Resume Writing Tip #3 - Customize your resume for every company

Ok, so you have made the decision to post a resume and have created one. But should you use the same resume for every application?

You should spend the extra time and customize your resume for each application. Just like you should customize your cover letter.  These customizations are not re-writing your resume, rather just highlighting and ordering what is important for the people at the company to see.

For example, say you know that company A uses Windows Server and not Linux. You  are competent at both, but your Linux skills are not likely to increase your hiring potential. So you want to demonstrate your Windows knowledge towards the top of the resume, and maybe mention Linux at the bottom just so they know you are well rounded. If you focused on Linux at the top of you resume, your resume might wind up at the top of the garbage can!

Applying for a job is similar to persuasion, and follows many of the same rules. For example, when a child wants a computer, they say "Can I have a computer?". When an employee wants a new computer they might frame it more towards the other person. For example, "A new computer would allow me to work twice as fast and get a lot more done", The same thing apply for getting a job, you need to tell the hiring person not "I want the job", rather the benefits to them if you get the job.

And one way to do this is customize your resume to let them know what you can do for them. Generic resumes are not targeted, and won't grab their attention like one that has been customized. It's not hard, just takes a few more minutes and it gives you the advantage.

The Jobvertise Team

Resume Writing Tip #2 - Formatting your resume

So you have your content, and now it's time to make the presentation. By this I mean formatting your resume in a way that someone who has no background information about you can easily understand you. To accomplish this your resume needs to be broken down in various sections. The type of sections depend on the individual but most people should include "contact information", "education", and "work history" sections. Optional sections could be "skills", "volunteer work", or "military service".

This is where you need to make the determination of the sections you would like to include which will give you the best opportunity to impress the resume reader.

One thing you want to keep thinking about is "keep your resume simple". You don't have to share your life story on your resume, just give the facts and sometimes less content can make more of an impact. For example, if you had a resume with single spacing that filled an entire page it would obviously be too overwhelming. So scale it down, keep plenty of white space, and make it easy to process and understand.

You also should be consistent - never have a section with only one bullet point. It is easy to forget these grammar rules, but bullet points should have two or more. Also check over your resume so words are in a consistent tense. You don't want one bullet point to be "Supervised call center department" and "Evaluating progress reports to keep projects on track". As you can see "Supervised" is in the past tense and "Evaluating" is in the present tense.

Personally I like the verbs to be action oriented and in the past tense. It says what you've done and with authority. Also, ideally it should all fit on one line per bullet point. You don't have much time to get your points across, so you need to make it so your main items are easily understood with a glance.

Once you have your resume formatted you can post your resume free at Jobvertise.com

Resume Writing Tip #1 -Your grammar can be a deal breaker

One important item you want to double check before posting your resumes is your grammar. First, start with your spelling. Incorrect spelling or poor grammar will really hurt your chances because it makes you seem uneducated and not detail oriented.

Over the years I've seen resumes and cover letters that looked like they were written by  a second grader. They go straight to the trash can. If you don't have a spell checker then copy and paste your resume into an editor such as Microsoft Word just to do a quick check of the spelling and remove duplicate words. Microsoft word can even identify phrases that are not grammatically correct so that is a bonus, too.

But even if you do that, it would also help to have someone else take a look. A friend, relative, or hired resume writer can help because the automated checkers are not good at telling the difference  between words like "their" and "there". And you definitely want to get your "your" and "you're" correct on your cover letter as well.

You could have the best qualifications in the world, but if you botch the opening line it really sets the tone for the resume reader to look for other mistakes. Do you want someone trying to find mistakes on your resume?

The best thing you can do is to avoid the deal breaker, and this means cleaning up your grammar and spelling.

And yes, this resume tip was checked in Word!

Do your Homework to Find a Job

Just like in grade school, do your homework!

I've interviewed a lot of people over the years and still astonished about the lack of "homework" done by candidates. It seems like half the people I've interviewed have no idea what the company does, how it earns money, or what actually happens at the facility they are trying to get a job at.

It seems like the only thing they know is the job title, and have never read or understood the requirements of the position.

Especially in a tough economy like right now you need to make it clear that you are serious about the job and know what the employer is looking for. You need to stand out and make your self at the top of the list. A great way you can do this is to research the company, know the divisions, and ask a decent question or two to show that you are on top of things. Ask how the department interacts with other departments (name them specifically) or how they currently accomplish tasks. You can then follow up on these things by showing your expertise and contributing how you would improve the processes if they hired you.

You need to have questions ready when you go in, and there is really no excuse these days since there is so much information on the web. And if you can't find anything about the company you are working for the natural question would be regarding their web presence.

So do your homework and think up a series of questions! You will be remembered for it and it's a great way to show off your enthusiasm and knowledge, even if you just gained that knowledge.

A quick tip from The Jobvertise Team
www.jobvertise.com

Featured Resume helps you Find a Job

As you probably know by now posting your resume on Jobvertise is incredibly easy and free. This puts your resume in our database which is available to 100,000's of requiters and employers.

However we do offer an add on service for a nominal fee which gives your resume much more visibility in the search results. Featured resumes keep your listing higher up in the search order in the special featured section. This means on relevant searches employers will see it on the top of the first page, instead of it dropping down in the search order buried in the results. Also, featured resumes are listed in bold to make them stand out in the search results.

Listing you resume on Jobvertise completely free is a great option. But if you need that extra edge Ffeatured resumes are only $9.95 for one month or $19.95 for 3 months. Feature your resume today!

Free resume posting on Jobvertise.com

For all of Jobvertise the basic services are free. This includes free resume posting in our database, which is quickly approaching 1 million resumes!

You an easily post your resume at http://www.jobvertise.com/jobseekers/admin?register=1

You will be prompted for standard resume information and selecting target categories, etc. We have taken great pains to simplify submitting your resume so you can do this quickly and easily in less than 5 minutes.

Compared to other job sites which requires multiple carpal tunnel inducing sessions to complete your resume posting Jobvertise is a snap. If you already have your resume in Word format simply upload it and confirm and your done.

Sometimes simpler is better, and that is the approach we've taken for the much of the Jobvertise site including resume posting.

A quick note regarding posting your resume - you can always disable your resume from employer searches at any time, but still store your resume in our database for future use by un-checking the 'resume is searchable' option.

Good luck with your job search!

Jobvertise reduces ads

Recently we have made a conscious effort to give users of Jobvertise a better experience by removing ads, increasing contact information and better communication.

Our CEO has written a letter which gives a little insight on how our company is run.

You may notice on individual job pages we have reduced the ads displayed by 80%. Our business model does work around advertising, but we have found that smaller, more targeted ads give good results and generic run of site ads just are not worth the trade off as far as cluttering the web site and giving you a good user experience.

Additionally we have provided contact information for our company at the bottom of each job detail page so you can easily contact us at any time.

All of these changes to Jobvertise should benefit you the jobseeker. We hope you enjoy the changes to the Jobvetise web site.