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By Kris Fannin

How to Build a Brilliant Resume and Secure the Interview

“98% of job seekers are eliminated at the initial resume screening and only the ‘Top 2%’ of candidates make it to theinterview…”

Kris Fannin

CEO and Founder

That quote from industry expert, Robert Meier, really stood out to me in thearticle, “Why Only 2% of Applicants Actually Get Interviews,” by Peter Harris .

In my 20+ years of professional existence, I’ve seen many resumes. I’velaughed, cried, yawned, and many times, I don’t get past the first section.

The days of mass distribution of your resume are OVER and is why I am oftenasked to review resumes and they never go back without a ton of comments andredlines.

I am going to give you some very powerful and unique resume strategies to help yours stand out. The first thing youneed to understand though is the purpose of your resume.

Before you dive in, I highly recommend you watch the short, video introduction. It will help to establish your focus andgoals through this comprehensive resume strategy guide.

We’ll include navigation so you can jump to specific parts if you should bookmark this for reference as you completeeach component.

Table of Contents

STRATEGIC PURPOSE OF A RESUME

Tease ‘Em. Make Them NEEDING More.

Define Your Future

Your Door For Opportunity to Knock

Promote Your Personal Brand

PREPARE

Define Accomplishments and Impacts

Define and Document Your Legacy

Self-Assessment

Industry and Role Keyword Research

Step 1: Do An Online Search Based on Your Industry, Position and Seniority Targets

Step 2: Find 10 or More Relevant Job Descriptions

Step 3: Copy and Paste Core Content into Document

Step 4: Use Word Analysis Tools to Rank Keywords

Secure General Recommendations

Get a Dedicated Phone Number and Email Address

Verify for the Verification Process

BUILD IT (RIGHT) AND THEY WILL COME

STRATEGIC 7 SECTIONS OF RESUME STRUCTURE

Summary Section

Expertise Section

Experience Section

Education, Certifications & Licenses Section

Work Authorization/Security Clearance Section

Recommendations and References Section

Cover Letter Content Template

DESIGN YOUR RESUME

DIY Design Approach

Resume Templates

CUSTOMIZE YOUR RESUME (#resumecustomize) SUBMIT YOUR RESUME

Proof BOTH Spelling and Grammar

STRATEGIC PURPOSE OF A RESUME

If you don’t have a correctly defined resume goal, you’re doomed before you type the first keystroke.

Tease ‘Em. Make Them NEEDING More.

Think of the best I-will-never-ever-forget-this-never-ever date you’ve gone on in the past. The best ones left youwanting to see and know more about the person – REALLY wanting to see and know more.

That’s the purpose of the resume. You want a hiring manager to say, “I NEED to meet this person!”

Leave the hiring manager with that feeling of your best I-will-never-ever-forget-this-ever date.

Tease ‘Em. Make HR NEED to meet you.

Define Your Future

Once you land your perfect job, the resume is often used for first role assignment, career progression and projectplanning. It’s a baseline of information that an organization has to begin those plans.

Your Door For Opportunity to Knock

Even if you have absolutely no desire to leave your company or search for another position, by following theseresume and promotion strategies, you’ll have the most open door for an opportunity to come knocking.

Yes, that’s right – this will increase the chances that opportunities you never dreamed possible or that you never eventhought of coming to YOU as opposed to you chasing them down.

Now isn’t that just a happy thought?

Promote Your Personal Brand

Think of a resume as a single-page website that is one paper. It should accurately showcase the value you provideand the uniqueness of your brand.

The job market today is incredibly competitive. Having skills is not enough anymore. Hiring managers wantpersonalities that define and support a workplace culture.

With the purpose in mind, let’s dive into your resume strategies to help you land your dream job!

Whether you are building your first resume or you are a seasoned leadership executive, these resume strategies willset you apart from the 98% of all other applicants and move you closer to landing the interview.

I will give you a lot of tools and references throughout this article. Don’t worry, I’ll summarize them all for you at theend for quick reference as you start building your new, brilliant resume.

https://imgur.com/LFVpMto

PREPARE TO BUILD

If you skip preparation you end up with a resume.

When you fully prepare before you develop your resume, you end up with a strategy.

Define Accomplishments and Impacts

Don’t you dare start feverishly typing out your resume before you’ve done a lot – a TON – of preparation. It amazesme that most people skip this step in their resume strategy. If you skip preparation, you end up with a disconnectedresume at best. When you thoroughly prepare before you write it, you end up with a strategy. It is likely the mostcritical of all of them as this is the core of your resume content and job strategy. Step away from your resume andkeyboard and be sure to do the following before you even type the first letter. For each company/position, identify yourbiggest 3-5 achievements in each of the following areas:

1. People

2. Process

3. Technology/Systems

For each of these areas, define the specific 3-5 business and financial impacts to the company.

In other words, how did the business benefit from you being in the role or project?

Why is it so critical to define your impact before you begin developing your resume?

Most job descriptions will focus on these three areas and include qualifications around people, process andtechnology experience and expertise.

You are going to use these strategically in your resume content to keep it from showing you did ‘tasks’ (yawn) toproving that you impact business.

BAM!

Define and Document Your Legacy

Here’s how we define legacy at Intelivate:

This is true personally and professionally, even if you do not have a leadership ‘title’.

Don’t let the title get in the way of your definition. Please and thank you for this.

For each position you’ve held, when people (colleagues, leaders, direct reports, channel partners) think back to youin that role, what is the 2-3 sentence description that they would give about the legacy you left?

Think specifically about the impacts you had, the influence you used and the general lay of the culture of theorganization or team.

How did you enhance it?

How did you positively change it?

Especially for executive leadership roles, this should be the primary highlight of the effectiveness of your influence. Itis sometimes a tough definition to develop, but invaluable in the result.

Need some help? Ask former colleagues, mentors or leaders. After all, these are likely the people you impacted andinfluenced. Why is this critical?

Your legacy definition will not only provide content for key parts of your resume, but it will also help in preparing foryour interview. The more you prepare and look ahead to the next step, the more likely you are to succeed.

As a bonus, you will probably find out impacts and influence that you had not thought of to leverage in your resumestrategy.

Why? Because it comes naturally to you, so it does not seem like anything unique or special. To others, you seembrilliant. To you it’s ‘simple’ to them it’s ‘impossible.’

I write about the concepts of easy versus simple in this article.

Self-Assessment

One of the secrets to happiness and success is truly being self-aware. One of the most useful tools for developingself-awareness is self-assessment. Early in college, I took several of these industry-grade assessments and all ofthem together really helped me understand my ‘quirks’ as well as natural strengths and weaknesses. Knowing mystrengths and weaknesses has been a critical factor in helping me continue to be aware of those areas that I shouldleverage myself versus really leverage others.

If it is a natural weakness and I don’t find value in learning it, it’s going to take me 5x as long to do something thatsomeone else who excels and loves it – and they are going to do it better.

Our partners at Truity provide a portfolio of brilliant scientific personality assessments with a real focus around self-awareness of connecting your personality to work and career.

They have a vast offering of both free and premium assessments.

I would start your journey of self-awareness with three of their free assessments:

The 300-Question Personality Test

Find out how you’re really wired with this multifaceted, in-depth assessment of your personality across 5 broaddimensions and 30 personality traits.

Personal Strengths Inventory

What strengths and personal convictions keep you moving forward during hard times? What talents can you tap formore success at work and at home?

DISC Inventory - Analyze Your Behavior

You know how you see yourself, but how do others see you? This assessment helps you to understand how youinteract with others and how your behavior style shapes your relationships.

How to Take Self-Assessments and Leverage the Results

When you take any self-assessment, you want it to be accurate. Therefore, make sure you are in a time and placethat you can focus, take it as quickly as possible so that you do not overthink your answers and respond with the firstinstinct you have. That will ensure that you get an incredibly accurate assessment.

One of their premium assessments is the Typefinder®Personality Test and is based on the original 16 personalitytypes created by Isabel Briggs Myers.

The results alone are always fascinating and truly powerful in helping you understand your personal strengths andpotential.

The results of these assessments are invaluable tools to not only guide you to your natural focus but to also highlightyour personality and strengths for your resume strategy and overall career path.

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START BUILDING YOUR SELF-AWARENESS TODAY!

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Part 2: Keyword Research & Analysis

Keywords are vital in any resume. They give your resume more appeal and relevance to a targeted base of hiringmanagers. This is an ultimate resume keyword analysis strategy.

Part 3: Verification & Recommendations

This section continues with strategic resume preparation including targeting recommendations and how to breezethrough the verification process.

Part 4: Structure & Build

The goal of your resume is to keep them wanting more. A strategic 7 section structure will make your resume anddeveloped content magnetic.

PART 5: DESIGN, CUSTOMIZE & SUBMIT

The goal of your resume is to keep them wanting more. A strategic 7 section structure will make your resume anddeveloped content magnetic.