Sure a resume needs to be concise, include all relevant skills and experience, and paint a full picture of who you are as an employee. It goes without saying that it should be error free and organized, with a clean layout. But, if you want to ensure your resume is competitive and engaging in today’s job market, it must include two critical aspects: PAR statements and keyword optimization.

We’ve discussed the importance of keyword optimization and PAR statements in previous blogs, but a resume needs BOTH to be successful. Many job seekers are so focused on one aspect that they miss the other and don’t get traction in their job search.

1. PAR Statements 

PARs are Problem-Action-Result statements that explain the specific problems you faced in a past job, the actions taken to overcome and solve those problems, and the achievements that came as a result of the action you took. Think of your PARs as the stories of the challenges you faced on the job and the steps you took to overcome those challenges to benefit not only yourself, but your company as a whole.

PAR statements are crucial because they define your unique approach to the job and engage a hiring manager or recruiter. PARs help your future employer see how you would perform on the job and also how you would fit into the culture of the organization. Because they focus more on soft skills such as leadership and problem resolution, PARs are often overlooked. But, they help the hiring manager align you with the specific needs of their organization to see if and how you would be the right fit.

It’s easy to get so hung up on making sure you’re talking about your experience and achievements that you aren’t thinking about how a recruiter comes across your resume. That’s where keywords come in.

    2.   Keyword Optimization

According to Mashable, “72% of resumes are never seen by human eyes.” That is because many companies (90% of all Fortune 500 companies) use an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to screen resumes that are submitted. Essentially, once you submit your resume, it is scanned and stored in a database. Recruiters then search the database to find resumes for a particular job opening by entering in relevant keywords. If your resume has those keywords, it will be picked up by the system. The more matching keywords your resume has, the more likely it is to be seen by the hiring manager.

Because most companies use some sort of ATS, keyword optimization is more important than ever. To ensure your resume passes through an ATS to get seen by a recruiter, follow these keyword optimization tips:

• Use the job posting and description to find keywords the ATS is looking for. Then be sure to sprinkle those words throughout your resume
• Make sure all information in your resume is relevant to the position you are currently applying for
• Keep things concise
• Be sure to list all of your relevant skills, as many hiring managers use an ATS to search for specific skills they are looking for
• Read over your resume carefully for spelling mistakes
• Include your contact information at the top of your resume (for the ATS to pick up)

Still not sure your resume is ATS ready? Check out our tips for preparing your resume for applicant tracking systems.

If you’re still struggling with PAR statements and keyword optimization and need some help getting your resume job search ready, contact Capstone Resume Services today!

Is your resume mostly focused on your responsibilities? If you answered yes, you’re not alone.

Most resume content is usually focused on responsibilities, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Responsibilities are important. But, it’s not just about the responsibilities you had at your previous job.

Those responsibilities were most likely shared by several people, and while they will certainly help show your experience and skill, they aren’t unique to you. There’s much more to you than what you were responsible for at your last job, and believe it or not, that’s what hiring managers are interested in – YOU.

Therefore, it’s important to make sure your resume goes beyond responsibilities. What hiring managers want to know is: how did you perform in that role? Think about it for a moment. Does your resume answer that question? Does it show your potential employer what you actually accomplished on the job and how you achieved those results? If the answer is no, don’t panic. You can fix this.

What Recruiters Look For In a Resume

When recruiters first scan your resume, they will first read your “hook,” or your summary proposition. Make sure it is geared exactly to the job description and that it is very specific. For example, if you’re looking to work for a non-profit or a start-up, mention that intention alongside your career title and trajectory. 

Next, recruiters will look for certain keywords in your resume that match the job description. If they notice them, they will spend more time reading through it. There is a strategic way to use keywords to your advantage. Foremost, study the job description and notice which keywords stand out in terms of repetition, especially in the candidate responsibilities section. Then, use a few of these keywords in your summary and qualifications section, but make sure they seamlessly flow and don’t seem forced. This is your opportunity to dazzle the recruiter and make your application stand out!

Another important element of a winning resume is including numbers. Recruiters not only want to see what you’ve done but how well you’ve done it. This means that showcasing the value you brought to each company is key to impressing recruiters and getting to the next stage of the recruiting process. The best way you can do this is by adding a bullet point to each professional role you’ve had that explains the impact you’ve made. Numbers, percentages, and tangible results are the most impressive and highlight your concrete accomplishments. 

Finally, don’t forget to optimize your resume for layout, typos and formatting issues, and to make your resume visually appealing. All of these elements make an important impression and display your attention to detail, creativity, and professionalism.  

The 3 Most Important Parts of Your Resume

#1 Highlight Results on Your Resume With PARs

Problem-Action-Result statements explain what actions were taken on the job that produced positive results for your team, department, region, or company as a whole. Use PARs to describe the problems, challenges, or situations you faced, the actions you took to resolve them, and the results that came from those actions.

Make your resume flow like a personal story that showcases your professional hero’s journey. This is also great advice for the interview process itself. By taking the interviewers through your past work challenges and how you offered successful solutions to these problems, you can lower any hesitation or resistance they have to hiring you.

#2 Show Value on Your Resume

It is important to be specific when using PARs. As specified earlier, make sure to include a metric (ranking, dollars, or percentages) to quantify your results. For example, how much money did your streamlined process save the company? How many more leads did your marketing campaign generate? By what percentage did your financial model increase company revenue? Try to include specific and accurate numbers where there are opportunities to do so. By putting a number to your results, you are able to demonstrate your value to future employers.

#3 Be Proud of Your Accomplishments or Achievements

Before the Experience section of your resume, you should include an Accomplishment or Achievements section. This section is crucial to your resume, because it is where you include your PARs. PARs should come before your experiences to better engage and impress the recruiter.

Think of this section as your elevator pitch for your candidacy. Make it clear, powerful, and enticing so that recruiters want to learn more. 

Do You Need Professional Resume Writers?

Now you’re ready to go beyond your responsibilities and show future employers results that are unique to you. Undoubtedly, all of these tips will make your resume stand out and land you more interviews. But, if you still feel stuck or need more assistance due to the competition in your niche, Capstone Resume Services can help!

Our certified professional resume writers start the resume writing process with a free one-on-one consultation that allows us to learn more about who you are, what you’ve accomplished, and how we can turn those experiences into a stand out resume.

To get started, request a resume consultation today!

Start With The Big Picture

You have mere seconds to get a recruiter’s or hiring manager’s attention and convince him or her to spend more time reviewing your resume. Your resume must make an impact from the start.

Are you still using an objective at the top? These statements generally explain what type of opportunity you are seeking and they were the resume standard for many years. Not any longer. They have since been replaced with career / executive summaries.

Why the change? Objective statements were about the candidate’s needs; today it’s all about what the candidate can do for the employer. The summary at the top of your resume provides a prospective employer with a snapshot of your most relevant skills, experience and accomplishments. If  it effectively conveys the big picture of what you can do for the company, he or she is likely to continue reading.

Tell A Relevant Story

Once you’ve captured the employer’s attention with the big picture, now’s your chance to provide additional details in the experience section. As an executive, you undoubtedly bring many years of know-how. While it’s tempting to list all the responsibilities you’ve adopted over the years,  you have only two pages to work with, and you want to make them count.

Think carefully about the employer and job to which you are applying. What prior experiences and responsibilities are most relevant for this position? What expectations can you assume the employer already has of you?  Many essential abilities need not be explicitly stated if they are implied through the descriptions of your performance.  Cut as much extraneous information as possible.

Be Crystal Clear

Clear statements imply skills and abilities while also showing accountability and outcomes. Consider your adjectives carefully, as vague words become meaningless without facts to back them up. So, you say you’ve demonstrated visionary leadership? How have you shown vision? What specifically have you done to positively impact your employer’s outcomes? How have you contributed to organizational growth? What measurable results have you achieved? Providing specific answers to these questions will result in a cleaner resume with greater selling power.

Results Sell

Your resume is a marketing document intended to spark an employer’s interest enough to invite you for an interview. Many people are uncomfortable bragging about their accomplishments, but your resume is no place to be modest.  Employers are interested in the results you generated in the past so they can predict how you might help them succeed in the future.

One effective way to demonstrate results is through P-A-R statements.  P-A-R stands for Problem-Action-Results and including these three elements in your statements illustrates abilities and outcomes. An employer can imply a great deal about your capabilities through these statements.

In a P-A-R statement, you describe a business problem, the action you took to solve it and the positive result that came from your action. Where possible, quantify your results to reveal the impact on the organization’s bottom line.

For example, consider the statement “directed a marketing department with 12 staff members.” Sure, that says you had managerial responsibility, but it says nothing about what kind of managerial skill you have.  Now, consider this. “Reenergized an underperforming 12-person marketing team [problem] by creating desirable performance incentives [action] that resulted in more creative solutions for clients and a 20% increase in department productivity [result].” Doesn’t the latter statement have much more impact than the former? The second statement implies the same managerial responsibility while also revealing creative leadership abilities and specific results.

Give Them Some Space

You can write P-A-R statements all day but they probably won’t be read if your resume looks cluttered. A clean summary section, an experience section that focuses on results and a relevant education section are all important elements, but what’s not there is important too. Leave enough white space on your pages to make the resume easier to scan. A cluttered page can be overwhelming for the eyes and the brain that plans to give this document less than a minute of time on the first go around. So make your words count and save the less important details for that interview.

Are you getting interviews? If your resume is not providing the results you want, we can help!
Capstone Resume Services’ certified resume writers with recruiting and hiring backgrounds create affordable resumes, cover letters and LinkedIn profiles that get results. Learn more here.