Reasons Why You Should Spend More Time On Your Resume / CV

Year after year, HR / recruiters attend career events, career expos, and perform regular recruitment drives to get the right talent, within the right time. However, in the corporate world, recruiters can only do so much to acquire the best employees for the job. An interview provides them the best way to gauge what the individual is like - and to get there, you need a kickass resume and cover letter to convince them you can be an asset.

When it comes to the crunch, the best way to impress a potential employer is to concentrate on selling yourself on paper. The following is a list of reasons why you should spend more time on your resume, in no particular order:

1. A Resume provides a profile / image in the minds of the recruiter: It provides recruiters a profile - a mental image if you will - of what you have done over the past few years, where you studied, what your interests are, where you come from and where you want to head in the next few years. You need to make sure that your resume presents itself in an effective fashion. Not too quick, not too long, not too large.
2. Resumes that don’t impress won’t get you an interview: As harsh as it sounds; if you create a resume that looks plain, dull, drab, and contains very little or basic information about yourself, what is the point in providing you an interview? There will be plenty of people out there willing to spend arm-and-leg to getting a top notch resume quality and design. On that note…
3. Resumes are much easier to trash now than twenty years ago: Gone are the days where we would need to type up (or even write) up a resume, and hand them to potential employers. With the advent of electronic data interchange, and the internet / email, resumes that do not impress can easily be tossed by the click of a button. Should this happen, likewise, an auto-response mail-merge thanks-for-coming message will be soon in your lap. Likewise:
4. Resumes and their design templates are freely and easily available all over the internet: Don’t use a template - spend time designing one with your own creativity. In some ways, due to the current demand in the labour market (in Sydney, Australia) recruiters aren’t picking the top X amount of people with great resumes - they are more likely to cull Y amount of people instead. The decision is much easier to make.
5. Resumes provide the recruiter visibility over your spelling and written communication skills: While you aren’t going to be writing a full fledged thesis dissertation or essay, your resume tests the individual in different ways: editorial skills, grammar, spelling, sentence structure, the list goes on. Ever tried to summarise your past three years worth of work experience into a single page? A succinct and precise resume will easily stand above the shoulder of others, where poorly written and last minute efforts acting as an “automatic no”.

In the end, the take away message is this: The more time spent on your resume won’t lose you money. The opportunity cost is in your favour the more time you spend on it - After all, you’ll be paid for your efforts when you receive your first pay check at work!

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