Your resume is your career passport.

Is your resume a passport to a better future? or is it a stagnant, ordinary piece of  work that doesn’t attract much attention?

I believe it’s a VITAL career Investment, and in this post we will evaluate whether your resume is helping or hindering your future security, satisfaction and success rates at the job application stage.

I have a picture in my head of how I would like to spend the rest of my life.. it looks something like this.. loads of freedom, loads of money, and loads of dreams fulfilled!  Your future may look a bit different, but deep down we are a all a bit the same.  Very few of us want to be working so long and hard that we forget, or don’t have time for the simple stuff!  Now what has this got to do with your resume? well, EVERYTHING!   

Your resume gets you either noticed or ignored It holds POWER and may mean the difference between staying in a dull, poorly paid job to gaining a career filled with job satisfaction.  It’s the KEY to unlocking a new pathway and perhaps a better life!

Resumes need to be all of the following:

• continually updated and revised by adding new jobs/skills/training etc
• meet current industry/workplace standards by using correct terms and contemporary language
• be a true reflection of your worth and potential
• not arrogant yet not too humble either
• totally free of spelling and grammatical errors
• pack a punch and engage the reader – not looking like a cookie cutter resume
• have relevant referees who you KNOW are 100% trustworthy
• be truthful and honest without “too much information”
• match the job you are applying for, and include details of skills, experience and knowledge that can be reconciled against the job advertised (making the reader’s life easier as they can see a correlation /connection, enough to place you on the short list)

It’s THE most important career document you possess. It can either yield you an interview or it can make your application obsolete.

So, where do you start? here’s a guide

Get hold of your resume, read over and better still, have an objective third party review the layout and contents.

Obtain an expert opinion -HR professional or recruiter

Test the market – if your resume is successful, then more often than not, you will be called in for an interview, if however, you are NOT contacted… Houston, we have a problem resume!

Ivana Agapiou Resume writer and career advisor