As a certified professional resume writer, I often have people come to me in the hopes of getting their resume redone before figuring out their next career move. While it is possible to create a “general resume” the first step to writing a great resume is determining where you want to go next in your career.
The first step to writing a good resume is figuring out what you want from your career. You might think that the first step to furthering your career is to have a great resume, but in order to create a resume that will best serve you, you need to decide what you want to gain from it. Why? Because a truly great resume is catered to the jobs that you’re applying for. If you don’t know what kind of jobs you’re going to be applying for, you can’t utilize the correct wording and phrasing to ensure that you align with the requirements of the job.
You may have a lot of transferable skills, but if you’re not highlighting them in a way that hiring managers can see and understand, they won’t benefit you.
How to figure out what you want next in your career. This is one of the most tedious and important parts of creating a resume. The best way to determine what you’re looking for is by browsing through available jobs. See what kind of jobs excite you and what kind of jobs you have the right skill set for.
The easiest way to do this is by going to job sites and searching for one of your strongest (or favorite) skills. For instance, if you’re extremely skilled and enjoy working with Adobe Photoshop, search “Photoshop” and see what kind of positions come up. This will help guide you in the right direction. Similarly, if you excel at project management, customer service, or with using a specific software, you can search those terms as well to get a better idea of what kind of jobs focus on those skills.
Now that you know your next career move, how do you utilize that information? The reason behind figuring out what kind of jobs you want to apply for is so you can use that information to your advantage. Pick a few jobs that you’re planning on applying to and carefully read through the job descriptions. Take note of the following:
- What major requirements are listed in the job description(s)?
- Are there any common words or phrases you see throughout the different job descriptions?
- What skills do you possess which are listed in the job descriptions?
- Are there any company specific requirements listed?
Once you’ve gone through and noted the answers to the aforementioned questions, you will have the information which you should use and highlight in your resume. The first step to writing a great resume is figuring out what kind of jobs you want to apply to, and the next step is using that information to integrate the correct wording and phrasing throughout your document. Figure out what you want, do research on open positions, and use your findings to make your resume great!