Get résumé ready for job market

Hello, soon-to-be graduates! Congratulations on your wonderful achievement, whether that’s a high school diploma, GED, vocational certificate, college degree or something else. It’s hard work, and you deserve time to bask in the glory.

OK, time’s up. Even with finals and capstone projects, you’ll need to squeeze job search onto your to-do list.

Today I want to spotlight your résumé. Chances are you’ve already got one, thanks to the career center at your school.

Those school-made résumés can be good tools. But I’ve come to recognize some weaknesses.

Let’s start with advice that you may have received: Modify your résu- mé for every job. Nope. The minute you start doing that, you know you’ve got a deeper problem: You don’t have a firm job target, or you’re spending too much time responding to posted ads.

It’s true that one of the few things you can control when responding to ads is how closely your résumé matches the posting. But do you think you’re the only one doing that?

Instead resolve to conduct a real search by contacting a pre-determined group of employers with the one-and-only résumé that highlights your strengths in their common field. And if you don’t know your job goal, choose three of your best qualities and make a résumé highlighting them.

Here are some tips to get your résumé into the job market:

Introduction: Instead of a job objective, which forces you to change the résumé frequently, begin by introducing yourself to the reader and presenting your best qualities. Ex- periment with a headline or a profile, or both.

Education: Lead with your degree and major, not your school. Unless you graduated from the employer’s alma mater, it will always be the degree that matters most.

Courses: If you list courses, limit yourself to a few of the most relevant.

Experience: Make the most of what you have, but don’t overdo it. For example, don’t present internships in the same context as a full-time job, as employers know there’s a difference.

The most important tip of all? Get your résumé done, check it for errors, then get it out there. As you move into the job market, you’ll learn that perfection rarely matters as much as timeliness and follow-through.