In the competitive job market, you got to be ready to demonstrate your value as a potential employee. You need to effectively showcase your technical skills as well as your strengths or soft skills. One of the best ways you can do this is by customising your resume to highlight your strengths. Most candidates build a generic resume that they send out to all companies. However, customising your resume as per the job will help you stand out amongst the competition and bring you one step closer to your dream job. One simple and effective way in which your resume can be customised is by tailoring the list of strengths, based on the requirements for the job. This is how you can do it.
Identify Your Strengths
The first step in the job-hunting process must always be to identify your strengths as an employee. Identifying your strengths will help you understand what type of jobs you are suited for, and the types of jobs that you can then pursue. A little brain storming with your own self can go a long way.
Highlight Relevant Skills
Once you have a list of your strengths and skills, compare it with the requirements listed in the job posting. Identify the strengths that are common between your list and the job posting and include those in your resume. As a potential employee, you will possess a wide range of skills and strengths. However, not all of them may be relevant to the job that you are applying for. By highlighting the relevant skills, you will be able to present yourself as an ideal candidate for the role.
List the Strengths in The Resume
Now that you have a list of strengths that you need to highlight, it is time to consider the best way to highlight this information in the resume. Technical skills can be listed out in a separate section dedicated to your skills and achievements with the appropriate qualifications. However, while listing strengths or soft skills, it is important to provide anecdotes. This can be done by showing how your previous experiences provided you with opportunities to apply particular strengths.
Incorporating Strengths into The Resume
A job posting usually makes use of certain keywords while describing the ideal candidate. Identify the skills you possess from that list and include them throughout the resume. For example, try to incorporate keywords while describing your responsibilities are previous teams. If communication has been listed as a required skill in the job posting, you can highlight how communication played a role in your previous jobs or extracurricular activities. If your resume has a section dedicated to Objective or Professional Summary, you must tailor that section based on the job you are applying for.
Going Beyond the Resume
The resume is just the starting point for any job-hunting process. Beyond that, employers also depend on interviews to assess if you are a good fit for the role.
Most interviewers ask candidates to expand on their resume with examples from your previous work or academic experiences.
You will have to tailor the skills and strengths that your highlight based on the role for which you are applying. The soft skills required for a programmer will differ from those required of a marketing consultant. Highlighting the skills will invariably increase your value in the eyes of the employer. Tailoring your resume, highlight your skills, and be assured to stand out amongst the competition. Because as they say:
“Adaptability is about the powerful difference between adapting to cope and adapting to win.” -Max McKeown
MyOS Team