How to prepare a professional CV to get your dream job

Resumes are a necessary and valuable tool that can play a significant role in getting a job. With college graduation right around the corner, students might begin to think about developing a resume. Preparing the proper professional resume, focusing on one's skills, knowledge and experience is a good game plan for all job seekers, soon to be college graduates included. But a strong resume alone won't land you a job.

When putting together a resume, many of us spend a lot of time researching the latest and greatest buzz words, insider tips, reading websites and looking through books to try and create that perfect resume. We might seek an expert's opinion and develop different versions in different kinds of templates. Is this important? Sure, but it's only part of the success formula to getting hired.

Working smarter

The truth is many employers spend very little time reviewing resumes. Some research suggests employers spend as little as 30 seconds on a resume. Other sources proclaim that the decision on whether to call a candidate is made after even less time - 6 seconds of reviewing a resume. When application tracking and pre-screening software is involved, hiring managers may not even look at a resume until a candidate sits down for an in-person interview. This is because the software is programmed to flag resumes with specific words or skills that match what the employer is seeking.

Beyond the resume

The best resume advice I ever heard was "If you want your resume to stand out, print it on green paper." As it turns out, the advice was less about creating a resume and more about getting hired. The lesson here is not to invest all of your time perfecting and submitting a resume, but plan to devote significant attention toward other strategies that can make you stand out. Examples include:

• Researching and learning about the companies in your industry.
• Conducting informational interviews to obtain helpful advice and build a professional network.
• Dropping off a resume in person, asking more about the opening face-to-face and following up with a phone call a few days after that.

Build a network

Networking is a very powerful tool to landing a job. It has been widely estimated that the hidden job market makes up around 75 percent of the actual jobs available. These vacancies are unlikely to hit the internet job boards, or newspaper classifieds. Access to this hidden job market is often achieved through networking. The resume and application can become routine documents to follow once a strong job lead is established.

Your local job centers have great staff and resources to help with networking. They offer resume workshops and one-on-one assistance from trained staff, for FREE. The Job Center of Wisconsin website, JobCenterofWisconsin.com, also has a strong resume-creation tool that can help job seekers format and include skills, knowledge and abilities that match specific occupations and are easily recognized by applicant tracking system software.

Source: Techgig.com