Looking at hiring from an employer’s perspective is an essential first step in preparing your resume and launching your job search. Generally speaking, companies hire people who have the skills needed to do a particular job and the attributes that will make them a good employee, one who will contribute to the mission and goals of the organization.
Please don’t assume that your new college degree automatically qualifies you for a great job.
Yes, you’ve worked hard, learned a lot, and feel prepared to launch your career. Now it’s essential that you show employers that you have skills, attributes, and abilities that will help them be more successful.
Your resume is the tool that you will use to show employers that you have those skills,
attributes, and abilities. The result—you hope—is that they will be motivated to call you for
an interview to better determine whether you are, in fact, a good fit for their needs. Your
resume must clearly relate your education, activities, and work experiences to specific job
qualifications—both the “hard” and “soft” skills that together paint the picture of the ideal
candidate.
Identify Your Job Target and Write Job Target Statements
Before you can create a resume that is effective—that presents your skills, abilities, and
potential that will interest employers—you must know what kind of job you want.
Don’t worry that by writing your resume for a specific job you’ll be aiming for a target that’s
too narrow. The skills and accomplishments approach I recommend—which you’ll be learning
as you work your way through the exercises in this chapter and the next—will result in a
versatile resume that you can use when applying for a variety of related jobs, or one that
you can change quickly and easily to steer toward a slightly different target.
But if you’re interested in several jobs that are quite diverse—say you’re a business major
torn between a job in human resources and one in retail sales management—you’ll want to
develop two different resumes so that you are a credible candidate for each position. Start by
choosing one target and completing your resume. Then repeat the process for the second
target. (It will be much quicker and easier the second time, and you will be able to use much
of the same information.) You’ll end up with a focused and effective resume for each target.
Write Your Job Target Statements
Use the following form or open a new document in your word-processing program and label
it “Job Targets.” Write the specific jobs you’re interested in. You might be definite about one
particular goal (“design engineering position with a robotics manufacturer” or “med-surg
nursing position in a teaching hospital”), or you might want to list three or four jobs that
use similar skills; for example:
1. Public relations position with a large corporation, ideally involved in writing press
releases and newsletter articles
2. Marketing communications position (agency or corporate) with primary focus on marketing
writing
3. Reporting and copyediting job with a major metropolitan newspaper
Beware of confusing an industry or general profession with a job target! “Advertising” is an
industry. “Accounting” is a profession. Neither is a specific job target. Do some research to
find out what jobs are available in your chosen industry or profession, and work to refine
those broad targets into something more specific, such as “account executive in an advertising
agency” or “entry-level auditor for a Big 5 accounting firm.” If you need help developing
your specific job targets, the resources described on pages 7–8 will help you understand what
different job titles mean and how specific jobs are defined. And don’t forget about your college
or university career center. There you’ll find all of these resources and more—plus the
expert advice of career professionals—to help you define your job targets, identify your
skills, prepare your resume, and perform all of the other activities involved in a job search
campaign.
Identify Your Core Job Qualifications
The next step in the resume writing process is to identify the core qualifications for your
specific job target—the combination of “hard” and “soft” skills that make up the ideal
candidate.
Hard and Soft Skills
Hard skills are the core knowledge and abilities needed to do the job. A C# programmer
must know how to program in C#. A social worker must be able to perform assessments,
counseling, case planning, and case management. Hard skills are the kinds of things that
can be proven through education and experience—you can do the job because you’ve been
trained in the discipline or you’ve worked in a similar job. Or maybe both. Your resume
must show that you have the core knowledge and skills needed to do the job.
Soft skills describe personal attributes—how you get things done. Soft skills are more difficult
to measure and quantify. They include things such as teamwork, drive, leadership, a
positive attitude, a good work ethic, attention to detail, or a customer-first attitude. To be
believable, your resume must prove your soft skills—not just list them.
Finding Job Qualifications
One of the easiest ways to unearth job qualifications is to look at want ads or online postings.
Most ads specify a variety of required hard and soft skills. Let’s take a look at some
examples.
This listing for a Telesales Account Executive calls for specific hard skills and experience:
TELESALES ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
The ideal candidate will have a Bachelor’s degree and 3+ years of experience in outbound telesales.
PC literacy including Windows, Microsoft Office, and contact-management software needed.
Familiarity with the World Wide Web is also required, and prior recruiting experience is a PLUS.
This next ad, for an Executive Assistant, is much less explicit—it doesn’t even specify what
kind of computer skills are needed, nor does it demand a degree. But it clearly communicates
the kind of attitude the company is looking for, along with some basic competencies
(organization and follow through; and administrative, clerical, and computer skills).
EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT
We are looking to hire a person who has not only the right basic skills but also the attitude we
need. Are you a person with a “roll your sleeves up, happy to pitch in and help” attitude? If you
answered YES, then this job is for you!
You are a highly organized person with the confidence to see tasks through to completion with
minimal supervision. You possess administrative, clerical, and computer skills.
Most postings specify a combination of hard and soft skills, as in these next examples. By
communicating information about attitude, atmosphere, and expectations along with the
specific competencies required for the job, employers are hoping to find the best match for
their needs and the best fit for their culture and environment.
Beyond job postings, there are other sources you can use to identify the hard and soft skills
your target positions require:
■ Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH). This guide produced by the U.S. Department
of Labor describes job duties, working conditions, required training and education, job
prospects, and typical earnings for a wide range of occupations. The OOH is revised
every two years and can be found online at www.bls.gov/oco/, in your college or public
library’s reference section, or in bookstores.
■ Company job descriptions. More complete than a want-ad posting, job descriptions
are a comprehensive account of the activities and expectations for a specific job within
a particular company. When you interview for a job, you can ask to see the job
description. You can approach a company’s human resources department and ask
whether you can view a description. You can also request a copy from your employed
friends and relatives, especially those whose jobs are related to your target position. Be
aware that not all companies have formal job descriptions, and not all descriptions are
up-to-date or an accurate reflection of the job as it really is.
Beyond job postings, there are other sources you can use to identify the hard and soft skills
your target positions require:
■ Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH). This guide produced by the U.S. Department
of Labor describes job duties, working conditions, required training and education, job
prospects, and typical earnings for a wide range of occupations. The OOH is revised
every two years and can be found online at www.bls.gov/oco/, in your college or public
library’s reference section, or in bookstores.
■ Company job descriptions. More complete than a want-ad posting, job descriptions
are a comprehensive account of the activities and expectations for a specific job within
a particular company. When you interview for a job, you can ask to see the job
description. You can approach a company’s human resources department and ask
whether you can view a description. You can also request a copy from your employed
friends and relatives, especially those whose jobs are related to your target position. Be
aware that not all companies have formal job descriptions, and not all descriptions are
up-to-date or an accurate reflection of the job as it really is.
Read More: How To Make A Company Hire You?
