How to Get the Job You Want: A Ten-Point Strategy for Your Resumé (or Vita)

Gary North

A resumé should be a sales letter. Not many people see it this way. That's why not many resumés get jobs for those who mail them.

A resumé should be one part of an overall strategy. The idea of a stand-alone resumé is a widely shared myth. If you avoid this myth, your resumé will have a much better chance of doing its job.

Here are the basics of a resumé that actually works.

1. Target your recipients.

The more narrow the targeted audience of employers, the more specific your resumé's letter will be. The more specific the letter is, the hotter the employer's hot button.

2. Find out what your targeted employers want.

They don't want you. They may want what you can do. What you really can do had better match what they want. Screen out in advance all those employers who want what you can't provide or don't want to provide. Don't waste your time or theirs.

3. Offer to supply what they want.

You must persuade the person who reads your resumé's letter that you really do possess the specific abilities that he is shopping for, and that you are willing to sell this service package to him at a competitive price.

4. Time is money. Don't waste his.

Your resumé's must get right to the point, preferably within five seconds. You must make it clear in the very first sentence of your resumé that it is worth his time to read sentence number two. Sentence number two must persuade him to read sentence number three. Keep your paragraphs short and your resumé's letter to one page.

5. Lead with your #1 benefit.

What unique service will you provide an employer that will meet his needs/wants within no more than one week's training? Offer to supply this need/want in the first sentence. Use the word "I" sparingly and "you" frequently.

6. Follow with the proof

What fills up most resumés are brief summaries of what people have done in the past. These lists are boring for most readers. So, mention only those highly specific accomplishments that the reader can verify for himself -- evidence that you can do the highly specific thing that you claim you can do. Keep this to one page, in addition to your one-page letter.

7. Offer supplemental evidence on-line.

In your letter, tell the reader that he can gain additional evidence of your background by going to a web address. Here, you post a more complete list of your accomplishments. This shows that you can do more than what your resume letter lists. Don't fill your letter with these accomplishments.

8. Your listed accomplishments must reduce his risk.

All buyers want to reduce their risk. An employer wants evidence that if he hires you, you can and will deliver whatever he is after. Your listed accomplishments must be readily verifiable. They must persuade him that you are not blowing smoke.

9. Keep the letter to no more than one page.

Don't waste his time. If you create a specific web page or web site aimed at his company and only his company, this allows him to obtain more information on his terms. Once he takes an action step to gain more information about you, he is more than 50% sold on hiring you. Design the web page to move him to 80%. Give him an action step to take at the end of each web page.

10. Tell him how to contact you.

These are action steps. They should be specific: go to your web site, or send you an e-mail, or call your cell phone number (not recommended). Any of these steps must produce a response by you within a specified time period. Tell him how long it will take for you to get back to him. I recommend one business day. Ask the reader to tell you exactly what he wants you to do next.

These are the basics. I make supplemental steps available to members of this site. I go into greater detail here, where I describe one word that is the single most important benefit that you can offer an employer (the eleventh step). There is another thing you can do to get him to notice your letter. I will cost you approximately one penny. I discuss it here.

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