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CONTENTS

03 Tip #1: POSITION YOUR R?SUM? WITH A TARGET IN MIND 05 Tip #2: REMEMBER YOUR READER! 09 Tip #3: INFUSE YOUR R?SUM? WITH YOUR PERSONAL BRAND 10 Tip #4: SHOWCASE YOUR UNIQUE VALUE PROPOSITION 13 Tip #5: BE SUCCINCT! 15 Tip #6: BEEN THERE, DONE THAT! GIVE THEM PROOF 17 Tip #7: START WITH THE SIZZLE 19 Tip #8: APPLY THE CARS TECHNIQUE TO WEAVE A

POWERFUL,COMPELLING STORY 23 Tip #9: WRITE A MARKETING DOCUMENT. NOT AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY! 25 Tip #10: LEAD WITH STRONG VERBS 26 Tip #11: LOSE THE CLICH?S 27 Tip #12: INCLUDE IMPORTANT KEYWORDS 30 Tip #13: UNDERSTAND APPLICANT TRACKING SYSTEMS 32 Tip #14: THINK STRATEGICALLY 33 Tip #15: DESIGN YOUR R?SUM? TO BE MORE SKIMMABLE & EASILY

UNDERSTOOD WITH A SPEED READ 35 Tip #16: ADD POPS OF COLOR 38 Tip #17: USE GRAPHICS, TABLES, GRAPHS & CHARTS 46 Tip #18: FINISHING DETAILS 47 Tip #19: PROOFREAD. PROOFREAD.PROOFREAD AGAIN 48 Tip #20: TAILOR CONTENT TO THE JOB

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20 Tips to Modernize Your

R?sum? for 2020 (and beyond)

If you are thinking about making a career move, your r?sum? is probably top of mind.

While the importance for your career and job search of the internet and online profiles on sites such as LinkedIn continues to increase, the traditional r?sum? isn't going away any time soon. In fact, you may find that your traditional r?sum? is now being incorporated into online profiles, both as a download and repurposed content.

Unfortunately, as essential as the r?sum? is, for many job seekers, writing and crafting a r?sum? is one of the most stressful and daunting tasks they will face in the job search.

Complicating things further, r?sum? best practices and recommendations continually change, and this has been especially true over the past decade as the need to make your r?sum? stand out in an increasingly digital world has accelerated.

Fear not! Drawing on my near-quarter-century of experience as a professional r?sum? writer, in this document, I've outlined the 20 best ways you can modernize your r?sum?.

But what if you need more help or support?

At Distinctive Career Services, LLC, over the past 20+ years, we have worked with thousands of professionals, managers, executives, and emerging executives, writing powerful, attention-grabbing r?sum?s and creating aggressive, successful strategic marketing campaigns.

As a partner to our clients in the job search process, we provide one-on-one, personalized assistance in creating r?sum?s, cover letters, LinkedIn profiles, and practical support, establishing the foundation for your entire job search campaign and success in a market that grows ever more complex.

If you think you might benefit from this type of support, I encourage you to book a free 30-minute discovery consultation with us (), to discuss your needs, answer your questions, and see if we may be a good fit to work together.

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Tip #1: POSITION YOUR R?SUM?

WITH A TARGET IN MIND

If you don't know what you want and where you are going, what makes you think a busy employer will take the time to figure it out for you?

Honestly, they won't, and they shouldn't! Position your r?sum? with a specific goal in mind. The more specific you can be, the better. Ask yourself these questions:

1. What job function are you seeking to perform? (e.g., marketing, engineering, operations, etc.) 2. At what level? (e.g., associate, supervisor, director, etc.) 3. In what industry or industries? (e.g., software, pharmaceutical, energy, etc.) 4. In what size company? (e.g., startup, mid-size regional, large multinational, etc.) 5. Facing what type of challenge? (e.g., international expansion, sales turnaround, business

growth, etc.) The first two questions are essential to answer, but the more of the remaining three you can answer, the better focused your r?sum? will be. Now that you are clear on your focus, how will you communicate it? Objective statements are out of vogue. Employers are more interested in knowing what you can do for them and how you will fit in their company and meet their needs than that you are "seeking a challenging opportunity with room for growth."

But just because you ditched the objective, don't waste the valuable r?sum? real estate the objective used to hold. Instead, create a headline statement that immediately conveys your focus to the reader.

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At a glance, your headline statement should inform the reader who you are, where you would fit in the company, and what you offer them, illustrated in these examples.

Properly focusing your r?sum? is critical. Once your r?sum? is finished, show it to a few trusted family or friends and ask them to tell you how they understand your focus. If necessary, edit your content until your focus is immediately and clearly communicated.

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Tip #2: REMEMBER YOUR READER!

Pre-screening often occurs electronically, but don't forget it is a person who reads your r?sum? and calls you for an interview.

That person may be the employer, or they may be a representative of that employer. Either way, the employer has needs and reasons they are hiring.

Your r?sum? should not just list what you have done in the past. Instead, it needs to speak to the employer's needs. It should sell you and illustrate with examples how you have the proven capabilities to meet those needs.

When I share this advice with clients, they immediately agree but, almost without fail, express confusion about how to put this into practice.

If you are struggling with this, let me share an insider technique that will help.

Do a little research on the job boards. Go ahead and do it right now. Pull up a Google search page and type in "jobs," followed by a title that describes the position you are looking for.

Once you hit search, you will be presented with a page that allows you to filter even more precisely if you wish.

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This great, little-known technique will draw from postings on all the major job sites.

Try to find at least six job openings that you believe you are qualified for, that appeal to you, and that are representative of the types of positions for which you will apply.

Save those descriptions to your hard drive or print them. Then, read through the job descriptions with a highlighter. First, highlight all the keywords that describe the soft and hard skills sought in a candidate. Also, highlight keywords describing the experience they seek. (We will return to how you will use these keywords later.)

Now read the job descriptions a second time, looking for the similarities and differences between the opportunities. Again, since these positions appeal to you, you will likely see more similarities than differences.

Perhaps most of the opportunities come from a single industry. Perhaps they are primarily in mid-sized companies that are currently in growth mode. Maybe they all require experience leading a cross-functional, multi-site team.

Whatever they are, in the content of your r?sum?, you will want to showcase your capabilities relevant to these similarities prominently.

But don't discard the differences you find. For example, suppose the different qualification sought has broad appeal likely to be of interest to other employers within your target market. In that case, you should include it in your r?sum? even though it wasn't explicitly called out in the other ads.

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Or, if the different qualification sought is too specialized and unlikely to be of interest to other employers, you may wish to create a slightly modified version of your r?sum? specifically for that employer in which you call out your experience in the specialty qualification.

Finally, read through the job listings a third time. This time, specifically look for clues that tell you the employers' motivation for hiring.

Remember that the employer is investing in hiring you. Like all investments, they will seek a return on their investment (ROI). If you dig deep enough, most employers seek candidates who will deliver ROI by making them money, saving them money, improving efficiency, or solving some challenging problem for them.

If you can identify the most important ROI sought for the types of positions you are seeking, the information will guide you in deciding what to showcase in your r?sum?.

Write a r?sum? that is relevant to the prospective employer's needs. For example, do you know it is a growing organization, and you will have to build the department from scratch? Tell stories that illustrate how you have done that in the past, like in the above example.

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