Patricia Grant-Kitson, Career Writer

Writing a successful résumé, with the right pitch, tone and content is a troubling thing for many persons, especially those seeking a job for the first time or those seeking to make a career change.

Your job search cannot seriously begin without a résumé or curriculum vitae.

You must prepare and send this out with your cover letter to the prospective employer as the first step to getting that job.

By definition, a résumé is a summary of your qualifications and career relevant to a job application. But for preparation purposes, it is best to think of it as a marketing tool - your sales pitch to convince employers to buy your product - you.

Often the problem stems from regarding the résumé as a historical document presenting only facts, rather than an advertising script.

Two sections

But, the experts say that a great résumé has two sections: an "assertions section" where you make positive statements or declarations about yourselves, and an "evidence section" where you provide the evidence or facts to support the assertions you made.

It must be powerful, since most employers receive so many résumés for a position, especially if that position was advertised in the newspaper, that they have no time for in-depth reading of each résumé - they use the first 10 to 20 seconds to scan the document (usually the first section) and decide whether to place it in the possibility file or the reject pile.

The assertions section has three or four components. The heading - your objective or career objective statement, the summary or summary of qualifications, and your declared skills and accomplishments (also called areas of expertise, career or professional highlights, selected accomplishments, etc.) which may be a separate heading or highlighted with the description of jobs you've held in the evidence section.

The evidence section contains the mandatory information - the summarised facts about your past - and includes some or all of the following: Professional Experience or Employment History; Education or Education and Training; Awards; Professional Affiliations; Publications; Civic/Community Leadership; Personal Interests or Interests and Hobbies; and References.

Patricia Grant-Kitson is a Human Resource Management and Training Consultant. Get more tips in resume detailing from this writer at http://www.go-Jamaica.com/jobsmart/

A close examination of your résumé may reveal the reasons why you have not secured a job. Take a second look.

patriciaktsn@yahoo.com

The assertions section, which should come first, is the selling portion - your opportunity to generate interest or "want to read more" from the person who performs that initial review of your résumé.