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Why You Should Think of Your Resume as a Sales Pitch

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It’s one of the most frustrating things to deal with when you’re writing a resume: what to leave out. And if you’re a jack of all trades, you might wind up leaving out more than that include. Here’s why that’s perfectly OK.

In a recent Lifehacker post, the co-founder of resume grading service RezScore explained the function of a resume:

“A resume is not a fact sheet. You do not need to, and should not, include everything you’ve done, even if it was very important to you or to the company. Your resume is an advertisement pitching a prospective employer to decide to call you.”

Do You Know What You're Worth?

Many of us think of our resumes as a history. Leaving out one of our jobs or skills or qualifications seems like saying that a certain era of our lives didn’t matter. This isn’t the case at all. In fact, RezScore says, we’re better off thinking of resumes the same way a salesman thinks of a pitch: as a tool that’s geared to get attention, interest, and, eventually, a sale.

To that end, you shouldn’t be afraid to use the bulk of our resume to talk about a small part of our experience. Tailor your CV to the specific job you’re applying for, and you’ll get better results.

Tell Us What You Think

We want to hear from you! Do you create different resumes for specific jobs? Leave a comment or join the discussion on Twitter, using the hashtag #MakeItHappen.

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(Photo Credit: idleformat/Flickr)

Jen Hubley Luckwaldt
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Here in Calgary, Alberta the more detail in the resume the better chance of landing a position that will actually make use of your skills! At least so far over the past 20+ years that has been my experience. I tailor my cover letter to match the posting – my resume remains the same. I once left out information & tailored my resume based on advice from a “outsourcing agency” & ended up getting very frustrated people in the interviews… Read more »

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