Now that you know what sort of job you’d like, you need a carefully written resume that sells you in the best possible way to potential employers.

Think of a resume as more than a list of past jobs, education and training – it’s a sales document with you as the product. Remember that when an employer is reading 10, 50 or one hundred applications, they can all start to look the same after a while. So if you put in the extra effort now it’s likely to pay off in an interview later.

What you need to know

You may be focused on what you’re looking for in a job such as salary, location and work hours. However employers have an entirely different agenda so you’ll need to place yourself in their shoes to ensure you’re the candidate of choice.

A prospective employer will want to know what you can bring to the business and whether you’ll fit in with its culture. Your resume needs to show clearly your achievements, especially those that went beyond what was required in your job description. Did you increase car sales above budget, improve efficiency or customer satisfaction and loyalty? If so, how did you do this?

What you need to do

Sell yourself

Keep in mind that a resume not only features your experience but also your expertise. You may feel uncomfortable about the idea of talking yourself up but it’s a reality for successful job seekers. If you have difficulty in thinking about the best aspects of your work, then speak to trusted colleagues, friends and family to help get the ball rolling. Don’t confuse this for arrogance otherwise you may miss out on fantastic opportunities.

Can you remember the last time you wrote your resume from scratch? If, like most people, you simply add information about your current position and achievements to the top of your work history, the overall feel of your document may be a little stale. A revamp is strongly recommended if your current resume has not been successful in attracting interviews.

You may like to rewrite your resume to reflect the direction of your future career. If you simply list past jobs, you’ll be preparing a chronicle that tells where you have been, not where you are headed. If writing isn’t one of your strengths, Autopeople offers an online resume builder. service that can help you put a winning resume together. You can also contact professionals who specialise in writing resumes for a fee.

Proof read your resume

This step is a must do!

Get someone who has not read your resume to check for errors and to ensure it makes sense without needing further information from you. Remember that you won’t be there to explain your resume to an employer while they’re reading it. The document must be clearly understood by any reader, so share your resume with a few different people to make it bullet proof before you send it off.

The Resume

It’s best to tailor your resume for each application rather than use a ‘one size fits all’ approach. A resume is usually an account of positions, responsibilities, accomplishments, education, professional development, professional affiliations and community service.

Recruiters want to see how your career has developed as well as some detail of your achievements, both what they were and how they added value to the business. Note that meeting a target is not an achievement - it’s doing what you are paid to do. Exceeding a target is an achievement.

For school leavers and those that have been in the workforce for a few years, a two-page resume is fine but for everyone else three to five pages are advised. It’s best to avoid listing the paper round you had during school holidays unless it is relevant to the job you are applying for.

It’s advisable for mature candidates to list jobs that don’t go back more than 10 years on your resume. You can include a paragraph under the heading ‘Other professional experience’ if you want to mention earlier work of particular interest or relevance.

What if there are gaps in my employment history? If there’s a time when you weren’t employed in the automotive industry, you may have gained additional experience. Include this experience on your resume within a section called ‘Additional Experience’. Did you return to part-time or full-time study? Were you Treasurer of an auto club or did you organise activities as a volunteer? Were you a sports coach or Scoutmaster on the weekends or during the evenings?

One of the most common reasons for gaps in people’s employment history is faced by job seekers with disabilities, illness, or family-related issues. It’s best not to mention your particular disability, or medical history in the resume. Instead, the disabled job seeker should use a format that highlights overall skills and accomplishments. Include any study, technical training or volunteer work while you were recovering from a car accident, caring for an elderly parent or staying by the side of a seriously ill child.

Presentation

Keep it simple, slick and to the point.

• Make sure you have the ability to do the job. This sounds simple enough, but employers find too many people apply for jobs for which they are not qualified. Before the employers invite you for an interview, they must first confirm this very basic criterion. Establish your ability through your resume by placing an emphasis on accomplishments, results performance and insights into emerging trends.
• It’s not relevant to list whether you are single, married, play the trombone, or enjoy football. Avoid including personal information on a resume such as your age and race. You’re not legally obliged to provide this information, especially as this may work against you.
• Begin your resume with a career summary of no more than three or four sentences. You may also like to include a career objective but remember that employers are not interested in how they can help you.
• When it comes to choosing a font for your resume, keep it simple. You may have some funky fonts on your computer but that doesn’t mean they are easily readable. The hiring employer’s computer may reset your artistic creation to default formatting if it doesn’t have the very same fonts. Use bold to highlight words rather than underlining
• A great resume includes accomplishments and achievements that you have been instrumental in making happen. If possible try and quantify your achievements. For example ‘increased spare parts sales by 35% in six months’ or ‘attracted 15 new clients to exceed monthly budget by $50,000’.
• List your career history in reverse chronological order, i.e., your current position at the top of the page, followed by previous positions.
• List only three or four key responsibilities for each position and include only the more significant things you were responsible for rather than listing every single thing you did.
• Don’t forget that employers often use resumes to screen applicants ‘out’ rather than ‘in’ and that often the person doing the shortlisting is different from the person doing the interviewing. This person may be on the lookout for how your resume ranks with other applicants against a list of criteria so make sure your resume reflects some of the language used in the job ad position description. This helps employers and the person shortlisting better identify you as a likely candidate.