The job application process is very much a sales process. When a business development executive tries to win business from a client, they will first take the time to understand the client's needs. They will then prepare a sales proposal in which the features and benefits of the product are outlined and the client is clearly made aware of how the product will fulfill his needs.

To increase the efficacy of your applications you will need to stop thinking of your resume as a summary of your overall experience and instead design it in the same way you would design a Sales Proposal.

There are three key things to remember:

• Grab attention and maintain interest - remember the 10-second rule
  
• Guide the recruiter to see exactly what you want them to see - don't make them read through the whole resume in order to understand what you can do
  
• Match your application to the job specification - make it easy for the recruiter to fill in the ticks on their check-list

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