Is your resume selling you short?  Does your resume position you to negotiate the best possible salary, or does your resume tell a prospective employer to pay you less?
Many job seekers don’t know that the resume is an important part of the salary negotiation process.  Employers begin to evaluate job seekers from the very first impression, which usually starts with the resume.

 

Here is some valuable advice for implicitly letting employers know that you will be valuable to them and should be compensated accordingly:

 

First of all, you must catch the employer’s attention early in the resume.  The professional profile is very important, and people who are writing their resumes should incorporate one or two very strong accomplishment statements in the profile to show employers that they are great candidates.

 

Secondly, in the Professional Experience section you can demonstrate to a potential employer that you are worthy of a highly competitive salary by highlighting quantifiable accomplishments that show that you made and/or saved the company money.  For example, if you can show that you generated millions of dollars in revenue for the company by bringing in new business, this lays a solid foundation for negotiating a higher salary.  After all, you have clearly shown in previous positions that you are valuable and that you will create a return on investment that repays your salary many times over.

 

A candidate who can show that he or she has saved substantial amounts of money is also very valuable in this marketplace.  A job seeker who has cut costs by instituting process improvements has in effect put money back into the pockets of the employer.

 

Another way that job seekers can demonstrate on the resume that they are worthy of the best salary is to show how they have made significant contributions in their fields.  Candidates who have been published, received patents, or presented at professional association meetings should include this information on their resumes.  Other candidates may have been interviewed on radio or television as subject matter experts or may have been quoted in a major publication.  These types of achievements show that the candidates are valued for their expertise, and these accomplishments illustrate the fact that these candidates are a cut above their peers.

 

Most employers have a salary range in mind for the positions that they are trying to fill.  Job seekers who have all the qualifications that employers are seeking are in the best position to negotiate a higher salary.  Even in a bad economy job hunters should try to negotiate.  And they should be able to show that their salaries are justified because of the return on investment that they will bring.