Avoiding Resume Quick Sand

There’s probably nothing more frustrating than getting your resume all “prettied up” to send to a company via an online source, only to realize that when you hit the send button, you don’t know where in the world it’s going. This can be compared to sending your resume in quick sand. It’s being sucked into an unseen, unknown world and you don’t know if it will ever return some type of response for you.

So how can you avoid resume quick sand? It’s easier than you think. Here is a bit of advice to take advantage of so you won’t become the quick sand’s next victim.

Employers recognize generic resumes a mile away. The generic resume is the one that you pull off of a template website then change only a little bit to match your specifics. If you want to let an employer know that you’re serious about the job you’re applying for, you have to do better than that. It’s your job to conduct research on the company and position to learn exactly how you feel you qualify. If you can’t do that then you have no business applying. At least that’s how the employer will feel as they dump your resume into the pool of quick sand.

Often times, resumes get lost in the quick sand because they have been run through scanning software meant to catch certain industry-specific keywords. If your resume doesn’t include some of these keywords then it may be filtered to the “quick sand” section of the program and be readied for deletion. To avoid this from happening to you, it’s a good idea to conduct a good amount of research on the company, as well as the industry as a whole, to learn what words should be included in your resume.

Another way to help avoid resume quick sand is to have your cover letter tell the story your resume can’t. For instance, if you have a major gap in your employment because you chose to take time to raise the family, you can explain this in your cover letter. Also, you can utilize this tool to highlight any experiences you acquired during your time off that might be relevant to the position you’re applying for.

Sometimes we set ourselves up to have our resumes tossed into the quick sand. That’s right, if you didn’t apply for the job you were grossly under-qualified for, you may not have found yourself in this position. So if you know that you can provide absolutely no proof that you qualify for a position, it’s best not to apply. And while you’re at it, stop sending resumes to the same recruiters. If they’re interested, they’ll likely contact you. Repeatedly sending your resume to a recruiter is neither necessary nor appropriate.

The job search world is a tough one, but not an impossible one. If you play your cards right, you can not only avoid the resume quick sand, but actually secure a great position.