How Your Résumé Can Make You More Money

A great résumé can be a powerful thing – so powerful that it can increase your income.

Before telling you about an interesting strategy for using your résumé as an instrument to get you more money, it’s vital to understand what makes a GREAT résumé. You can find out the guidelines for writing a great résumé by reading my last blog post entitled “Does Your Resume Sell You?”

In a nutshell, your résumé should convey your qualifications, accomplishments and experience as they relate to the job position you’re targeting:

Unfortunately, most people write their résumé as a job description where they make note of what their responsibilities were at every job they ever had. This will not “sell” you to prospective employers.

The following strategy works best for those who are currently employed and not necessarily looking for a new job: –

First, put together a WOW résumé that “sells” you to prospective employers and post it to major job boards such as CareerBuilder, Monster, Indeed, Dice, YahooJobs, etc. – to find specific job boards for your particular job position, search by the job position title and the words “job boards.” Also, you can post your résumé anonymously using each job board’s privacy options if you are concerned about your current employer finding your résumé online.

Now, just sit back and wait to see what type of response you get. There are always recruiters out there scanning job boards for great applicants; that’s their job after all!

Don’t stop there - Be sure to update your résumé on a quarterly basis by adding any additional experience you’ve obtained such as a new job function, new system or technology you’ve learned and become an expert in using. Make updating your résumé a regular practice by scheduling it on your calendar so you don’t forget. (Google Calendars is a free app you can use for this purpose.) Then repost it to those same job boards.

In general, recruiters search for résumés that have been recently uploaded, for example, within the last 30 days, so reposting your résumé will give your résumé a better chance of being found. By having an up-to-date résumé you will always be ready if you suddenly need to find a job. An easy way to keep track of your accomplishments is to write them down as they occur and then to file them in a folder. You can then look through your “accomplishment folder” when arranging for your résumé update.

Key point: The fastest way to make more money is to get a new job that pays more than you’re currently getting. Even if you don’t want to leave your current job, you can use that new offer as leverage to get a raise at your current job.

Here are some other benefits of keeping your résumé up-to-date and going through this process:

1)     It will keep you focused on creating accomplishments.

2)     It will increase your confidence by helping you to realize the value you bring to an organization.

3)     It will help you to convey your value during your performance reviews and job interviews.

So, be sure to dust off your current résumé, have it professionally written and updated, and start posting to job boards!

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Would you like to make more money?

If you are looking for professional help with proven strategies for advancing your career –

or if you need a GREAT resume that opens the doors to interviews -

Call (201) 236-1158 or email Donna@CACoaching.com.