Copyright 2004 Simon Meth

You create a perfectly crafted resume. Your cover letter is a literary masterpiece. You respond with both to

numerous opportunities and can hardly wait for the influx of phone calls and emails from company

recruiters just eager to talk with you about working for their companies. You wait. You wait. You wait

Perhaps, just perhaps, you don’t really know what makes a resume and cover letter attractive to a corporate

recruiter. Perhaps you don’t know what will increase the chances of your resume being read. If you’ve been

doing the same thing in your job search for some time without success and you plan to keep on doing the

same thing…then perhaps there is something of value here for you. Read on to learn my Top 10 ways to

1) A human being never looks at most resumes that are submitted to corporate websites. That’s not

wrong. It’s just the way it is. Use this to your advantage. The reason most resumes never are

looked at by a human being is that most resumes don’t meet or exceed the requirements for the

position. Corporate recruiters are professionals who are paid to source candidates who meet or

exceed the requirements for the position. Most recruiters run Boolean searches on corporate

resume databases. If you don’t meet the requirements then, chances are your resume will be

ignored. Simple approach here is to read the requirements and make sure your resume covers the

2) If your cover letter has ever stated something like, “I don’t meet the requirements for the position

but I’m a really fast learner” then perhaps you could look for another line of work. Recruiters are

experts at time management. If you’re telling them you don’t meet the requirements then they’ll

3) If you voted for Harry Truman and you think you can hide that you are old enough to have done

4) If you don’t have a degree and you think you can list something nebulous under the university

name where you partied hard for a semester and someone might think you have a degree then

5) If you’ve had 16 jobs in the last 10 years and you think leaving employment dates off your resume

6) If your objective says something like, “I want to work for a company that values it’s employees, is

committed to altruistic acts, and has a great benefits package” then GET A CLUE! The objective

7) If your resume contains things you did 20 years ago that you’re so proud of and you think will

positively influence a corporate recruiter then read and understand the following sentence.

Anything more than about 5 years ago is ancient history on a resume. Focus on the past 5 years.

8) Many recruiters never read cover letters. Some recruiters reject candidates who don’t write a cover

letter. What is an applicant to do? Write a short, well written, cover letter that is clearly written in

response to the position being applied for. A couple of short paragraphs are all you need. Those

who like cover letters will read and understand why you applied. Those who don’t read them will

9) Do research. You may have been the Chief Vice-President of Bottle Washing for World Wide

Bottle Washing but if you’re applying for a position as a Temporary Glass Enclosure Technician

the recruiter may not make the connection. What terms are currently in vogue? Don’t know.

THEN FIND OUT and make sure they are on your resume. People exiting the military are experts

at this. They know and understand that people outside of the military don’t have a clue about the

jargon used in the military. They translate their resumes to be understandable to the corporate

10) If you send the same resume and cover letter to every opportunity then you really need to think

about that. Yes, it’s hard work targeting each and every response. The alternative is that you’ll

Take to heart these 10 points and think about them before you hit the send button each time you apply for a

position. Please let me know what differences you experience as a result. Thanks for reading.