Job seekers looking to open doors to employment opportunities in the new year need to create an appealing resume that will help them stand out to recruiters and hiring managers. Certified career coach Jody Eriksen told the Naperville Sun a resume won't get a candidate the job, but it will help employers find out more about who they are and why they are the right person to hire. "A resume is about your potential employer and their needs, their expectations, their wants and your ability to reach back into your history and give examples of yourself in a ... way so that they can forecast what you’re going to do for them in the future," Eriksen told the news agency. Candidates need to include necessary keywords on their resume that correspond to a specific job description. Eriksen said with so many companies using software that screens resumes, it's important that job seekers use these essential words to help them get noticed. To find keywords, she said candidates can extrapolate them from similar job listings, being careful to embed the words into the achievements section in their resume. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that there were approximately 3.2 million job openings in the U.S. as of December 2011. |