts with a simple question – “What’s the next job I want to have?” so that the answer to the employer’s question “Why should I hire you for this role?” is clearly covered by your resume.

Ready to build your resume now? Download the resume template used by our resume writers or get a free quote now to see how our team can help your search today.