Tips for Preparing an Outstanding Resume

No matter if you are in the business of sales or marketing, I'm sure we can all agree that the hardest thing to sell is yourself.  Any good sales person can give you at least five good reasons why dirt in a desert is an ideal investment, but does he have the skills to convince you to hire him? 

Having recently helped a friend with his resume, it got me to thinking about the fundamentals of a good resume.  He, even with several years of experience and tons of success, still had issues talking about how great he was.

So here are a couple tips I have found to be helpful when preparing an outstanding resume.

• Even if you're not looking, keep a log of all your accomplishments.  It's extremely difficult to remember all the things you've done, especially if it's been a couple years.  Keep a list of everything you do, even the tasks that seem routine.  It will help tell your story.  If you don't use this information for a resume, it could be helpful when asking your current employer for a raise. :-)

• Quantify your accomplishments.  Numbers and figures don't just impress accountants anymore.  Some tasks are easier to quantify than others.  For example: Enhanced website's SEO by increasing the number of unique visits by 67%.  That figure is easy to pull from analytical data.  Another example like: Implemented new sales process, increasing productivity by 50%; might be more of a guess than fact.  Just be sure that if you are "guessing" that you can explain the rational of how you came up with that figure.

• Tailor your message.  Preparing a resume is no small task and it's easy to default to an original.  However, each employer is unique and has different needs.  Be sure that you are using your resume as a way to address each of the job requirements listed by that employer and explain how your skills and experience meet those requirements.

• Use a thesaurus.  Not a wordsmith, not a problem.  Online thesauruses are a great way to make your resume more interesting by removing redundancy.  For example, no one wants to see "improved" ten times in a row.  So mix it up with "enhanced."  The reader of your resume will appreciate the extra effort.