Before any prospective employer takes the time to interview you, they’re going to want to “meet” you on paper. So the impression that your résumé makes on them will make the difference between you landing an interview – or not!

And, without a résumé, it can be very difficult for you to compete with other candidates who will have one and, if it’s not well-written, then it could eliminate you from consideration for that position you’ve always wanted before you even get the chance to interview!

What’s more is that your résumé doesn’t stop helping you once you land an interview. In fact, landing you the interview is just the tip of the iceberg. When you’re in the interview is when you’ll really see your résumé kick into action – it will serve as your guide to having a great interview!

So, how does your résumé do all this?

Let me answer that with an quick story. I had a client come see me with a mediocre résumé - it was well-formatted, but lacked effective statements.

For example, he stated that he “performed due diligence” but, after some chit-chat, I discovered that what he really did was perform “extensive due diligence on the biotechnology and pharmaceuticals industries.” And in doing this, he “developed a comprehensive sets of questions and interviewed industry executives,” “leveraged Capital IQ, 10 Wizard, and Edgar to better understand industry trends and cycles,” and “compiled Synopsis Reports based on research that were utilized by managing partners to learn about industries.”

Now, if I were interviewing you and your résumé only stated that you “performed due diligence,” I could only ask you a limited number of questions like “tell me about what you did to research.”

But if your résumé featured more detailed statements like in the example above, I would be able to ask you more targeted questions like “tell me the most interesting fact you learned about the pharmaceuticals industry” or “what was the most difficult part about interviewing industry executives?”

And the more targeted the question your interviewer asks you, the more targeted you can make your response. So who do you think is going to have the better interview? And who do you think the interviewer will think is the more qualified?

The point is your résumé is a very valuable document – so be sure to either spend time to make it over or invest in one that is professionally-written!