Your Resume Review

Hi Sylvia,

Thank you very much for using our resume review service and for submitting your resume. I’ve read through the document you uploaded, and I would make some observations, suggestions, and recommendations under the various headings below.

Overall View

You come across as a strong candidate for your field of recruitment services as a "Sales Executive". There is enough content provided, but the issues I can see are:

• Your resume formatting has a bad quality user experience. Missing white spaces between sections. White space improves the visual communication experience.
• Missing "Summary statement". A resume summary statement is a professional introduction that you can add to the top of your resume to highlight your most valuable skills and experiences. The resume summary can help employers quickly learn whether you have the skills and background they require.
• The ‘Skills’ section doesn’t fully showcase your capabilities. Employers are looking to hire employees who have the right mix of soft and hard skills, these are crucial as they are usually transferrable skills.
• Professional Experience. Don’t write about every task you’ve performed. Make sure each resume bullet pointers its place by focusing on quantifiable results. If the company isn’t famous, you can also describe in 1-2 sentences.
• Education and certification are good to see and easily scannable, but missing graduation date, certification - date earned.
• Your focus is mainly on the activities you have engaged in, rather than the value you can bring to a new employer.
• Tailor your resume by trying to show the ‘story’ of your development and growth and how the next job is perfect for both you and the employer.

I believe your challenge is to focus more tightly. The actions you can take are:

• Use a professionally formatted resume template with the right using white space. Your resume is a marketing tool designed to capture attention and get you to the next stage. We can help you choose the right resume template.
• Include the keywords specifically relevant to the opportunity you are applying for.
• Rewrite to increase the chance of making a very positive impact when a reader scan-reads it.
• Ensure that you provide informative depth for when the reader reads properly.
• Structure your content to clearly show that you are one of the leading applicants compared to other likely applicants who will probably be similar to you.
• Ideally, show some unexpected added value that is not asked for but might give you an edge over the other applicants.

Towards these actions, some specific points are listed below.

Professional summary section

• Use the Ad or job spec as a guide for what to include in this section, and summarise your career to date, some key skills, and any career-related achievements. Focus on what you can bring or deliver to the potential employer, not what you want.
• Important is to say what you are, professionally. “I am a master’s qualified xxxxxx with y years experience of ….” And make that agree with the role they are recruiting for. Do this by reworking your Summary Profile section into the format – a short paragraph, a few bullets (ideally 3), and a short paragraph.
• After a more brief opening paragraph, use one-line bullet points to score against the requirements.

Employment history section

• Under each main/recent role within your professional experience section
  • Add a very brief context to show the scope of work and scale of the organization.
  • Then, tell your overall responsibility.
  • Then bullet a few key responsibilities.
  • Then, use one or two lines to lead into your key achievements or benefits delivered under that role. Bullet the main ones of those. Do not portray endless lists of bullets – less is definitely more, if you want to hit the mark and show you’re a person capable of seeing what’s important, relevant to the role you are next applying for.
• Use the Problem-Action-Result (PAR) method to describe your success.
• Strive to reduce unnecessary detail – people broadly know what a recruiter does, so only focus on what they want to see by using the ad as a guide.
• Always use the ad or person specification as your guide. Look at what they want, then showcase yourself as that person.

Skills section

• Include your soft and hard skills
• Ideally, show some unexpected added value that is not asked for, but might give you an edge over the other applicants. Maybe you have extra language skills, but also a personal capability or a deep external interest may be of use here. This isn’t always possible, but it’s always worth exploring.

Visual Presentation and Organization

• Your basic layout and sequence of sections are good, but consider adding more white space ( white space reduces visual clutter and makes content easier to read) or chose a professional resume template.

Resume Writing

• Make sure to correct the punctuation errors and improve consistency from section to section.

In conclusion

• You should have confidence that you have the skills and experience necessary, so it most definitely is possible to present yourself as one of the top eligible candidates more frequently.
• You can’t win everything as so much depends on the ad, the reader, and the specific competition so it’s all about relentlessly working to improve the odds in your favor with every word, sentence, and bullet point on the resume.
• Make sure you incorporate the relevant keywords. Prioritize these and make sure to show the highest priority ones prominently and in the correct sections.

I hope that helps you win the role you really want. If anything isn’t clear, or you feel you need further help to rewrite the resume to score more highly, do please come back to us, we’re always pleased to help.

Please feel free to email me with any questions. We’re here to help you put your best foot forward. Thank you,