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What if you could see the resumes of candidates that are competing for similar jobs, just like employers do?  Let's face it - many job seekers have never seen a resume for their job description other than their own, so they have no idea what their competition looks like.  A competitive resume review is just what the doctor ordered.  Every company researches what their competitors are up to - why shouldn't you?  Here's how:

There are several sites where employers can conduct resume searches for free - go ahead, sign up as an employer for a change!   Just put your name where it asks for an employer on the lead form.  Most job boards charge for access to their resume database, so one website I like is Jobvertise.  It's not as comprehensive as the largest job boards and their free employer account won't let you see resumes posted within 21 days, but for doing a gut-check on how your resume stacks up, that doesn't matter.  You're just trying to get an idea of what's out there.  To see the free resumes, just sign up for a free employer account, go to the "Search Resumes Now" section, and click to begin a search.  When you get the results, note that you won't be able to see the first few pages of resumes unless you upgrade to a premium account.  Hit the "next" key under the results a few times until the resumes are no longer in bold type - those are the ones you can check out for free.   Although there are other sites that let employers review resumes for free, if you're seeking a manager-level job or above, or you're in a technical specialty, I highly recommendthe larger job boards so you can do a more thorough competitive resume review.  It's worth the few hundred dollars in this competitive job market.  Get together with other job seekers and share the cost!
 
There are a few benefits to going through this competitive resume review process:
 
First, a competitive resume review lets you to go through the experience of using keywords to find candidates, the same way recruiters and employers do.   A lot of job seekers have no idea what "keywords" are when they see tips about beefing up their keywords in articles on resume writing.  Using the search feature, try to find candidates for the types of jobs you're looking for.  The use of keywords, another name for the search terms you enter, will become abundantly clear.  Note that if an employer gets too many responses back, they will narrow their search parameters so they don't have to scan thousands of results.  Try to narrow the results and write down the search terms you use throughout this process. For a better competitive analysis, post your own resume and then pay for the minimum employer access available, then run the searches again.   Does your own resume come up in the results when you use a variety of keywords, as an employer would, to narrow the search results?  If not, add more search terms (keywords) to your own resume so that it passes various possible screenings.
 
The second benefit to a competitive resume review is that you can instantly see the importance of words - there is no formatting in these resumes.  Your summary at the top needs to be interesting and descriptive enough right here, or they won't bother to scroll through to see more.  Here you are in the exact role of a recruiter or employer, trying to find that needle in a haystack.  You need a headline that will wake up the person scanning the summaries in these boring-looking databases - your words need to do all the talking.  The databases for Monster, Career Builder, Dice, and others look slightly different from one another.  Many show a summary on the actual results page, (rather than just title, years of experience and location shown in Jobvertise).  In those databases it becomes even more important that your summary be helpful to the reviewer, otherwise they won't even bother to click through to read more about you.
  
The third benefit of a competitive resume review is to help strengthen the language you use to describe your accomplishments.  Use this database to objectively determine which resumes would likely "pop" to a recruiter or employer scanning through the results.   Do NOT EVER copy text from another resume directly - It is beyond completely unprofessional, and if you do, you'll likely get caught because employers can easily spot any similarities and note from the date of the resume posting which person was the plagiarizer, causing you to be black-balled.  My reason for telling you about this process is so that you use the information to better position yourself, not copy someone else's hard work.  Used correctly, it's similar to any company reviewing the text of a competitor's website to see how they position products, and then using that information to strengthen their own product positioning.   They'd never copy what a competitor says, but would keep their competitor's positioning in mind as they evaluate their own competitive language.  That's the first thing any good marketer does, and a job search is all about competitive positioning.
 
Fourth, though this process can be used to create a more effective resume, it will also give you a clearer view into why job boards should be only a small part of your job search plan.  Look at all of the resumes an employer has to go through!  It's simply mind-numbing.  By networking, mailing personal letters, and calling the hiring managers, it actually humanizes the experience and you're more likely to get to the next step.  Besides, in this environment only a fraction of job opportunities are actually getting posted in the first place.  Many employers see no reason to pay for job postings when the number of candidates is so abundant.    And if you're conducting layoffs in one department, you're less likely to advertise openings in another.   Even though you shouldn't rely on job boards, go through this competitive resume process now to help you strengthen your resume for use in networking, in interviews, and in building your LinkedIn profile.
 
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