Study The Job Ad To Learn What Should Be In Your Resume
Study it like it’s the Bible. Or the Torah. Or the Koran. Pick your religious text.
The job ad is where the hiring manager is telling you what his problem is. The job ad is all the information you’re going to get to work with… but it’s also all the information you need. The job ad is where the hiring manager is saying, “My problems are 1, 2 and 3.”
This allows you to tailor your resume to convince the hiring manager that, “I am your solution A (because of this) and B (because of that) and C (because of this other thing).” And if you’re really doing things right, your resume will also say, “Oh, and by the way, I can also be a solution to problems D, E and F! I can not only solve the problem you’ve got right now, but if you hire me, I can provide solutions to problems you don’t even know about! I’m just that good.”
The best way to get hired is to solve the hiring manager’s problem. An even better way is to solve all their problems. Make it look like hiring you would be a gift that keeps on giving.
So study that job ad or job opening. Understand exactly what they’re looking for. And then tailor your resume to answering that exact job ad.
As I said, we’re going to write your baseline resume here in a minute. But you can always tweak it based on the job ad in question. And you should always do that.
You’re looking to solve their problem and your resume is your marketing document that catches their eye and shows them you’re the solution.