Resume Template Download Free

Making the Most of Your Resume: The Qualifications Summary

The Professional Touch ? Qualifications Summaries

A Qualifications Summary is your first and best chance to make a favorable impression on a hiring manager. It is a marketing tool that sells your unique skills to the targeted company. Many individuals overlook or devalue the qualifications summary of their resume, but done correctly it can have a major positive impact on hiring managers. As the managing editor for ResumeEdge.com, I see too many individuals who either do not include the qualifications summary or simply do not give it the level of attention it needs. Begin your resume with a qualifications summary - you'll be glad you did.

To be effective, a Qualifications Summary must

1. Provide a snapshot of you as the ideal candidate for the position.

2. Be concise and to the point, addressing what expertise you can bring to the job to benefit the prospective employer.

3. Address pertinent qualifications in the job posting.

4. List your most stellar and recent quantified accomplishment that pertains to your current job search.

5. Provide additional data that enhances your candidacy, including: A. Linguistic capabilities in foreign languages B. Certifications C. Licensure D. Willingness to travel or to relocate for the new position

6. State specific skills, such as computer proficiencies (if applicable)

7. List your past employers if they are well known, i.e. Boeing, Wall Street Journal, Macy?s, AT&T, etc.

8. Work Permits or Green Card data for foreign nationals.

What to Avoid in Qualifications Summaries

1. Use of personal pronouns such as I, my, me, we, us, etc. Resumes are business documents that should employ a conservative tone.

2. Soft skills ? i.e. being personable or trustworthy ? unless they are backed up by specific data.

Soft skills presented in a weak fashion: ?Personable individual with proven ?people? skills.?

Soft skills that are effective and strengthened by quantified results: ?Salvaged $6 million VIP account with Pepsi-Cola, Inc. through superior communication and client relations skills.?

3. Objectives that are vague and self-serving:

?Currently seeking position in which to grow with dynamic organization.? ?Want to use creativity and skills learned in college.?

4. Any data that is superfluous or does not enhance candidacy for targeted position or career, including:

A. Outdated computer skills for an IT professional. B. A listing of word-processing skills for an executive who would most likely have an administrative assistant to do clerical work. C. Academic data (i.e. GPAs, Dean?s List, Scholarships) for a seasoned Professional or an Executive.

5. Number of years of employment in the field, unless the job posting specifically requires a set number of years of experience.

To avoid age discrimination or the perception of being over qualified for a particular position, it?s always best to state ?comprehensive? or ?significant? experience, rather than the exact number of years.

6. Laundry lists of skills that are assumed for the position ? i.e. a CPA is presumed to know AP/AR, bookkeeping, general ledger, reconciliations, taxes, and the like. Providing this data is not telling the hiring manager anything new or relevant.

Before writing your Qualifications Summary determine:

1. What makes you unique in your given field ? i.e. accomplishments, achievements, post graduate degrees, certifications, licensure.

2. What you have to offer the targeted company in terms of past experience.

3. How you meet their qualifications.

Now that you have the details of a well written qualifications summary, don't underestimate its importance. Begin your resume with a strong qualifications summary and you'll start getting interviews and land that dream job!

Darlene Zambruski is the Managing Editor of ResumeEdge.com and Professional Resume Writer. ResumeEdge.com provides Resume Writing Services and Career Guidance.

MORE ARTICLES:

Scannable Resume Design
The Basics

New Audio Resume Service Provides Key Benefits of a Video Resume without the High Production Expense or Possible Legal Pitfalls
Job seekers looking to gain advantage can now create an affordable voice only recorded resume, accessible to employers via URL link. Prospective employers who access Audio Resume URLs avoid the legal and ethical issues associated with video resumes.

Resume Writing Service Marketing
Marketing A Resume BusinessWhen starting a resume business, your marketing campaign is the most important aspect of your business plan. Without clients being able to find your services, you will not have orders! We suggest starting out with local advertising.

Resume? Or Resume NOT? With Screening Software Becoming More Prevalent, Your Cover Letter Is Key To Getting Job Interviews
Don?t forget to appeal to the human reader, suggests WallStJobs.com as "robo-resume-readers" make the first cuts.

7 Tips for Writing Winning Resume Cover Letters
Writing a good resume cover letter is something you should seriously consider when preparing to send off your resume to potential employers.Here are seven important cover letter writing tips:Address the individual by name.

Using the New Free On-line ResAlyzer (Resume Analyzer) from BolivarConsulting.com you can Boost Your Resume Rankings
Resumes are typically received and screened electronically using a process known as keyword density analysis. An otherwise brilliant resume may end up at the bottom of the screening results due to keyword problems. The new free on-line ResAlyser (RESume anALYZER) service from BolivarConsulting.com performs an instant keyword density analysis to let a job seeker see what the recruitment search engines see. Check it out at http://bolivarconsulting.com/resalyzer.php .

Who Should Write Your Resume?
This is a question we get a lot. It seems rather easy to do it yourself if you have access to a word processing program and printer and feel comfortable writing your job history.

Rewriting Your Resume? 7 Easy Ways To Give Yourself An Upgrade
In today's competitive job market, a first class resume is an essential tool for winning an interview. The way in which you present your skills, achievements and experience on paper will profoundly affect the way in which a hiring company considers your application.

Resume Posting: Tips for Jobseekers
Recruiting firms, like most businesses today, must embrace technology in order to prosper. Part of modern recruiting is understanding the value and benefit of internet job boards.

The Interviewable Resume
It is rumored that the only word William Shakespeare wrote on his resume was "Available." We'll probably never know if that is true.

Why Your CV/Resume is Not Generating The Interview Offers You Want
If your current CV or resume is not generating the interview offers you want, it is time to start assessing it. Check to see that the following descriptors apply:*Begins with a succinct, clearly stated career objective tailored to the particular job for which you are applying.

What You Should Never Put on Your Resume
Liars Get Caught! What NOT to Put on Your Resume"Everybody does it" as they say. Face it, the job market can be a very tough place to compete.

How NOT to Write a Resume
You can learn a lot about how to do something right by first learning what NOT to do.Take resumes, for example.

Please Hire Me - Writing a Resume that Gets Results
Those in the Web business know that optimizing a site page is essential to getting it on the search-results lists of major search engines like Google. Nowadays, with the combined impact of online resume-posting and the increasingly prevalent use of scanning technology, even by small companies, the same principle applies to your resume: optimization is essential!