Dan Clay - How to Write the Perfect Resume: Stand Out, Land Interviews, and Get the Job You Want

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Chapter 1:

Theres no shortage of information out there covering how to write a better resumejust Google resume writing tips and youll see nearly 3 million pages of search results! With so many sources of advice and recommendations, youd think everyones resumes would be perfect by now, right?

Think again.

How do I know? Aside from the fact that Ive personally reviewed my fair share of terrible resumes, the fact remains that there are far more people who fail to land a job than there are those who succeed. One study found that for every job opening a company posts, it receives 250 resumes. Of these, only one will be offered the job. Thats a 99.6% failure rate among those who submit their resumesmore than adequate to define the status quo.

Most people only think about their resumes when its time to look for another job, and with the average worker staying at a job for 4.4 years, almost half a decade can go by before they give their resume so much as a second thought. Nor should they! Your resume is like a fire extinguisheryou only really think about it when you need it. And while your resume may not mean the difference between life and death, it can certainly mean the difference between feast or famineor landing your dream job versus a job that you dread getting up for every morning.

When it finally comes time to dust off the old resume, most people do the same thing: Google a few relevant search terms, collect some advice from the top page search results, add their most recent work experience, and start firing off those job applications. By taking the same approach, most people end up among the 99.6% of applicants who fail to land the jobs they apply for.

With such intense competition vying for each job opening, having a resume that stands out from the pack is critical. Youll rarely get a second chance to make a first impression, and mistakes can mean the difference between getting called for an interview or your resume being thrown in the trash pile and your dream job going up in smoke.

Its hard to make your resume shine brighter than the rest when youre using the same bland, generic advice that everybody else is. And with something as important as the future of your career, why should you settle for having your resume be anything less than the best it can possibly be? When you have to summarize the entirety of your lifes achievements onto a single piece of paper, shouldnt it tell a powerful story about you that makes people yearn to know more?

Crafting a resume that will get you noticed is easier than you think as long as you follow the right steps. The problem with using information from across the Internet is that it will get you 85% of the way to a great resumebut a truly great resume requires that you get 100% of the way there. That, and its hard to tell who you can trust. Should you really bank the future of your career on a junior staff writer whos padding articles with keywords to drive up the Google rankings of the blog hes writing them for?

I decided to write this book to address a consistent need I saw among family, friends and acquaintances for solid, practical resume advice from someone whos actually used it to land lucrative job offers from world-class companies. Theres no shortage of recruiters turned talent coaches offering their guidance based on what theyve seen on the receiving end, but the mindset of someone quickly scanning through dozens or hundreds of resumes on a daily basis is miles away from that of a job seeker, who puts his hopes and dreams on the line with every resume he sends. Plus, asking a recruiter how to land your dream job is kind of like asking a talent scout how to hit a homerun. They can talk through the mechanics all day long, but when it comes time to step up to the plate and show you how its done, they cant back up the talk with an equally compelling walk.