Tales from the Resume Reef...Life Begins at the Top (apologies to XTC, the legendary English band)

Employers look at resumes initially from 15 to 30 seconds.

If your resume doesn't "GRAB" attention for the right reasons in that short time, you are doing yourself a tremendous disservice. With the skills, experience, accomplishments and education you can offer, you have the chance to sell yourself quickly and effectively - if you start at the top (of your resume.)

Here are 5 simple steps:
1. Make certain that your name, address and all contact information is provided in a 10 point or larger font. Consider 12-14 points the maximum size. Note: MS Word templates often default here to 8 point fonts, and that's simply too small for many readers to get through.

2. Follow that with a SUMMARY STATEMENT - like the examples below-
Summary: An experienced inside sales professional with a 10 year history of success
Summary: A 15 year HR Manager with leadership experience and SPHR Certification
Summary: An MCSE Network Engineer with extensive architecture experience

Each of the above focuses on strength, experience, and certifications/talent.
Each is a short introduction that says "This is what you are getting in me."
And each is MUCH better than the lame objectives we've addressed before.

3. Follow that with a PROFESSIONAL HIGHLIGHTS section. Here's where bulleted items can help showcase your "good stuff." Pick about 8-12 of your "best" work history successes/talents/abilities and list them! Look at the example below-

Professional Highlights:
-Recruiting/Placement for Information Technology, Engineering, Allied Health, Administration, Clerical, HR, Graphic/Web Design, Marketing and Finance.
-“Phone Warrior” – regularly and successfully making 100+ outbound sales calls per day.
-Led Gerard-Phillips through a 250% increase in gross billing between 1998 and 2000.
-Successful placements in Direct Hire, Contract and Contract to Hire.
-Developed new business relationships with Cox Target Media. Achieva Credit Union, Eckerd, Hillsboro Printing, FKQ Advertising, Pinch a Penny, Special Data Processing, among others.
-Business Development through Inside Sales Calls and Networking.
-Professional and Effective Sales Techniques: Sandler Sales Institute Graduate, 1998.
-Successful “Cold call” recruiting into businesses to build pool of Engineering Candidates.
-Strong internet research skills including search engines and cross referencing of professional organizations.
-Well versed in MS Office and ACT software.
-Dedicated and proven methods through Career Assistance to provide STRONG matches based on upgrading candidate resumes and interview skills.
-Active database of professional contacts going back to 1997/1998.

In these, note how SPECIFIC abilities and accomplishments are provided. In some cases, even quantified. If you have "numbers" re: percentages of increase or people supervised or amount of money saved, use them! Employers ENJOY reading about success; let them see yours.

Also, note that terms such as "hard working," "team player" and other such generic "junk" is absent. No one puts "goofs off," "comes in late frequently" or "argues with others for no reason" on a resume. Stay away from the world of "generic junk!" To be perfectly blunt, employers give NO credence to such statements; thus, they waste space and time.

4. Add a "Software Proficiency" or "Technical Skills" section next.
These should also be bulleted items. You succeed with bulleted items because they are short and easy to read. If you are in IT, for example, this is where you replace a paragraph of description of your technical abilities with a bulleted list of what you know well. You are making things easier for the reader in the first 15-30 seconds this way!

5. The "Funnel Factor"
If you consider that you've provided good contact information, summary statement, professional highlights and your technical/software skills in the beginning of your resume, you DRAW the reader in. He or she can see very quickly what you have to offer. Moreover, your strengths and accomplishments are set in a position where they are hard to miss. Best of all, it's been put in a simple, easy to read format.

It creates what I have called the "funnel factor."
If employer can easily see qualifications of interest, they are drawn in to read further. Thus, they will more likely go to the Work History section (which should be the next section of your resume) to find out more about what you achieved where.

You've given employers a very "reader friendly" way to see your best and want to read the rest! If they only look for 15-30 seconds, they'll see enough "good information" to either set your resume aside for further consideration, or they will read further to get an even more detailed look at what you bring to the table!

Keep in mind that MOST people don't use resume formats like this, and those folks are your competition. With this 5 step process, you can be certain that your resume jumps ahead of many others.

Start at the top - and give yourself a better chance to finish there!