Get Yourself Out of a Job You Hate and Land Your Dream Job

Discover What Australian Recruiters Want in Your Resume and Learn How to Create a Professional Resume

You're either feeling unappreciated for the effort you have put in to your job or you have simply outgrown the company who offers no further opportunities for you to continue to develop your career. 

Every day is a struggle to get to work, and there are people there that you would be glad to never see again.  You've had enough and it's time to move on. 

A resume is your passport to a successful job search, it's the very first thing you need to do before you contact any companies.  It's a professional career marketing document that needs to be written with a goal in mind.  It needs to speak to the interviewer and motivate them to jump over to the phone and call you. 

1. How to Increase Your chances of an interview
2. Top 7 resume mistakes 
3. Ensure your resume complies with keyword searchable databases 
4. Structure your resume according to your work experience 
5. How to Create Achievements for Your New Resume
6. Get more interviews with an 'achievement based' resume

How to Increase your Chances of a Job interview:

 Tailor Your Resume to Each Application 

Reach Your Dream Job Faster 

Whether you are writing a resume or a covering letter, imagine you are in the employer's position and need to find a well skilled, reliable staff member who will fit in with the rest of the team.

 

 

Employers would see you as someone who will save them time and money, as you are bound to be more efficient than someone who doesn't know how to work on computers. 

Choose the personality traits and skills that would benefit the employer and promote them throughout your resume.  

 

As another example:

 

A mother who has stayed at home to raise children may be able to demonstrate how she has become multi-skilled, highly organised, with excellent negotiation and time management skills.

 

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Top 7 Resume Mistakes

1. Spelling Errors, Typographical Errors and Poor Grammar

Spell check won't catch every mistake. -Manger- is a correctly spelled word, but it means something very different from -manager.-

 

2. Only Listing Responsibilities

 

Only listing the responsibilities in previous positions misses the purpose of your resume. Your resume should highlight your achievements that are applicable for the position that you are seeking.

3. Inaccurate Dates or None at All

 

Include specific ranges in months and years for every position. If you have gaps, explain them in your cover letter.

 

4. Inaccurate or Missing Contact Information

 

You create a resume to be invited in for an interview, so be sure that every resume you send has your correct contact information, including name, phone number, email address and street address. Interviewers will not look you up; they'll move on to the next candidate. 

 

5. Poor Formatting

 

Use no more than two different fonts, and ensure they comply with the scanning systems used within organizations and recruitment agencies.  Arial, Times New Roman and Century Gothic are acceptable. 

6. Functional Resumes

 

Whenever possible, interviewers advise you go with a chronological resume and focus on the skills and achievements that pertain to the job you're seeking. Australian employers accept that you may have taken time off for family or to travel the world, so there is no need to try and disguise it. 

 

7. Long Paragraphs

 

Australian employers want to read about your skills and education in a summarized form, specifically in bullet points format.  Focus on the skills and achievements that directly relate to the job you are applying for.   Do not dwell on the specifics of each job, but rather highlights the skills and achievements that are relevant to that job application.

 

"What a relief! I am so glad I am with the right people now.  Thanks for your job searching advice, I will definitely be calling upon your services to solve any future job changes."  - Luxman, Engineer &  CAD/Cam Draftsperson, ProEngineer Expert (Sri Lanka)

 

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Ensure your resume complies with 'Keyword Searchable Databases'

Many large organizations and recruitment firms are using them.  They work by entering certain keywords that serve as selection criteria for the software to measure your resume information against. 

These are often the vital elements of the job experience, skills and qualifications being sought by the employer. 

If your resume contains a high percentage of keywords matching those that the computer is programmed to recognize, it has a better chance of surviving this first step in the selection process. 

If it can't read your resume, there won't be any job interviews!

For example, If you want a Business Analyst job, your resume requires technical skills to be succinctly listed.  To obtain a job interview:

• Include all skills, knowledge and experience you have had with  computer packages, network infrastructures, software applications, languages, operating systems and databases. 

Same methodology is used for jobs in Information Technology, Equities Analyst, Finance Management, Accounting and Engineering jobs.

 

Clearly outline what you did to contribute to the company's profit.

 

* This shows that you were thinking about the bottom line, and sometimes that's more important than what you actually achieved!

 

 

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Suggested Format

1. Describe the Situation tell them where and when it happened.
2. Describe the Obstacles and Challenges you faced.
3. Outline the Actions you took to resolve the problem and overcome the obstacle.  Describe how your interpersonal and/or communicate skills came into play for effective resolution.
4. Describe the result of the situation, any acknowledgement or recognition you received and finally, but most importantly, how the company or industry benefited. 

Nearly all jobs have the opportunity of saving their employer money or increasing the profit margin. 

You can find achievements that sound impressive, and that's what employers want to hear more about in the job interview. 

Remember that responsibilities are simply things that you were supposed to do and what you were employed to do. They don't tell the employer anything about what you did above and beyond the call of duty or expectation.