Your Résumé

Your résumé is like your market stall for a market trader. In a busy market there are very many stalls that visitors could decide to visit, but no possible way for every visitor to pay equal attention to them all. So the first job of the résumé is to attract the attention of the Hiring Manager – to get them interested enough to want to “come and take a look” at what you have to offer.

The second purpose of your résumé is to provide all the details required to enable a Hiring Manager to decide whether or not they want to short list you for the next round (informal discussion, initial interview, etc).

In performing these two slightly different duties, your résumé may possibly also need to meet a third requirement, which is to get you past any “gatekeeper” software (such as Applicant Tracking Systems or ATS) that are sometimes used by larger organizations to automate a part of the applicant selection process, and to make recommendations to Hiring Managers as to which applicants’ résumés to pay more attention to, based upon search criteria and pre-created algorithms.

However good a general copy writer you are, writing the “perfect” résumé is therefore a complex and specialist task. If you can afford to get the services of a professional consultant to help you write your résumé then that might be money well spent. If not then the next best thing might be to use our résumé template, created by Customer Success recruitment specialists and aimed specifically at the Customer Success Professional (middle tier).

Your Cover Letter

Your résumé is what will provide the Hiring Manager with all the essential data about yourself and your career that you want them to know. So is a cover letter really necessary, and if so what role does it play?

Yes your cover letter is essential. Whilst your résumé is about you, your cover letter is about the role you are applying for and specifically why you are a great fit for it, and why you are excited about the possibility of you being awarded it.

Your cover letter provides your chance to show that you have researched the company, that you understand their needs and requirements and that you are taking this specific job application seriously. When combined with your résumé , your cover letter provides a greater personalization of the overall message to the Hiring Manager than could be achieved with your résumé alone.

Whilst the ideal cover letter need not be too long, it does need to be well written and formatted to present you in a professional and attractive way – a way that will intrigue and catch the interest of the Hiring Manager and get you onto the “take to the next stage” pile, rather than the waste bin.