LINDA RAYNIER CPA, CA

SPEAKER | CAREER STRATEGIST | COACH

www.LindaRaynier.com | info@lindaraynier.com

"It’s about having the career that’s

meant for you." 
Want to get an impressive, attractive resume that gets you the job?
CLICK HERE

As seen on:

10 ULTIMATE RESUME HACKS TO GENERATE INTERVIEWS

#1: INTRODUCE YOURSELF...BUT MAKE IT SHORT, SWEET AND INFORMATIVE

The "Profile or Summary" is the very first section you should have listed on your
resume and represents a snapshot of your background to an employer.

Instead of listing all the typical soft skills that many candidates talk about (i.e.
strong communication skills, team player, etc.) discuss your exact technical skills,
industry background and software skills.

This section should be 2-3 bullet points...max.

For example:

PROFILE
        • A designated CPA with strong financial reporting and planning experience
in large public
          companies within the technology and healthcare industries.
        • Possess strong working knowledge of Microsoft Excel, SAP and Oracle.

#2: MIRROR YOUR WORK EXPERIENCE TO THE JOB YOU'RE APPLYING FOR

Mirroring your experience means to firstly ask yourself if you truly have the
technical experience to be applying for that particular position.

For example, for accountants, I see many candidates who have been on a
multiple- year path of doing purely financial planning and analysis but apply for
IFRS technical accounting policy positions. That just simply doesn’t make sense.

If you don’t have even some of what they are looking for in the job description,
perhaps try to get that experience in the current company you’re at before
attempting to send in your resume.

On the other hand, if you have been doing similar duties to what the role you’re
applying for is asking for, then you have this box checked!  

LINDARAYNIER.COM 1
 LINDA RAYNIER CPA, CA
SPEAKER | CAREER STRATEGIST | COACH
www.LindaRaynier.com | info@lindaraynier.com

"It’s about having the career that’s

meant for you." 
Want to get an impressive, attractive resume that gets you the job?
CLICK HERE

As seen on:

10 ULTIMATE RESUME HACKS TO GENERATE INTERVIEWS

#3: HIGHLIGHT BUZZWORDS...AND USE THEM!

While listing your work experience, do yourself a favour and STOP.

Before even getting to this stage you should first read the job description and
highlight all buzzwords and key phrases of responsibilities for this particular role. 

From there, incorporate those words and phrases into your own resume to help you
formulate your sentences. 

Sample buzzwords can include: forecasting, budgeting, reporting, implementation,

analyze, etc.

#4: SPEAK IN HIRING MANAGER LANGUAGE...NOT YOUR OWN

Writing a resume is a craft because there is a special language that you'll have to
write it in, so that as soon as an employer picks it up, they understand exactly what
you do.

What I mean by this is you need to mimic the same phrases that a job description
would use. For example, "Prepare financial statements" may be a very short way a
job description would list out this responsibility. 

If you have the same experience, start your bullet point using the same words and
finish it off by giving more detail (i.e., "Prepare financial statements on a monthly,
quarterly, yearly basis.")

When writing, always ask yourself, are you writing in the hiring manager's language
or your own unique language?

LINDARAYNIER.COM 2
 LINDA RAYNIER CPA, CA
SPEAKER | CAREER STRATEGIST | COACH
www.LindaRaynier.com | info@lindaraynier.com

"It’s about having the career that’s

meant for you." 
Want to get an impressive, attractive resume that gets you the job?
CLICK HERE

As seen on:

10 ULTIMATE RESUME HACKS TO GENERATE INTERVIEWS

#5: ACCOMPLISHMENTS - REFLECT AND ARTICULATE

This is an area I personally feel is crucial to have on your resume but the majority of
people don't even include it!

Accomplishments are key to getting you to stand apart from the rest of the crowd.
Think of times where you saved money, time or improved profitability for the
company in any way shape or form and list them out!

Also, if you've ever been recognized for your performance, that's an

accomplishment too!

#6: BE JOB/ROLE SPECIFIC ABOUT YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Continuing from hack #5, your accomplishments should be listed underneath the
job responsibilities of each position you've held in the most recent years.

Don't create a catch-all accomplishments section of your resume on its own

because employers won't know which role they specifically relate to.

You want to make it as simple and clearly laid out as possible.

For example:

WORK EXPERIENCE

     Job Title
     XYZ Company                                                                           May 201X - June 201Y

Job duty #1                                   

Job duty #2                                   
Job duty #3                                   
Job duty #4                                   
Job duty #5                                   
LINDARAYNIER.COM 3
 LINDA RAYNIER CPA, CA
SPEAKER | CAREER STRATEGIST | COACH
www.LindaRaynier.com | info@lindaraynier.com

"It’s about having the career that’s

meant for you." 
Want to get an impressive, attractive resume that gets you the job?
CLICK HERE

As seen on:

10 ULTIMATE RESUME HACKS TO GENERATE INTERVIEWS

Accomplishments:
Accomplishment #1                         
Accomplishment    #2                       
Accomplishment
      #3  
             
   
#7: QUANTIFY WHERE POSSIBLE

Following hack #6, quantification of your accomplishments is the most effective

way to discuss them in a resume. It'll automatically impress your potential
employers. 

So if you can, quantify the amount of cost savings you made, or the time you saved
by coming up with creative ways to enhance a process.

Use dollar values, percentages, units of days, weeks, months, hours, etc.

For example: Developed a financial model via Excel to significantly reduce the
month-end accounts reconciliation process from 2 days to 1 day.

#8: DATES - BE TRANSPARENT AND THOROUGH

I see many instances where candidates only use years (i.e., 2013-2016) describing
the time periods of their jobs. 

Hiring managers want to see that candidates are honest and transparent. And
subconsciously, not including the exact months along with the years can potentially
cause them to think you're hiding something. So be transparent with all your dates
by including the months. 

If you have a gap, be prepared to know how to answer it in the interview!

LINDARAYNIER.COM 4
 LINDA RAYNIER CPA, CA
SPEAKER | CAREER STRATEGIST | COACH
www.LindaRaynier.com | info@lindaraynier.com

"It’s about having the career that’s

meant for you." 
Want to get an impressive, attractive resume that gets you the job?
CLICK HERE

As seen on:

10 ULTIMATE RESUME HACKS TO GENERATE INTERVIEWS

#9: BULLETS NOT PARAGRAPHS

Writing lengthy tales of your job duties won't necessarily get you closer to an
interview. 

If anything, it may hinder your chances. 

Hiring managers don't read resumes, they skim. 

Therefore, keep it concise, clear, simple and in bulleted format.

#10: DOES IT SOUND LIKE YOU'RE TALKING TO GRANDMA IN SOME CASES? IF

YES, GOOD!

Write out your experience in a similar way to how you would explain your job if you
were speaking to a grandmother. 

What I mean when I say that is, keep it simple. 

This ties into point #9, but if you are being too complicated with your explanations,
(such as going into too much detail about the exact project you were working on
and throwing around acronyms that nobody understands), you resume will simply
be shuffled away to the "meh" vs "to be interviewed" pile of CVs.

GOOD LUCK!

      Now
     you know the 10 tips, but if you want to get a truly attractive,
impressive resume with Linda's help:b?
CLICK HERE

LINDARAYNIER.COM 5