“Looking good on paper” is not just a figure of speech. It is a critical part of the marketing event often referred to as the job search. Your resume should be a compilation of your educational, professional and military accomplishments. It should be clear, concise, organized and to the point. Your resume is what gets you in the door and serves as your print-ad during the pre-screening phase of a company’s interview process.
 
Step 1: Take stock of your specialized skills 
Before writing your resume, take stock of yourself. Write down what you know how to do and how your skills relate to various desired professions. Think about the "job-specific" and "industry-specific" skills you possess and how you can apply them to your career of choice. For example, if you did procurement for the military and would like to work in a similar capacity once your service is complete, you already have the esoteric or specialized skills needed to do so. You are already familiar with the skills specific to this industry. You have the experience of working with suppliers, negotiating prices, coordinating people and using the specialized procurement software.
 
Step 2: Take note of your transferable or general skills
After listing all of your specialized skills, make a list of your transferable or general skills. These include communication skills, computer skills, organizational skills, time/crisis management skills and interpersonal skills. These abilities are required or desired by most businesses and help you with everyday life.
 
The combination of your specialized and general skills represents your competency to do the job.
 
Step 3: Write down personal attributes 
Chemistry is an important component to getting an offer, write down any personal characteristics that may improve your chances of getting the job. This includes how well you might be able to relate to the employer and employees on a personal and professional level. Think about your work style: Are you a natural leader? Are you a fast learner? Do you function well on deadline? Are you able to keep your composure in stressful situations? Can you think fast on your feet? Your ability to fit into the culture of a new company is just as important to as your competency to do the job.
 
Writing all this information down in the form of a skills and attributes inventory is extremely important because it creates a database of your abilities and accomplishments. Not only does it create an inventory of your skill set, but it helps you to better understand your product (yourself).
 
Structuring your resume:
The next step would be to simply list your accomplishments in reverse chronological order or in order of relevance depending on the job you apply for. Write clear, concise headlines for each job/position you have held. Include months and dates with all of your accomplishments/experience. Link your skills to your accomplishments. After stating what you have done, write a few bullet points reflecting what skills you used in those positions. Make sure to use bullet points. On average, a person spends 10-30 seconds scanning a resume.
 
Congratulations, you have the basic framework of your resume.
 
Customizing your resume by using keywords:
Oftentimes, if a resume is submitted on-line, it will be sorted by a computer program looking for keywords that match the employer's talent search. You want your resume to be easily searchable. You can do that by making your resume keyword searchable. This means including the specific words a desired employer is looking for as listed in the job description and making sure they are on the resume you are submitting (e.g. "Procurement"). Do not send every potential employer the same resume. Have a general resume to work off of, but when applying for a particular job, always tweak your resume each time so that your experience aligns with the job description.
 
Next time, additional ways to create a winning resume.