by Becky Cole

Whether you have 20 years of job experience or are looking for your first job, it’s the question employers are asking every time the post an ad for a job opening. If you had only 60 seconds to answer that question, what would you say?

"I have a bunch of skills, but I am going to make you guess what I can do." Or would you say, "I have excellent skills in the area you are looking for, and here’s proof of what I can do."

When you send your resume to a company, you have about 60 seconds to get the attention of the person who will be doing the hiring, so it is important that you don’t make them guess what you can do, or hunt for it.

It used to be all the interviewing and hiring would be done through the human resources department, and you rarely met the people with whom you would be working until the first day you started on the job. Now, it is often the case that many of the HR functions are farmed out to an outside company, and the interviewing is done by the people for or with whom you will be working. Unfortunately, most of the time these people don’t have the background or training in the art of hiring. Therefore, it makes it even more important to not leave it up to them to figure out what you can bring to their company. Tell them why they should hire you.

Figure out what skills you have and what skills are important to you that are related to the job for which you are applying. Give yourself 60 seconds and start talking out loud about your work history. Do this several times and keep it to 60 seconds. If you find yourself going more than that, keep working until you can get it to 60 seconds. Listen for the words and phrases that keep coming up. Pay attention to what makes you qualified for the job for which you are applying.

Then capture what you said in your resume. There are different ways to format your resume.

One is by skills. If you have experience in a particular area, but have a variety of different jobs in which you have used this skill, this might be a good format for you. This also might be a good format if you have a highly specialized expertise. List the skill as the header, and then list the dates and the companies for which you worked, as well as a contribution or accomplishment you made while you were there. For example:

Technical Writer

1995-1998 - XYZ Company
- Redesigned software installation instructions and reduced implementation costs by 30%

1998-2000 - ABC Company
- Developed end-user guide for multi-office hardware installation

Another is chronological. If you have had jobs for several years at a time, this might be the way to go for you. List the employer as the header, and be sure to list the skills you came up with in the 60 seconds that are related to the job for which you are applying. For example:

1990-2008 - XYX Company
- Redesigned software installation instructions and reduced implementation costs by 30%

- Developed end-user guide for multi-office hardware installation

The goal of the resume is to get an interview, so use it to tell them why they should hire you.

Becky Cole is a consultant for non-profit organizations specializing in capacity building for both individuals and corporations throughout the Twin Cities.  She has an Education Specialist Degree from Indiana University. Becky Cole can be reached at: bcole@employmentnewsmn.com