Resume Roulette
When a job seeker posts his/her resume on a large job board, they become one of hundreds of thousands or millions of resumes in that database. When they apply to a job posting they become one of hundreds, sometime thousands of applicants for that job.
Most midlevel and executive job seekers who find themselves having difficulties getting the attention of the recruiters and are experiencing delays and problems in their job search share a common theme, they have all of their eggs in one basket. Just like in roulette where the more numbers you play the better the odds of winning, the more resumes you have the better your chances are of being seen. Also, as in roulette, you do not increase you chances by betting more chips on one number, you increase your odds by betting on more than 1 number. With your job search you must have more than one type of resume to be competitive and to increase your odds of being seen, not just one resume posted on many job boards.
Why do I need multiple resumes? Simple, you are probably a good candidate for more than one type of position; therefore you need to have a targeted resume for each position type that you are seeking. Additionally, you have a better chance of being selected if the recruiter who is viewing your resume believes that you have the appropriate experience and are specifically looking for this type of position. I will use Bob as an example:
Bob’s most recent position was the Executive vice president of a small international software company; his responsibilities included Sales, Sales Management, Business Development, General Management/Operations, Marketing & Customer Service. Of all of those rolls, Bob prefers; Business Development, sales management, general management/operations & marketing. Therefore, Bob should have the following resumes (at least):
- Sales Management, this resume should focus on the specific tasks, responsibilities and accomplishments in the area of sales management. Highlighting tasks such as recruiting, training & managing as sales force, achieving quota, awards & recognition.
- Business Development, this resume should focus on the specific tasks, responsibilities and accomplishments in the area of Business Development.
Highlighting tasks such as channel development, established reseller programs & negotiated partnerships, Generated a _% increase in revenue from your business development initiatives. Managed partner programs, resellers & affiliates.
- General Management & Operations, this resume should focus on the specific tasks, responsibilities and accomplishments in the area of Operations & General Management. Highlighting tasks such as increased efficiencies, reduced costs, implemented programs, streamline operations, managed P&L, raised capital, under your leadership the company grew from $ in revenues (or profit) to $ , a _% increase.
Marketing, this resume should focus on the specific tasks, responsibilities and accomplishments in the area of Marketing. Highlighting tasks such as successful new product and/ or service launch, managed $ ___ marketing budget for _____brand/division, generate __ results which was an ____% increase over the previous year, experience with print, online, email, radio, TV, and gorilla tactics.
- Executive Vice President, this will be his combo resume which lists all components of Bob’s experience, he will use this when the position is seeking someone with all of those skills.
Once you have this personal reserve of targeted resumes, you need to begin to apply intelligently. When you see a marketing position, use your marketing resume, a sales management job, use your sales management resume etc.
For a Free Personalized Job search Strategy sign up for your Free Report!
