What’s Your Story?

Many times the first point of contact I have with clients is to look at or help edit their résumé. They are applying for a job and looking to align their experiences with what the role calls for. I find so many of them do not know about the need for strategic keywords and the power of Application Tracking Systems (ATS) in the job market. ATS use algorithms to find candidates who match a group of specified keywords. Unfortunately, it's easy for an applicant who doesn’t align their story with keywords to get lost in the black hole and never make it into the hiring pipeline.  

How do you figure out your keywords? A good tip is to take the job description and create a word cloud. The words that appear most frequently will appear larger. In most cases, those are your keywords. The next step is to take your résumé and do the same. Are they aligned? If yes, great! If not, keep editing your résumé so it is better aligned.

As you look to demonstrate your value to the potential employer using keywords, don’t be afraid to change up your résumé headings. Résumés do not need to be in chronological order. You can note the most relevant experiences to an employer in the first heading (i.e. Marketing Experience) even if your marketing experience is not the most recent. An important tip is to fold your résumé in half, this mirrors what an employer will see in the first 6 to 30 seconds of reading your résumé. Did you get them at hello? Have you told them enough in the top fold that they want to learn more and call you for an interview? Think about your résumé as the highlights of your story.