The question of writing an effective resume that will result in multiple interviews offers becomes more and more popular nowadays. Since the competition in the jobs market tends to grow, applicants are looking for ways to stand out among the crowd of other job hunters. This isn't easy because that's what other candidates are trying to do as well. More and more unemployed people realize that the key to developing an effective application is knowing what hiring managers are looking for. And while hiring authority representative has individual preferences, there are still a number of characteristics common to most HRs who are looking to fill in the job opening. The questions of writing an effective resume can be narrowed down then to understanding the criteria decision makers use to select candidates for interviews (and, eventually, hiring).
The Question
At ResumesExpert we believe that most of the criteria and principles Hiring Managers stick to when making decisions can be squeezed into one simple question - "Why Should This Candidate Be Hired?" On the one hand, such questions don't provide specific answers to many questions, such as "How to write a resume?" or "What to say during a job interview?", etc., it does hint on the approach to take. Understanding the motives behind this question should help applicants both develop a powerful resume and prepare for the interview. But before answering this question for employers, one should first answer this question for oneself. This is one of the things most job seekers ignore or miss on purpose thinking it makes no difference but as a matter of fact it can make a huge difference regardless of whether people understand how or not. Have you ever tried answering this question? "Why should I be hired?" "Would I even hire myself? Why?".
There was no study or research made on this topic but we are confident that if most job seekers ask themselves these simple questions providing an honest answer, their application documents would be so much different! We should note that honesty here is the most important factor. Obviously, we would all hire ourselves because we are nice, cute, and that kind of stuff. But if you really think through, would you hire a person like you if you were a boss? In other words, is there anything interesting about your experience or skills that can practically help the company solve its problems and grow? After all, smart business managers base their choices on the value the decisions will bring. With such an approach, job seekers begin to understand the real value of things on a resume. The key is not how awesome you are (the majority of people believe this is the purpose of resume writing - to demonstrate how good you are in all things) but rather what practical things (skills, qualifications, etc) you can offer to the employer? It is not about all things - why would hiring managers be ever interested in how well you did engineering work in the past if the company is looking to hire a sales manager? Besides, you can emphasize different parts of this question to gain a better understanding of the case (Why should I be hired? Why should I be hired?). If you keep asking this question and will be able to honestly recreate in your mind the hiring manager asking this questions when reviewing your resume, we believe you have got a wonderful chance to stand out among the rest of the candidates.