How to Market Yourself With a Winning Résumé

How to Market Yourself With a Winning Résumé

How to Market Yourself With a Winning Résumé

Do you think you don't have to revise your résumé because you like your current job? Career experts recommend that you review your résumé at least once a year.

Lead With Your Achievements Early

Make sure your summary and employment section focuses on what you accomplished, rather than the job titles you had.

Tighten, Tighten, Then Tighten Some More

Tap into your inner Hemingway and shorten paragraphs and sentences, so there's lots of “meat” and little “fat.”

Make the Most of Prime Real Estate

In any résumé, the make-or-break section is the top third of the page, so make sure you put your most compelling information there.

Make Your Résumé Easy to Process

Don't cram content into multiple, information-dense, multi-lined paragraphs with no white space. Instead, use tidy bullets and sectioned-off information blocks.

Don't Dwell on Your Years of Experience

Don't fixate on how long you did something; describe how well you did it. “Reduced operating expenses by 25% on legacy replacement project” is better than “Served as CIO for five years.”

Customize for Your Audience

For example, if you're submitting a résumé as part of an awards package for yourself, you'll need to brag about you. If you're submitting one as part of a team awards submission, you should focus on “we” rather than “I.”

Align With Your Online Persona

Craft your résumé so that the sections, wording and key phrases are consistent with your Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook pages.

Recycle Freely

Once you've perfected the résumé, you can use it as a template to create other executive materials, such as online bios and “About the Author” information.