Creating the Perfect Resume

Ken Lear's Resume Workshop

Hi, I'm Ken Lear, an expert in all things business, leadership, and entrepreneurship.

Crafting a perfect resume is an essential skill that any job seeker should continually be improving upon. Like you, your resume is a living and breathing document that will evolve and follow you throughout your career. As such it is important to revisit it and revise it to reflect your life’s trajectory.

Here are a few tips and techniques designed to help you along the way:

·               Create Your Own Template: You can use the pre-made templates found in word processing programs or online to serve as a foundation for your formatting but it’s often best to develop your own template that is appropriate for the industry you are applying for.

·               Don’t Include Irrelevant Information: Keep your list of hobbies and references out of the resume because they simply waste valuable space. You should locate your education history at the bottom of the page and only include the relevant details (organization, degree, and graduation year).

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·               Experience Should Determine Page Length: Your resume should only contain professional experience that you are proud of. Generally speaking it should remain at one page for ease of use but if you’ve acquired more than 10 years of experience in your field, adding a second page is perfectly reasonable.

·               Format the Page to Organize Your Data: By breaking up blocks of text with bolded and italicized words you can emphasize the inherent strengths found within your resume. Additionally, using bulleted lists to organize your key responsibilities and accomplishments will help improve the readability of the page.

·               Have A Creative Objective or None At All: There is some debate over whether or not to include an Objective on your resume. If you include one it can pigeon hole you into a narrow focus, if you don’t it can leave your resume feeling directionless. Ideally your Objective should emulate your elevator pitch by remaining clear and concise.

·               Highlight Your Name & Contact Info: Many resumes push the applicants contact info to the bottom or to the side. It should be front and center (so to speak) and aligned at the top of the page in bold.

·               Quantify Your Accomplishments: Whenever possible, stay clear of subjective and abstract language – instead opt to include real and manageable numbers that give your experience grounding within the company.

·               Tailor Your Resume for the Position: By molding your resume to reflect what the employer is looking for you maximize the potential of a single sheet of paper. Research the company to identify key words, phrases, and the company’s overarching philosophy. You should also research the position itself to determine which work experience you should include.

·               White Space is Key: If you’re resume contains too much information it can quickly overwhelm the tired recruiter that is reading it alongside a hundred others. By using negative space to draw the eye you can highlight the key information on the page in an intuitive manner.

Remember that your resume should be designed to get you the interview. It is there that you can elaborate on the information that you left out. By having an up to date resume on file at all times you will be more equipped to handle opportunity or hardship when it happens. In these moments it will provide you with a sense of professionalism and also relief.

Good luck!

How to Recruit a Talented Team

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Ken Lear is a business expert looking to give advice on everything about leadership and entrepreneurship.

Putting together a great team for a company is no easy task. If it was easy, everyone would have the best professionals working for them. Many people are not aware that the right people aren’t looking for a job, the job is looking for them. By practicing great ways to attract the best, you will be surprised at how quickly and effectively you can create an all-star team.

Build the Perfect Company Culture

It’s widely known that the best way to hire and keep top talent is to create a company culture that will draw the ideal employee. Set high performance standards for everyone, even those on the top of the food chain. Focus on avoiding the notion that work should be dreaded every day. If you can create a place that people are excited to come to every day, then you will have a chance to find the best talent around.

Network, Don’t Headhunt

Focusing on networking is key to land talent that fits a company’s culture better. Ensure employees really believe in your mission statement, and want to see it being fulfilled. They will then act as your company ambassadors, bringing in more professionals and commitment to growing your team.

Be Flexible

When discovering an professional that fits your company well but may not work out for the position, still put an effort into finding them a different place on the team. Understanding how to be flexible with hiring can fill in your different needs. Building cornerstones is the first step to putting together a crew that can succeed.

Learn How to Handle Your Competition

Know how to get the best talent to choose you over your competition. Showcase incentives of why working for you company is the better choice. Understanding and respecting competition is key to winning over the more talented; don’t just assume people will always choose you. Do everything possible to ensure that joining your team is the right decision.

Understand Exactly What Talent Wants

Attracting the best means having what the best wants. Make it known that your company is the best place to go to reach success. State your benefits and work expectations. Nobody is looking to be underpaid or overworked, no matter how great the job title might.  An undervalued employee will instantly undervalue your company.

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