Key words are important when a résumé is being scanned, particularly when being scanned by software which a very few companies are doing now. However, when a human being is reviewing resumes, which is 98% of the time, resume presentation also plays an important role in winning an interview over the other candidates who are applying for the same position as you.

When a resume looks almost exactly the same as the one before it and the one before that etc. they tend to be overlooked regardless of the keywords. The majority of resumes sent to potential employers, employment agencies and recruitment agencies by jobseekers tend to be a word document resume and all of them are very close in structure and format.

Let’s put it this way:

You are the marketer and sales agent for yourself, your skills and work experience. This means that you need to sell yourself and your skills to a potential employer in a better way than the competition for any particular job position being offered.

In much the same way that an advertising company has to sell their services by impressing the potential client with a presentation that will get their attention, so must a resume do the same thing.

The first impression and presentation is the key to getting a potential employer to then look for keywords and go on to look at skill sets and experience. Times have changed! There are more people applying to every job offer than ever before. Employers are receiving 100’s if not thousands of resumes for every job posting they advertise. Finding a way to present yourself with your resume which will get the potential employers attention is the first step in getting that all important interview.

In order to be a step ahead of most everyone else, the text document resume evolved into a Bio Resume. The Bio Resume offered a glimpse into a person’s character and personality as well as showcasing their skills and experience. These bio resumes have worked very well for those using this format.

To build a resume that will get you noticed there are a few things that need to be considered.

1. Be creative in the look, format, layout and presentation of your resume. Remember, your presentation, if done properly, will get the potential employers attention

2. Take a close look at the job being offered and the company offering the position

3. Breakdown the job posting and pick keywords used in that posting for use in your resume

4. Write your career objective in a way that emulates the companies business model that you are applying to

5. In your Career Skills and Employment History sections, make sure you show bottom lines; numbers that show you helped grow the business of your previous employers and the ideas or projects you implemented that were successful in helping the growth of the company

Resumes should not be self promotions but instead, showcases of what you can bring to the company you are applying to. But that is a subject for another article.

These 5 factors will make your resume shine and give you the competitive edge.