Picture the recruiting process as though it were a sale. The person who is recruiting is the buyer and you are the actual product. As a product, you have a description detailing what you are all about – an advertisement. This advertisement is your resume, whether you are a teacher, administrator, school counselor, college instructor, or director of curriculum, the resume needs to be focused on the position. This is the first thing that will grab the buyer, or in this case the recruiter’s or hiring manager’s attention. Just as the packaging of a product attracts the attention of the shopper, your resume must catch the attention of the recruiter.

When you are writing your resume, you are using it to market yourself to a prospective employer. For this reason you need to write your resume in a manner that presents you in the best possible light. The following things are what your resume should focus on:

• Career objective – position you are applying for -- Could be Elementary Teacher, Social Studies Teacher, Special Education Teacher, School Principal, Vice Pricipal, Secondary Teacher, etc.

• Qualifications and education credentials

• Your key achievements

• Relevant experience you have gained

• Relevant professional development

• Associations and community involvement

The purpose of the resume: The reason employers require all job applicants to submit a resume, is so they have a method of separating applicants who are qualified for the position, from the ones who lack the necessary qualifications. Your goal is to compose a top quality resume. This is what will secure a job interview with a prospective school district.

How to write an attention grabbing resume: A resume needs to be concise, but at the same time release enough information to entice the reader to pick up the phone for an interview. The process is creating balance, that is why may say that writing a resume is an art. The aim is to get the reader to ‘buy’ your proposal and invite you to come in for an interview. When you get there, this is where you can go into detail about certain aspects of your resume and background. Your resume is an outline of your skills, qualifications, experience, and accomplishments – don’t include irrelevant details.

Look at your resume as a marketing tool: It is important to remember that your resume is your marketing tool and you should use it as such – it is the only thing that represents you in your absence. Ensure that it is visually appealing, content-rich, targeted, contains keywords, and illustrates your ability to do the job with excellence. Being clear and concise in what you have to say is the key.

Make it eye catching: The best way to secure your chances of being called for an interview is to ensure that the first page of your resume catches the employer’s eye. This does not mean that you should print your resume on colorful paper, use thirty-point font, or include graphics. What you should do is make sure that the information presented is easy to read, professionally worded, has white space, and printed on crisp, quality paper. From just looking at the first page, your prospective employer should get a clear picture of your goals, qualifications, and life achievements before they even turn to the second page (if there is a second page).

Use the right tone in your resume: When writing your resume, the language and tone that you set is crucial. If you are not sure of the language to use, browsing the school district’s website can be highly beneficial. From doing this, you will know what kind of language they use, their mission statement. You will also learn something about the school district that you can use at your interview.

Check and triple check: After you have finished writing your resume, you need to proofread it and make sure that you have not made any mistakes. If an employer sees that you have misspelled something, this can put them off entirely because they may think you lack attention to detail, etc. It is also a good idea to have someone else check for mistakes, because often a second set of eyes can spot mistakes that you might miss, and suggestion changes that will make your resume look and read better.