Target, target, target. Focus.

If you don’t know what you want to do with your career, you’re not ready to write your resume. A resume is NOT a history of your career. It is a sales pitch. You MUST tell your “customer” what h/she wants to hear. How will you solve the prospective employer’s problems? How will you ease his pain? In the private sector, you can’t help him make money in some way, whether directly or through support, you have little value.

Read each job announcement you apply to, pull out the key words and target your resume to that job. Yes, every resume may have to be tweaked a bit, but you’ll enjoy much more success.

I’ve found in working with my clients that one of the most difficult elements of the resume process is understanding that the resume is NOT a history of their careers. Until I get their thinking turned around, all I get for information is job descriptions. A resume is not about the job; it’s about the candidates performance within the job parameters.

The resume is a sales pitch! You must convince the prospective employer that you will bring value to the organization.