Resume???

[Francis]

How important is my resume? Is this the most important part of the interview process?

[bawhitsett]

It's the initial presentation you're making of yourself to a company. It's extremely important. Not sure if you could rank it 'most important' though, I'd think the in-person interview would be most important...

[dc67]

If your resume is not sharp, you may never get to the personal interview. Make sure your resume is short and points out what you want high lighted for the prospective employer. You want them to pick you out of a crowd of other people that may have the same basic experience so you have to try and set yourself apart somehow.

[alissaroot]

There are tons of books at my local library on making a truly sharp-looking resume, and many of them now include a cd so it's super easy to just enter your info and try it out on different resume templates. I highly recommend it. And if you can afford it, swing for that nice thick printer paper, you know what kind I mean? I can't think of the name of it...but I agree with the other posters, it's the way to get your foot in the door, the interview is the main thing. Your interviewer is going to want to know what kind of person they may be stuck working with for the next several years, so that's where you need the most impact.

[Mamasaphire]

I agree with past posters. And especially in our economy, jobs are going to be harder to get. Like they said a good resume may mean the difference between you being called in for an interview or having your resume attempt tossed in the wastebasket.

That book sounds like a great idea. You can also google "Resume help" or go to Wikipedia.

[irnbru]

Your resume, or CV is probably more important than the interview as without a simple and striking CV you won't get the interview.

Think about it as a two step process. Most HR departments do. In hard human resources, a role specification is defined and boxes need to be ticked. It's not unusual for successful candidates to amend their resume specifically for the job they are applying for. Resume yes, interview yes, job yes.

Look at the job specification, the skills and qualities requested. Use the same language in your resume and adjust your resume appropriately. In the interview just talk positively about your experiences, bringing attention to what you have personally done which aligns with the role specification. One trick, is to say you have been involved with such and such projects, or such and such tasks, "For example...". Now the "For example..." is interesting, as if you are unable to provide specific instances of your own involvement (as might be expected in a competency-based sequences of questions) then by providing examples, you're not strictly saying you have done these things

There are lots of resume templates online to be found with a simple Google search. When including previous experience, it's often worthwhile to use the role spcification for your previous position, amending language to align with the role you are applying for.

Good luck!

[cookderosa]

Plain and simple- the purpose of your resume is to get you an interview.
So, you should ask yourself this "how will I get an interview without a resume?" There are very few answers. So by default, I think the resume is the most important first step. That said, anything beyond entry level work (and even entry level work sometimes) involves a face to face meeting. At that point, the interview trumps the resume.

[cantafforedit]

There are tons of books at my local library on making a truly sharp-looking resume, and many of them now include a cd so it's super easy to just enter your info and try it out on different resume templates. I highly recommend it. And if you can afford it, swing for that nice thick printer paper, you know what kind I mean? I can't think of the name of it...but I agree with the other posters, it's the way to get your foot in the door, the interview is the main thing. Your interviewer is going to want to know what kind of person they may be stuck working with for the next several years, so that's where you need the most impact.

That would be parchman paper.

[alissaroot]

you mean parchment paper? lol, thanks! I'm such a dingbat, right? Ugh!