You might think again after going to all the trouble of a resume writing, asking yourself questions before sending your resume is verging on masochism. As a matter of fact, it’s actually a type of do it yourself insurance against making serious mistakes.
As just about everybody learns sooner or later, nothing is easier than sending in a resume full of mistakes. You need to exercise a bit of healthy cynicism, and do your own quality controls on your resume. That means asking yourself a few questions about the quality, presentation and performance of your resume.
Why you need to be self-critical about your resume
Trying to find work is no joke. At first glance, it might seem like criticizing yourself is quite unnecessary when so many other people are prepared to do it for you. Actually, nobody else can do this sort of criticism. Even if you hire professional writers for resume writing for you, the motivation for improvement has to come from you.
Very few people are complacent about their resumes. Most people worry what about resume quality, particularly when their resumes aren’t getting them interviews. Worrying, however, isn’t the same thing as actually solving the problems. That’s where you need to really be self-critical and realistic.
Ask yourself these five questions
- Does your resume accurately and correctly show that you are a good match for all the critical essential skills required? If it doesn’t, you are wasting your time making an application. Best practice is to target all aspects of job requirements. Take the time and have the patience to make sure that your resume meets those standards. Here you can look at the good mechanical engineering resume sample to check yourself.
- Does your resume show outstanding performance indicators and achievements? If not, you will need to revise your resume and provide stronger, more competitive information. The bottom line is that your resume has to look better than other resumes. If it doesn’t, don’t expect to get an interview.
- Have you matched your performance indicators to required job skills and experience? This is absolutely critical. Employers need to see that your skills and experience are high-value assets. This job application is all about business, and it’s all about the employer’s business. Respect that fact at all times.
- How strong is your personal profile section? A personal profile is your “identity” to the employer reading your resume. Do you look interesting? Do you look like someone who’s making a job application and simply going through the motions? Remember that your application does need to stand out and look good.
- Does your resume include information which actually exceeds the requirements of the job? If it does, particularly in the areas of performance and business values, you show yourself to be a superior candidate.
Before you send your resume for employer scrutiny, ask yourself these questions and make sure that you give yourself meaningful answers. You’ll be very glad you did.
If you’d like more information about resume quality and content management, please see this link.
