The employment process begins with an assessment of your qualifications—a self appraisal inventory that serves as the basis for preparing your résumé.

A résumé is a door opener—a sales promotion tool for you. A well-written résumé presents your education and work experience in a way that gives the employer a strong message about your suitability for a particular position. Your résumé should give an employer a review of what you have done and an indicator of what you are capable of doing on the job. In short, your résumé is an advertisement about your competence. Along with your résumé, you should prepare a list of references—individuals who can attest to your competency.

Regardless of the media you use to send your résumé, it is important to have a well-written résumé with short descriptions using keywords—action words for traditional résumés and nouns for scannable résumés. Your résumé must be customized to the particular job. Your objective is to communicate your skills, knowledge, experiences, and education to the potential employer in a way that matches your abilities with the employer’s needs.

Companies usually require job applicants to complete an employment application. This is a legal document on which a company will base its reasons for hiring you. The application creates a picture of your background in a legal sense because you are required to verify the truthfulness of the information by signing the application.

Developing a portfolio that showcases examples of your best work provides an employer with tangible evidence of your skills and accomplishments as they relate to the world of work.