What is Your Resume IQ?

My resume hones into a specific, target market. It is not a “general resume.” The language does not focus on my past nor does it express what I want. Instead, it explicitly tells my next employers how they will benefit.

My resume immediately engages the reader with a powerful profile and theme. Each section draws the reader through the document. The reader’s interest is piqued and then maintained from start to end.

My resume emphasizes how I will benefit employers and meet their precise vision, mission, and needs. It shows how I can exceed the targets, goals, and objectives of the position that they want to fill.

My resume is selling me not just telling my story. It offers a clear Value Proposition and sales pitch that makes me stand apart from the competition with a visible promise of value and results.

My resume uses marketing phrases and action verbs to portray my unique “brand” to employers. It shows my next employer why I am a better catch than all the other qualified candidates might be.

My resume uses the most effective format, style, and strategy for my particular situation. It shifts attention away from problems in my career history and other potential weaknesses. It mitigates any obstacles and “red flags” and instead focuses only on reasons that I should be selected for an interview.

My resume is packed with job-specific key words and industry-specific language that recruiters and employers will zone in on. Readers are pleasantly surprised and intrigued by all the competencies and skills that I possess that they are looking for.

My resume has no spelling, grammar, or readability errors. The clarity, content, and flow are impeccable. I have paid special attention to parallelism, sentence structure, numeric uniformity, idioms, modifiers, punctuation, capitalization, and active language.

My resume accentuates my achievements so that they stand out. My achievements do not read like a listing of accountabilities or duties. Each is specific, future-focused, transferable, action-oriented, and shows measurable results.

My resume uses an upscale, branded design that is sure to catch positive attention. It does not look like other templates found in my word processing program, on the internet, or in books. It is not copied from a sample that a friend, colleague, recruiter, consultant, or outplacement company gave me.