Resume enhancements, adding  specific keywords, formatting – all these topics about improving one’s resume have been covered ad naseum by others more interested in this topic then me. Again, I’m not discounting all these recommendations, but in order to really get your foot through the door you need to think about where you are in the hiring process more importantly what is happening at that stage.

I always counsel my clients on three main points:

1) What stage of the recruiting process are you in? 

2) Who is involved in that process (more importantly who do you think will be screening you out in that process?)

3) What needs to be done to move forward past that stage? 

Because having knowledge of whats going on the backend allows you to be more strategic with your determination to get past that stage. 

Thinking back to the stages mentioned previously, lets look at the first two stages and start to really be strategic about getting past these stages.

1) Resume Screening 

2) Initial Phone Screening