Thank you for purchasing our Resume Templates.  To help you customise the template to highlight your most relevant skills, abilities and achievements, I also include a resume information sheet for you to use to record all the details of the last 5 - 10 years of your working history.  This document will ask you all the great questions that a Professional Resume Writer would when preparing to create your resume.

We are specifically interested in highlighting examples of when you have gone above and beyond the call of expectation for Your employers, clients and the stakeholders you have been dealing with.

So that the readers of your resume can see your full scope of ability and skill level, more attention should be given on outlining your achievements and describing incidents when you have been most appreciated for the extra effort you put in.

I have listed some suggestions below to start your memory thinking of all the times that you have been recognised for your skills and ability.

• Solved a significant problem for Your Employer or One of Your Clients.
• Thought 'outside the square' on how to approach a potentially risky issue.
• Dealt with a difficult customer or stakeholder in an effective manner.
• Introduced a procedure or process that saved Your Employer time in administration,operations or marketing, sales conversion etc.
• Demonstrated innovative thinking to tackle an incident or area of concern.
• Proposed an idea or strategy that made Thakral more profit or increased revenue.

You see, most people can do what is outlined in a job description, so we just don't state "Key Responsibilities" any more.  Resumes have changed format over the last 5 years in that the hiring manager wants to know how you have coped with the high pressure, stress, peak times and crisis situations.  They want to know what challenges you were faced with when you were just working through your daily tasks. 

For example, it is common for companies to work with limited resources, so showcasing how you can turn out top results with limited resources is a great example that many hiring managers would be interested in reading.

1. Brainstorm all the projects, responsibilities and extra tasks that you have taken on in each of the positions you have had over the last 10 or so years (If you've been on leave, you can go back 20 years) 
2. Flesh out each of the points you create and describe what the challenge or obstacle was, that made it difficult for you to achieve that project deadline, responsibility or task, then include what action you took to overcome the obstacles so you could achieve the results you set out to attain.  This is called the CAR method (Challenge, Action, and Result) and it is the structure we use to create resumes, and it also forms the structure of your job interview answers when you meet the decision makers....
3. Think about it from your boss' point of view now.  If they were asked what is your key strength, the thing that makes you a valuable employee, what do you think they would say?  Now imagine asking the same question to 2 or 3 of your trusted colleagues.  Whatever they say is gold!  Think of times when you have proven to have this talent, skill or attribute in the workplace over the last 5 years.  These things they list could all have one or two things in common, what are they?  The answer could well be described as your 'signature strength' - this is what makes you unique, and this point should be showcased in your achievements and articulated in your resume.

7 Pillars to Creating a Brilliant Resume

1.       This is the most important question, as it sets how the strategy / job application will be written.

 

2.       Every statement will be tailored to promote some skill, capability or piece of knowledge to showcase your most relevant attributes.

 

3.       If your are unable to clearly articulate where you want to go, and what you want to do, we suggest you engage in some career planning / coaching.

 

4.       Research similar jobs that are available right now, record the names of the top 4 recruitment firms/ organisations that are advertising vacancies.

1.       What specific traits do you possess, that have been requested in each of the job advertisements. It may help for you to imagine you are one of your manager's or clients.  You need to recognise and decipher what part of your character is highly regarded within your work place, so you know to promote this in your resume and job interview (the answer to this question will be woven through your achievements, as it forms part of 'how' they bring about positive outcomes)

 

2.       Describe 3  times where those traits have benefited an previous employer/ client or stakeholder to resolved a problem or improved a situation.

 

3.       If you can't provide a brief synopsis of your own personality, we suggest a personality profiling exercise (eg DISC Profiling, accessible through a career coach)

· the target industry

· the target profession

· industries or professions that are closely connected to this industry/profession?

1.       Collect details of the projects and responsibilities that you have done so the reader of the resume can understand the scope of your job function.

 

2.        Explore times when you have resolved problems for your organisation, and for you clients/suppliers and or stakeholders.   Have you had to deal with any disasters or crises, and how they helped the company?

 

3.       If you are on LinkedIn, we suggest you connect with all the people you know across all industries, it will help build a strong network that may benefit you when executing your career strategy.

4.  What practical and technical skills do you have that will align with the target employer/profession and industry?

1.       Focus heavily on the last 5 years, it is advisable to condense older positions or only highlight relevant information.  Deleting older positions is also permissible.  

 

2.       The sentence structure should not be in perfectly constructed sentences, rather broken English, with as few 'filler words' as possible. (eg. to, and, the, a)

 

3.       Keep the tense consistent.  Ensure phrasing is either in present tense, past tense or descriptive.  In the skills summary, we always use descriptive phrases such as Stakeholder Management (not managing stakeholders).  When employment is current, we use present tense, and in previous positions we use past tense.

 

4.       Elevate the reader's interest to the point they need to see the client for an interview.  Clearly and descriptively communicate the detail and scope of your experience and accomplishments.  

 

5.       Avoid using ambiguous terms that don't define exactly what you have done (eg 'responsible for customer service' should be replaced with a description of exactly what you did to achieve high service standards.

 

6.       Be careful not to use industry jargon or terminology if you seek opportunities that do not use the same terminology or methodologies in their work practices.

 

7.       The Overview section of the resume should be written last.  The 4 - 6 lines of text can be made up of firstly outlining the challenges you have faced in the last 5 years, and then a brief summary of your scope of effectiveness in each position over the last 5 or so years.

1. Give relevant examples of when you have used specific skills to solve a problem or advance the organisation's success in achieving it's mission/purpose ie. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

'When you first started at this company, what were a couple of areas where you identified blocks to efficiency/ workflow or service delivery standards?'

'When you first started in these positions, what were the main areas you identified as problematic, what type of environment / situation did you walk into?'

 

 

 

 

 

2.  In order to create a targetted resume, identify the specific skills and experience requested in each of the job adverts.

 

The achievements will be focused on the topics that   relate to these job adverts.  Look to the key words in the job adverts and apply the STAR (or CAR) approach to describe a problem that the client has solved.

 

3.   Every achievement needs to be put into context (ie, what were the obstacles and challenges that made it difficult to success in achieving such a positive outcome? What was the economy like, the culture like, the work environment like etc etc?  - Imagine yourself in the position of the client and brainstorm ideas on what could have made it difficult for the client to achieve these things) 

 

4.  Investigate achievements that have already been provided and question about the motivation behind making the change / improvement.  You've got to understand what motivates you to take the initiative, or why you think laterally to resolve problems or increase efficiencies, for example.  Go through each achievement and ensure you have outlined context of the situation, have quantifiable evidence and information so the reader can fully appreciate the final outcome/result. Note, be careful not to be negative when describing the initial situation that the company was presented in.

Ask some or all of the following questions:

 

1.       What did you face in your first few days or weeks of the job?  Was it a difficult time?  If so, why?  

 

2.       What did your initial induction, training involve?  What aspects of the job did it not cover?  How did you overcome this gap in training?

 

3.       What were the aspects of the job that were glanced over in the job interview, that perhaps became prominent problems that you needed to attend to in your first 3 months?

 

4.       What job functions were you 'thrown into', areas where your initial knowledge and skill was perhaps low, and you needed to quickly research information and access resources to become up to speed?

 

5.       When you were serving your first 3 months, what where the personal challenges you had to overcome. eg Did you need to research the industry to develop a deeper understanding of the needs of the clients etc?  Is this the first time yo have worked for a multi-national organisation / SME or start up?  If so, how was it different and how did you adapt so you could fit in an meet the needs of the clients?

 

6.       Executives - When an executive starts a new position, they are especially challenged within the first few months with a whole host of problems to overcome.   Certain issues that may have not been disclosed in the job interview, were to become areas of immediate concern in your first few months.  Did this happen to you?  If so, could you please explain the Situation, your actions and the end result?

 

7.       Executives - When you started with your jobs, did you create a 100 day action plan, so you could show what you have achieved within that time frame?  If so, could you please outline your goals, your actions and the end results?

 

8.       Executives - Please tell me about any project you worked on that made the company money, saved them money, made them more efficient or productive, or   improved their carbon foot print etc?

1.       List relevant education, professional development and other courses that are relevant to the target job.  Consider incorporating subject content if key words can be used to increase the SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Courses over 10 years ago are deemed to be outdated.

 

2.       What professional associations have you joined.  This will build credibility, and allow for greater networking to increase your awareness of the industry and available opportunities.

 

3.       Finally, the reference details, we now suggest that this be included this in another document and be presented at time of interview, if requested.

 

 

Time for a Cuppa!

 

Now we suggest you have a break.  We suggest having at least 20 minutes to 12 hours off reading the document before you proofread it.

Time for Proofreading

 

1. Ensure the Resume is Saved in a Word 97 - 2003 version (some employers will not have the latest technology) 
2. Get a highlighter and Red Pen
3. Print the document off, go and sit in another room (this will change your perspective) and read it like you were the recruiter or hiring manager.

Try to improve at least 6 things.  Read the job advertisements again and ensure that all the key words are stated in the resume (or as many as are applicable).

 

Time to Send it Off - But Before You DO.......

 

Here is the golden tip that may very well get you the interview (it did for me everytime I used it!).

 

Ring the Hiring Manager

 

If you can track down the person who is responsible for hiring this position, make it your biggest priority to try and speak with them on the phone.

 

Ask them for further information about the role.  Ask if there are any skills or information that is not mentioned in the job advertisement but is what is preferred.

 

They will then ask you to introduce yourself, and this is where you give your elevator speech (2 minutes to describe a little about yourself and your experience and future aspirations).

 

Practice the conversation by saying it out loud.  If you are sharing the room with someone else, leave the room so you can have some privacy, or ask them to pretend they are the hiring manager for this role.  Give them the job advert and ask them to play along and try to act like they are the manager.  Get them to ask questions such as:

 

1. Tell me a little bit about yourself
2. How is your experience relevant to this role?
3. When are you available for interviews / or to start in this new position?
4. What sort of money are you looking for?

 

OMG!  What was that last question?  Do they really ask that on the first phone call?  You better believe it.  So, we must make sure we have done our market research to know what a role like this is worth in today's market.  Google "Salary Survey Report"  with your job title in it, and get 3 quotes using the top search results.

 

 

Further Resources to help you

 

How to Clinch Massive Interest Within the First 5 Minutes of the Telephone Screening Call.

 

Professional Editing Services - you can get a quote from us to o