Resume preparation
By Joan Berry, Resume Results
| For a resume that sizzles, contact |
 |
An effective resume is essential to a successful job search. No longer
a curriculum vitae listing job titles and responsibilities, today's resume
is a marketing document highlighting your skills and achievements.
The résumé’s job is twofold: secure interviews for jobs for which
you are qualified, and; serve as a basis for interview discussions.
There are numerous books and articles available on the topic of resumes. Here we present some basic information on writing an effective resume:
How can you be contacted?
At the top of each page of your resume, your name and contact information should appear. If you are posting on job boards and wish to keep this information confidential, be sure to follow the instructions and remember to remove this information from the resume you upload.
Be conscious of your email address – this is not the place for a cute or controversial name. Pookey123 may be fine for friends and family, but is not appropriate for your resume. There are several resources offering free email (such as Yahoo and Google). You could set up an email account specifically for your job search. Unless you have special circumstances with your current employer, it is not recommended to use your work e-mail for job search contacts.
Similarly, this is a good time to review your outbound messages on voice mail and answering machines to make sure that the messages are appropriate for a job search.
Objective.
An objective is usually beneficial only if you are entry level or if you are changing career paths. For experienced individuals, a summary section is usually more effective. In a few sentences, you can highlight your skills and education.
Experience:
Start with your most recent employer. The company name, city, and state, your title and dates of employment are normally included. It is often helpful to write a sentence summarizing the nature of the company's business. For example: "U.S. headquarters and manufacturing site with 500 employees producing high volume injection-molded components for the medical device industry."
Rather than listing your responsibilities, focus on what you've accomplished. Instead of "Responsible for increasing sales to end users in the Northeast region," the statement, "Increased sales to end users by 20%, exceeding both volume and margin objectives" is far more compelling. Your responsibilities are implied. Whenever possible, include quantifiable results. If that is not possible, try to show that your statement can be supported by fact. For instance, "Received commendation letters from customers for outstanding service," or "Devised new method which was adopted by other departments."
The norm is to show only the most recent 10 years of employment history. Chances are that your experience from 20 years ago will not advance your case in today's job market.
The pronoun "I" should not appear anywhere on your resume. It is implied.
Education:
List the name of the institution, city and state, and the degree received and/or course of study, listing the highest degree first. It is not necessary to include dates on your resume. If needed, the company may ask for this information on their application.
If you hold any job-related certifications, those should be listed.
If you are a recent graduate, list your education at the top of your resume. Include any honors received. It is also appropriate to include your GPA.
Affiliations:
List job-related associations to which you belong.
Evaluate any other memberships or activities for their ability to support your application. For an entry-level candidate with no job-related experience, chairing the homecoming event may be important. The same item may be less important for an experienced R&D scientist.
Other:
If you hold patents, this should be noted on your resume. If there are a few, they can be listed individually. If you have multiple patents, there are a couple of options. This is one of the exceptions to the two-page limit. You may list them individually, you may incorporate a brief statement in your resume summarizing the scope of your work (for example: "Awarded 12 patents for design of vibration resistant mechanisms in turbine engines"), and/or you may list your patents in an addendum.
The same general rule applies to publications.
Hobbies rarely make an appearance on resumes these days. There are mixed feelings about including such information – some recipients like it and others find it unprofessional.
Key words:
Bear in mind that the majority of companies store resumes in a database. The most common retrieval methods include the use of key word searches. Review your resume with this in mind to make sure that it will come up every time there is an appropriate opening. This can usually be accomplished within the body of your resume. If you are a computer programmer, for instance, you will have listed all the software and languages you've encountered. But sometimes due to differences in terminology, it is useful to have a section listing your capabilities as key words. For example, if your title is "Program Manager", that same position may be called a "Project Manager", "Marketing Program Manager", or "Key Account Manager" in other industries. To ensure that your resume is reviewed when such searches are made, a key word section may be helpful.
Format:
Use a font that can be read by human eyes without a magnifying glass.
A document that has white space is more appealing and easier to read than one jammed with words.
Keep it clean. Because most of your submittals will be done electronically, avoid fancy formatting such as text boxes, embedded objects, and borders. Some systems scramble the format which completely defeats the purpose. As of this moment, almost all company systems are equipped to upload MS Word (.doc) documents. As of yet, many cannot open Word from Vista users (.docx), but Vista users can convert their files from (.docx) to (.doc). Some will accept PDF files.
Employment agencies generally remove your contact information when they submit your resume to companies. For this reason, it is better to have your contact information entered into the body of your resume rather than set up has a header or stationery.
Don't encroach so far into the margins that your resume will not print properly.
Avoid excessive underlining, bolding, and italics. Use just enough of these tools to make your resume easy to read and clear.
Use upper and lower case letters. Documents that are written in all capital letters are difficult to read.
I need help!
You are not alone. Resume preparation has evolved into an art form. It is difficult to evaluate your own background and generate a document which concisely and accurately portrays your skills in a competitive fashion.
As stated earlier, there are any number of books and tools available. Your local library and your Department of Labor office are good places to start.
If you would rather have professional help, click here |