Get your résumé read
10 ways to get your résumé read by employers
by Jaimie Hall Bruzenak and Alice Zyetz
At the recent Workamper Job Fairs in Florida and Arizona, we gave seminars about successful job search techniques including résumé writing. Besides seminars, we conducted a number of private résumé makeover sessions helping people write Workamping résumés. We also spoke to a number of employers about what they look for in a résumé.
These experiences helped us uncover many useful techniques to ensure that your Awesome Applicants résumé will get read and the appropriate employers will contact you for an interview.
1. Organize your information to make it easy for the employer to find out what jobs you’re looking for, what your key skills are, and why you’re the right person (or couple) to do those jobs.
2. Use several paragraphs to communicate your information. It’s too difficult for the employer to read a page that is one looooooong paragraph.
Begin with your objective. Say what specific jobs you are looking for like work in maintenance or in registration. Please do not say “We’re looking for a fun job in a friendly environment.” As one employer remarked: “Who doesn’t want to work in a friendly environment?”
Next paragraph should be a brief summary of your qualifications for those objectives.
Third paragraph describes your previous skills from various jobs, volunteer work, or hobbies. If a couple, have a separate paragraph for each of you. You may have worked in a department store, but your skills were using electronic credit card machines, handling customer’s complaints, etc. Your maintenance and repair skills may have been honed as a result of your home ownership rather than on the job.
Final paragraph tells about your personal background: years on the road, type and brand of RV, personal qualities that make you the right choice. One employer said it was a benefit to let her know that you have family in the area. That means there’s a good chance you’ll be back for another season.
You can mention that you have pets, but leave out the fluff like “I travel with my furry babies.” An employer told us, “I’m looking for workampers, not playkampers.”
3. DO NOT USE ALL CAPITALS THROUGHOUT YOUR RÉSUMÉ. THEY ARE VERY HARD TO READ. Instead save them for your headings like OBJECTIVE, SUMMARY, BACKGROUND. Then they will stand out.
4. When you write your paragraphs, do not indent. Skip two lines to show the space between the paragraphs.
5. When you make your choices, be specific about what you want. For example, if you really want wages, don’t say “Open to Possibilities.” If an employer does not have a paid position open, they won’t have to waste their time or yours contacting you, only to have you turn it down. Another example: Some applicants say they’ll work anywhere, but when an employer from a midwestern state asks them to work during the hot, humid summer, they’ll say no. More time wasted for everybody.
6. Update your résumé frequently. If you’re looking for winter season jobs, mention the states you want to work in. Change your résumé when you’re looking for summer jobs. Always add Workamper experiences that you just completed. Make sure your contact information is current.
7. Make it easy for the employer to reach you. Give a cell phone number and an e-mail address that you check every day. If your e-mail automatically blocks unknown responders, either lift that function or add an e-mail address you only use for job applications. You might open a Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo address for that purpose, for example.
8. Make sure you include your photos. Your RV should fill the whole frame so the employer can see it. Do the same with your personal photos. Take close-ups so they can see what you look like.
9. Keep to between 300 – 500 words. (You can write your résumé in a word processing program, get a word count, then copy and paste into the Awesome Applicants® “Sell Yourself” section.) When employers are sorting through the resumes, they don’t have time to read long letters. But be careful to not make it so short that you haven’t given them enough information, especially your objective, your skills for the job, and a flavor of your personality.
10. Proofread for erors, tpyos and words out!
Use these 10 suggestions and you’ll improve your employer response. We wish you lots of success working on the road.
Read more about our exclusive résumé makeover sessions.
©2008 This article was originally published in the Mar/April issue of Workamper News®.