Getting to the Interview

By Sean Anderson

I am an accountant. What can we gather from this statement. Well I am not uniquely creative, expressive or artistic. Even my writing style you can tell that I am bland. My job is to put numbers on a page to convey a meaning. I don't spend time formatting reports beyond standards set forth by accounting.  Other accountants understand this but you first have to get your resume in front of managers and executives. The first step to getting an interview is your resume and the means getting past the human resources hacks.

I loathe the HR department they're just a pack of freaking hippies. In many companies the resume hits their desk first and then they relay it to the accounting managers if they believe it has potential. They naturally don't analyze the resume the same way my pals in accounting would so your resume has to appeal to different types of people.  When deciding how to prepare your resume analyze yourself.  Should you be the one writing, is someone else better able to sell you?  These are question you should be asking.

I figured this out, and had friends from school help me with my resume out of college. In later job searches I turned to professional resume writers. I've done this because my sole goal is to minimize the remaining amount of time at my current job. I have had jobs were I have just wanted out, and if find yourself without a job you really need to take advantage of opportunities.

There are some people who have skills to write great resumes, others don't have those skills. When getting an interview focus on your strengths and outsource your weaknesses. This is the best way to maximize your potential. You are your own business and you are the goods being sold.

My personal strength is managing where I've applied and contacting companies. I put excel spreadsheets together that tell me where I've applied and when I should follow up. When to send thank you letters and takeaways from interviews I have had.


Everything works together when searching for a job but the core of your job search is your resume. If writing and designing a resume isn't your strength outsource the process. There are plenty of places, and it isn't inexpensive in relation to the amount of time spent sending out a poor resume that doesn't attract responses.