How to Win Any Position

and other Helpful Hints.

In today's competitive job market, company and search recruiters are spending more money and more time developing and refining an internet recruiting strategy, complete with online tools for resume submission directly into their own web-based resume databases. To keep up with this trend, the successful job seeker now uses standard fonts, crisp black type, clear objectives, and strong key words to prepare a resume. This ensures that the resume can be read by a computer and "scanned" by the artificial intelligence that is used to extract qualification information. As a job seeker, the more skills, education, experience and professional affiliations you provide in your resume, the better the chances your qualifications will match with those of posted positions or those not yet published.

To help maximize the effectiveness of your resume, follow these simple tips:

• Use a font size of 12 or 10 points.

• Use standard fonts (Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, Futura, Optima, Universe, Times, or Courier).

• Do not use fancy typefaces, lines, boxes, bullets, and graphics.

• Use a standard chronological resume format.

• For an attachment,  use MS Word (.doc, .rtf or .txt); everyone cannot necessarily open/print/use .pdf, .zip, .wpd, .ppt or .dat. 

• If e-mailing, do not use html.  Plain ol’ text does the best job for you.

• If faxing, use the "fine mode" setting to ensure better quality copy.

• If mailing, use a laser-quality original on white paper, printed on one side only.

• State your objective clearly and specifically, rather than generically.

• Use terms, acronyms and jargon specific to your industry ­ make sure to spell out any acronyms.

• Strive for two pages ­ be brief, descriptive, and list old or irrelevant experience very briefly.

• PROOFREAD for misspellings, typos, and grammatical errors, plus use your spell check.

• Include a short cover letter which states the specific position of interest to you and why you are qualified.  Put the cover note AT THE END of your resume.  The machine will "want" to read your resume first; maybe there's more than one job available for your background.

• You may also benefit from our  Helpful Hints.

 

Helpful Hints:

Effectiveness - Clarity - Human Resource and Recruiter assistants do not always have the time or experience to judge your 'good fit', so always cover key points of  your qualifications for the 'must haves' of a position in a custom cover note.  The cover note should be the last page of an e-mailed resume.

E-resumes - E-mail only in RichTextFormat.rtf or MSword.doc or PlainText.txt so that everybody can open your attachment.  Do not use .pdf, .zip, .wpd, .ppt, .pdf or .dat.  Use any 'fancy' version for printing and snail-mailing.

Shotgun - Do not send your resume to every posting that contains one of your keywords.  Invest in a rifle!  Respond specifically and targeted for best results.

Hoops - Nobody jumps through them.  Do not refer an employer to your home page or some place where you have posted your resume for your convenience.

Wrong Site ? - If this is the wrong MRI site for you, go to www.brilliantPeople.com for jobs and private posting.

Danger - If your resume is posted on any open/public site, your employer will find it ! Removal from such sites is recommended.

Resumes - Chronological resumes are highly preferred by Companies and Recruiters. 

Mister - Do not call yourself 'Mister' in your resume.  Too formal in today's world