Easy As Car Shopping

Friday, November 9, 2012
When approaching the mandatory, and often dreaded task of writing or updating your resume, there are different avenues people can take to help them. One popular way is to copy another resume, changing only vital information like name, employer titles, addresses, etc.

Another popular technique is to apply no technique at all and just list as much random personal information about oneself as possible. Both of these methods will create a haphazard resume that gives Hiring Managers about as clear of an impression of the applicant as a blind man trying to distinguish between an orange and a tangerine. Instead, when writing your resume, your ultimate goal should be to stand out from the crowd, to highlight your greatest strengths and achievements, and to focus on fulfilling the qualifications the employer is seeking.

Build A Simple Resume

If you are having a difficult time trying to make yourself appealing in your resume, and you are a man, perhaps try thinking about yourself as if you were a car. The concept is simple. In your resume you sell yourself. Imagine you're not a human but an automobile, and you are trying to sell this automobile. This will help you understand what to highlight and what to feature in an effort to appear as hirable or sellable as possible. Let's glance at a few common types of resumes, and their motor vehicle equivalents.

The Cadillac

This is the senior level candidate. You have years of experience, or in auto terms, slapped quite a few miles on your odometer. You've proven your reliability and experience and this is something to highlight, dependability, in both machine form and human form. This is done on your resume listing through your years of experience, promotions, achievements and managerial experience. You're confident and dependable.

The Nissan GT-R

You are a newcomer. Perhaps you just graduated University. Perhaps you used an online resume builder You've been in development for quite a while, and you are packed with knowledge. In car form this translates to heavy investment in research and development. These are your strengths, your technical capabilities. In human form this means you have a background of highly applicable study. You have knowledge that you can draw upon as your strength. You're technologically savvy and ready for rapid speed and performance growth.

The F-150

Like the Cadillac you are a candidate that exemplifies dependability. Not packed with technology like the fresh university graduates, you instead make a name for yourself with high payloads and practical, applicable utility. No sir, you don't need to use any amateur resume templates. You have metal working, welding, and heavy equipment operation skills. You do what you do and you do it well, this is the calling card of the pick-up truck.

In conclusion, each vehicle is unique in its strengths and areas of expertise or focus. The key is identifying your greatest strengths and featuring them in your application process. By presenting strengths in a prominent fashion, you are pronouncing to HR managers all over the world that you're ready to put the pedal to the metal. Hopefully this has helped all you "gearheads" gain a better understanding of how to write a resume.