CareerOwl Featured Career Article

Here's a fast, easy way to dramatically improve your resume, stand out from the crowd and shorten your job search.

It's this -- focus your resume entirely on the employer and his or her needs.

Period.

Remember, no employer wants to hire you. Employers hate hiring! They only hire people when they have problems to solve.

So, your resume must quickly answer the one question on every employer's mind: "What can you do for me?"

Unfortunately, most resumes don't.

To illustrate, here's the opening objective from a resume that crossed my desk this morning:

OBJECTIVE
A sales engineering position where my interpersonal communication and technical skills will be utilized toward continued growth and advancement.

This may sound fine to the person WRITING the resume. But it alienates the person READING the resume. Because the reader -- your potential employer -- has his own problems. He couldn't care less about your desire for "continued growth and advancement."

Instead, tell employers how you can add value to their operations, or contribute to efficiency. Let's revise that objective this way:

OBJECTIVE
A sales engineering position where my 10 years of communication and technical experience will increase profitability.

See the difference? The first objective says, in effect: "Give me a job, promote me and give me a raise, please." The second one says: "How can I help you increase profits?"

Once you're hired, THEN you can start asking for pay raises, keys to the executive washroom, etc. The resume is never the right place for this "gimme, gimme" mindset.

Here's a second before-and-after example:

OBJECTIVE (before)
To obtain an entry-level management position with an established organization. (Why make a demand on the reader by requesting his/her organization be "established"?)

OBJECTIVE (after)
Position where proven management skills and a superior work ethic will add value. (This says: "I have the skills, I'll work hard and you'll profit as a result.")

So, take a good look at your resume today. Are you focusing on you and your needs? If so you have a lot of company. And your job search is probably taking longer than it should.

To get that job faster, focus your resume on the employer and how you can help solve their problems.

Best of luck to you!

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Kevin Donlin is Managing Editor of 1 Day Resumes. The 1DR writers provide same-day, one-on-one resume writing assistance. He is also author of "Resume and Cover Letter Secrets Revealed," a do-it-yourself manual that will help you find a job in 30 days ... or your money back. For more information, click here.

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