| This post is part of our series on free resume help. Learn why the format of your resume (and cover letter) is important.
You can’t judge a book by its cover — but you can, and will, judge a resume (and cover letter!) by its appearance. A recruiter’s first glimpse at your resume can make or break your chances of getting that resume read — and seriously considered. A professional resume writer is skilled at formatting your resume to maximize three things:
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There’s a good reason why people decide to invest in a professionally written resume: it stands out from the pack. A professionally written resume doesn’t carry a headline — “WRITTEN BY A PROFESSIONAL!” — but it clearly conveys a unique tone and approach that makes it effective and, most importantly, gets it noticed. So what can you expect a professionally written resume to include? In other words, what makes it so great? Here are 5 characteristics of a professionally written resume:
1. It begins with an at-a-glance objective and client profile.
The first thing a reader of your resume will see is your objective — the position you’re targeting — as well as a series of quick, strong key words that immediately communicate who you are, what your core strengths entail, or what you’ve achieved. For example, this portion of the resume might look like this:
| SOLAR ENERGY PROJECT MANAGER
On-Time/On-Budget Delivery • Multi-Million-Dollar Revenue Growth • Cost Savings |
As a recruiter, I’ve had countless conversations with excited, motivated and very eager people that are looking to break into Clean-Tech. Like many, they are looking to do something more meaningful at work and something that transcends and has a deep impact. Another group of job seekers, and they are not necessarily mutually exclusive, are those eying the Clean-Tech space as a potential island in a very tumultuous economic sea.
Unfortunately, it is hard to assess just how much value you can provide to a sector that you know very little about. I will put forth that for a cash constrained company, it is difficult to project how success in an unrelated industry might translate to success in the industry they operate in.
Clean Tech is sexy, and job seekers all around the world are looking for ways to enter this exciting market. But the job search can be daunting, and it can take months to land a job. Career changers with several years of experience in other industries are facing additional challenges as some are not confident applying directly for clean technology positions.
The best way to boost your confidence is to learn about the companies and technologies, to identify what you are passionate about, and to learn what roles your experience is best suited for. To do that, you need to research, attend conferences, and network! (See: Does Your CleanTech Job Hunt S***?)
The core tool you should have in your search is an outstanding resume. A professional resume writer can help you identify your most important skills, leverage your previous experience, and position yourself for a CleanTech job. CleanTechies talked to Andy Burnett, a seasoned Sales & Business Development professional, about his decision to work with a professional resume writer.
The title of this article is statistically correct. You may indeed have a great resume, but if so, you are in the minority.
If you are looking for a CleanTech job, and you think your resume looks great, you might want to run it by some friends – ideally with HR background. Most resumes out there are anything but good, not to say terrible. If you ever been a hiring manager, you know what I’m talking about: Five pages of resume for three years of work experience, endless task descriptions with no reference to notable achievements, useless information squished into a confusing layout, and a clutter of unrelated seminars, medals, and trophies – not to mention typos and grammatical mistakes…
The list of “no-goes” is long when it comes to writing a winning resume – and so is the record of tips and suggestions. But what does a winning resume look like?