Does Your Resume Stand Out?

The second half of 2009 is going to be a great time to look for a new job... if you make sure your resume stands out.

Most companies are done with lay-offs. Now when an employee leaves, the employee needs to be replaced quickly.

During recessions, employers need people with better skill sets. When lay-offs occur, the employees who are left have to do more. Your resume needs to show employers how strong your skills are.

“Employers never bother to respond to my resume, emails, or phone calls.”

If employers are not contacting you, it’s time to evaluate what you are doing wrong:

• Your resume looks like every other resume. Employers often get hundreds of resumes for a job. It doesn’t matter how good your experience is, if your resume looks like all the others. Employers quickly scan resumes. If they don’t see information that grabs their attention the employer is unlikely to respond.
  
  
• Do you read everything you receive? Or do you only read something when it looks interesting? How do you know if something is going to be interesting? By looking at the headline, or graphics, or something that attracts your attention?
  
  
• Many job seekers apply to the wrong jobs. “That looks like a really great job, with a good company, in an area I’d like to live.” We’ve all seen jobs like that, but do we have the experience to do the job? When you see these jobs, you can still send your resume. But identify that you may not be ready for the position advertised, but would like to be considered for other positions.
  
  
• Does your resume spell out your experience for the job being advertised? You may have the experience, but is it included in your resume?
  
  
• Are you applying for the right job, but at the wrong quality level? Budget roadside hotel experience does not transfer to five star hotels and resorts. Guest expectations of each type of hotel are so different that potential employers are not going to take a chance that someone can make the adjustment.
  
  

If you feel you have what it takes to go from a budget property to a luxury property, do it in steps. Move up gradually. As employers see you are moving up in quality level, they become more comfortable that you can take the next step up.

Three Simple Steps to Make Your Resume Pop

1. Include a catchy or hard hitting Objective.

Think of your objective as a headline. What type of job are you looking for? Employers are looking for job seekers who are looking for the exact job they have open. Employers also want to immediately know you have experience at properties of similar size or quality to their property.

Example: Catering Sales position with dynamic hotel or resort. A step up from my current 230 room Hilton where I booked $830,000 in revenue in 2008 (Exceeded quota by $80,000.)

Or:

Are you looking for a Catering Sales Manager who has exceeded sales quotas each of the last 3 years? Someone who consistently brings 20-50 new clients to the hotel each year? If so, let’s talk.

2. Experience should come right after your objective.

Many people start with a list of skills or buzz words identifying things they have done. Others include accomplishments. Don’t fall into this trap! The great majority of employers skip this section of the resume their first time through. If an employer is going to skip something, don’t waste valuable space or time writing it.

There was a big push to prominently enter skills when it was thought that all resumes would be scanned through parsing services. This isn’t what happens at 95% of hospitality employers.

• List your title, property and company, city and state.
  
  
• Briefly describe your property or company. Include the size of the property, revenue, occupancy, meeting space, number of F&B outlets, etc. Remember, people reading your resume probably have never seen your property or been to your company before.
  
  

Paste in 2-4 small pictures of your property. Pictures are worth a 1000 words. Including pictures also indicates you know a little about technology and know the importance of presentation.

Continuing with the headline example above. If I’m looking for a Catering Sales Manager, describing the property and including pictures shows me you know the importance of presentation in closing sales. You haven’t said the words, you have shown them a simple example.

• Title a section: Key Accomplishments and list 2-4 key accomplishments in this job. Quantify, quantify, quantify. Yes, employers want to know what you did, but more important is how well you did it.
  
  

Example:
Averaged 17 cold call visits to businesses per week for 102 weeks. Booked an average of 3 cold calls per week at revenue ranging from $700-27,000 (Averaged $16,200 per week.)

Up-sold 62% of all business booked by average of $2,200.

Rebooked 50% of business that could be re-booked. (51% of catering sales was weddings and other one-time social events.)

Each of these accomplishments encourages the prospective employer to pick up the phone and ask you how you did it. The resume will definitely stand out from the crowd.

3. Keep paragraphs short and use lots of white space.

Look at this article. No paragraph is longer than 5 lines. There is a space between bullet points so each item can be read (skimmed) very quickly. Facts are short and clear (except for the teaser on rebooking.)

Most employers skim resumes to divide them into two stacks, those that will be read carefully and those that will never be looked at again.

Need some help with your resume? Use My Career Toolkit as a guide. Once you have entered information, you can check off what you want to include in your resume and the software will automatically format your resume for review.

Give employers what they want: a great employee... YOU!

Make your next career move your most successful yet.