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LEVERAGE YOUR COMPETENCY-BASED RÉSUMÉ 37

Competency-Based Résumé Tips

The purpose of a résumé is not to land you a job but, rather, to get you
in the door for an interview. This concept is important because it is in-
tegral to the résumé-preparation process. When you feel compelled to
include unrelated experience or to clutter a résumé with irrelevant facts,
think twice. Do not fill the page with empty sentences and boring de-
tails. Instead, prioritize your accomplishments and identify pertinent core
competencies that relate to your new job search.

Keep in mind the following résumé-preparation advice:

, Strategize. Begin the résumé-writing process with the end result
in mind. Before you commit words to paper, think about the core com-
petencies that will entice interviewers to call you.

, Focus. Avoid Jack-of-all-trades résumés. Job descriptions are spe-
cific in naming the qualifications and competencies needed for the open
position. A résumé that displays more than one career objective won’t get
you in the door. Let’s face it: interviewers are not seeking a combination
hairdresser/janitor/customer service representative.

You may hesitate to write a specific résumé because you want the
reader to know everything about you—just in case a position opens up
that you are semi-qualified for. Unfortunately, this strategy almost always
backfires. If you send a résumé that lacks focus, hiring managers will as-
sume you are unfocused, ready to accept any job that comes along. In the
meantime, your competition is submitting focused résumés that speak to
the competencies that the organization seeks.

It is okay to have more than one focus—most job seekers do. How-
ever, if this is your situation, you need more than one résumé! There is
no way around this. In order to get noticed, your résumé has to outline
the competencies for the particular position you are applying for. If you
are applying for two different types of positions, you need to have two
different résumés, each tailor-made for the position.

, Be distinctive. Avoid résumé templates. The majority of résumés
out there are formatted with templates, and the result is that they have
the same look and feel, making it difficult to differentiate between can-
didates. When searching for a job, the last thing you want to be is an or-
dinary, run-of-the-mill applicant.

American Management Association
www.amanet.org