Your resume. It is either your most important asset or the biggest hindrance to your job search.

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I cannot even begin to count how many times candidates have told me that they have sent out resume after resume and have gotten little to no response from pharmaceutical or medical device companies or from recruiters.

If this sounds like you, I have good news and bad news.

OK - the bad news first. If this is your situation, it means your resume is hurting you. If you cannot land an interview after sending in your resume to a company or a recruiter, then your resume is not doing its job, which is to sell you. You will never get the job offer if you never even get the interview, right?

But here is the good news. As a former hiring manager and recruiter, there are three blunders I see job seekers make all the time when it comes to writing their resume. However, this article will reveal to you what these mistakes are and what you can do to overcome them.

Like it or not, studies have shown that the average hiring manager or recruiter spends a mere 15 seconds reviewing a resume! So let's make your resume what the hiring manager is looking for and avoid these common mistakes:

Resume Blunder #1 - Your resume is not accomplishments-driven.

Solution:
Your resume should never be just a list of dates and jobs. Under every single job, you should have a separate section that gives your outstanding accomplishments for that job. No matter what you are doing, you know what the benchmark is and how you are performing versus the standards of the job. Make sure your resume highlights those accomplishments for the reader.

Every hiring manager in the pharmaceutical or medical sales industry is looking for a winner. They want candidates with a proven track record of success. In each job, what special things did you do to set yourself apart? How did you do the job better than anyone else? What were the results of your efforts?

To further sell yourself, I recommend a clear and concise "Summary of Qualifications" section. This top part of the resume is a bullet-pointed list of your best selling points and clearly demonstrates your value to the company. You can use this section to customize your resume for the company and position you are applying for.

For example, if the job description reads that the company is looking for someone with customer service experience, make sure your experience in this area is stated right at the top of the resume.

Resume Blunder #2 - You do not have any industry keywords in your resume.

Solution:
With use of the internet to job hunt today, savvy job seekers must know how to maximize the use of keywords. Pharmaceutical companies are literally inundated with resumes. Some report receiving over 5,000 resumes per day!

You must place at least ten industry-specific keywords in your resume. When you post your resume on a job board or company website, the recruiter or hiring manager will use industry specific keywords to search the resume database. As you can probably guess, some of the most common keywords for this industry are pharmaceutical, sales, healthcare, medical, hospital, doctor, etc. Make sure you are seamlessly incorporating these words into your resume.

You cannot just load your resume with keywords and think you will get noticed! Even if you do not have any industry experience, you can get some of these keywords into your resume by writing an objective statement such as “Dynamic and motivated sales professional looking for opportunity in pharmaceutical or medical device sales calling on doctors’ offices and hospitals.”

These few words will get your resume selected above hundreds of others when the recruiter or hiring manager is using keyword software to select relevant resumes.

Resume Blunder #3 - Your resume is over two pages long.

Solution:
This seems like an old-fashioned rule of thumb, but truly, most job seekers should be able to fit their jobs and accomplishments onto one page, two at the most.

If you are an older job seeker, you do not want to list every job you have ever had. Not only will you look over-qualified for some companies, but you may find yourself the victim of age discrimination, a sad but true reality for many older job seekers out there.

And if your resume is beyond two pages, you may be listing irrelevant information on the resume such as training that has nothing to do with sales, or listing your references, which should be listed on a separate sheet and submitted only when requested.

Bottom Line:

As you can see, these mistakes are not difficult to overcome, but most job seekers are not aware that they are even making these blunders. Make these few quick fixes to your resume, and you will be head and shoulders above your competition in the world of pharmaceutical and medical sales job hunting!

© Copyright Nikki Kerzic, 2008. Used with permission.

About This Author:

Nikki Kerzic is the president of Executive Connection, Inc., one of the nation’s leading pharmaceutical and medical sales recruiting firms, and is now also the owner of Find Your Dream Job Now! to coach job seekers looking for jobs in medical and pharmaceutical sales. Visit Nikki's Website, PharmRepConnect.com, to learn more about her exclusive job search tools and strategies, and to get a copy of her free report on the many potentially “Fatal Mistakes” …

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