Content
provided by ResumeEdge.com
Certified Professional Resume Writers
Six
Steps to a Blockbuster Resume
by
ResumeEdge.com
- The Net's
Premier Resume Writing and Editing Service
A resume has one purpose –
to market your skills, achievements, professional background,
academic history, and future potential to a prospective employer.
Much like a 30-second commercial, today’s resume must provide
maximum data as quickly as possible, differentiate you from all other
candidates, and be attractively packaged.
Impossible, you think? Not
at all. Writing a winning resume simply takes thought and
planning. After all, you wouldn’t drive from Los Angeles
to Manhattan without mapping the surest route. The same goes
for your resume. By using the ResumeEdge©
six-step process, you’ll gain perspective on your career target
and the audience you need to reach, learn how to showcase your
strengths, minimize your weaknesses, and produce a document with
maximum punch.
Of course, our certified resume
writers are on hand 24/7 to provide expert, personalized
guidance.
The ResumeEdge© Process
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• Step One:
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Targeting Your Career and
Audience
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• Step Two:
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Formatting for Maximum Impact
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• Step Three:
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Skill Set and Qualifications
Summary
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• Step Four:
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Accomplishments and Special
Skills
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• Step Five:
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Professional Experience
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• Step Six:
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Education and Training
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STEP ONE: Targeting
Your Career and Audience
You must have a clear idea of what
you want to accomplish in your professional life in order to maximize
the impact of your resume for your targeted audience -- the hiring
manager or graduate school admissions director.
Before you begin, ask yourself
these questions. Are you:
Making
a lateral move?
Seeking
a promotion?
Career
transitioning?
Pursuing admission into a
graduate program?*
For numbers 1-3 above, the most
effective way to begin targeting your resume is to search openings
that appeal to you on job boards (i.e. Monster, Hot Jobs.
CareerJournal), internal company postings, or newspaper classifieds.
With these in hand, you can
highlight the qualifications you will need to be considered and the
duties you would be expected to assume. Every match in terms
of qualifications and experience will serve as key words** in your
resume, as well as provide focus so that the resume can be tailored
for your targeted audience. The more closely the content of your
resume matches the content of these postings, the more likely you
will be asked to interview.
* Resumes provided
for graduate school admission showcase your skills, professional
experience, accomplishments, and academic history in much the same
way as “job” resumes. The difference is that an
admissions resume will focus on what transitions well to the
classroom, not to the workplace.
** Key words include
industry-specific jargon or acronyms (i.e. "generally accepted
accounting principles" (GAAP) for accountants; "Certified
Professional Resume Writer" (CPRW) for resume writers; "Series
7 licensing" for brokers; "initial public offering"
(IPO) for investment bankers; "at-risk child" for social
workers; "Level
2 Training" for physicians;
"intellectual
property law" for attorneys; "triage" for
nurses; and nouns or noun phrases indicating qualifications or
required tasks (i.e. general ledger, word processing, contract
negotiations, benefits, payroll, closing (for sales people); catering
services, new menu items, capacity
planning (for chefs); logistics, quality assurance,
advertising campaigns, product launches, staffing, training,
orientations. Companies that employ scanners require a set number of
hits on key words before the hiring manager will personally
review the applicant’s resume. It is always wise to
incorporate as many key words as possible into your resume.
STEP TWO: Formatting for
Maximum Impact
The moment your resume is opened
by a hiring manager or admissions director, it must appeal to him or
her on an aesthetic level, while accurately reflecting your industry
or career goal. To do anything else is to relegate your resume
-- no matter how brilliantly it is written -- to the rejection
stack.
In order to ensure that your
resume receives the initial attention it deserves, it’s
important to adhere to certain formatting guidelines, which include:
Template and Font Choice
In all cases, templates and
font choice should:
Be
easy to follow. There is no greater irritation to a busy
hiring manager or admissions director than to receive a resume where
data is presented in a haphazard or inconsistent manner.
That’s why templates are used. An effective template
will present company names, dates, job titles, academic information,
and all other pertinent data in a clear manner, so that a quick
glance will tell the contact person what they need to know.
But
consistency in format isn’t the only point to consider.
Templates should be chosen because they accurately
reflect a candidate’s career or goal.
In other words, a banker, accountant, or administrative
assistant would choose a more conservative format
than a graphic artist or interior designer. Nothing is more
jarring -- or disastrous -- than to receive a financial
professional’s resume written in italics or script with
accompanying graphics.
Be
easy to read. Resumes written in bold text or italics are
extremely difficult to read and project a lack of professionalism.
The same goes for artistic fonts that resemble handwriting.
It’s a common misconception that jazzing up a resume
with these stylistic tricks will get the document read. On the
contrary, the resume will get noticed -- and discarded -- within
seconds. It’s not the font you use that attracts
attention, but rather the resume’s initial appearance and the
words crafted within it.
When in doubt about font choice,
always err on the conservative side. Two good choices
are Times New Roman or Arial in 11 points -- no smaller, or the text
will be difficult to read.
Effective Use of White Space
There is no quicker way to get
your resume ignored than to create a document with (narrow or
nonexistent) margins, and block after block of uninterrupted text.
No one wants to read a text-heavy document with sentences that run on
for four or five lines. In today’s fast-paced world, you
must get your point across quickly, with a minimum of words presented
as bulleted sentences within special sections (i.e. Professional
Experience, Education, Qualifications Summary), separated by
well-placed white space.
Think of white spaces as necessary
pauses -- a chance for the hiring manager or admissions director to
catch her breath, collect her thoughts, and digest (and appreciate)
the data you’ve presented.
Prioritization of Data
Imagine you’re a hiring
manager. It’s 7:30 on a Monday morning, and an important
position needs to be filled in your company’s legal department.
Over the weekend, 200 resumes came in from eager applicants all
wanting to fill this one job. Most of the resumes are
attractively formatted and use the appropriate font type. So
far so good. But on closer inspection, most of the candidates
have relegated their willingness to relocate for the position -- a
core qualification -- to the very end of their two-page resumes.
More than a few have buried accomplishments within the text, figuring
this will force the hiring manager to search for that data, which
means the entire resume will have to be read. Some have placed
bar admission, another important qualification, dead last on the
resume, believing that where they can practice law certainly isn’t
as important as the fact that they are attorneys. And a few
misguided souls simply list company names and dates of employment,
assuming that the hiring manager should know without asking what
legal duties they performed at these firms.
It’s enough to drive a
hiring manager to distraction -- or another career.
But then, at last, there are those
few resumes that list the important
data at the top of the first page. In less than five
seconds the hiring manager knows that the first candidate is
willing to relocate and assume the cost of those expenses, if
required. This candidate also provides a special section
beneath the Qualifications Summary that indicates where she is
licensed to practice law. The second candidate does the same,
while also pulling out Career Accomplishments and placing them at the
top of the first page. After all, why keep a 100% win rate at
trial a secret, or the fact that one can practice before the state’s
Supreme Court?
Given the above scenario, it’s
clear which applicants will be called in for an interview. No
hiring manager will read every single resume that comes across his
desk. Nor will a hiring manager search for data. In
today’s tight job market it’s up to the candidate to
prioritize data so that a hiring manager knows at a glance what
the job seeker has to offer the company in terms of achievement, work
experience, education, licensing, certifications, and special
concessions, such as relocation.
STEP THREE:
Qualification Summary & Skill Set
Picture yourself at the market
after a long day at the office. You’re in a rush, of course,
and want only to purchase those items on your list, if they’re
on sale. Hurrying into the store, you glance around for the
weekly advertising piece that indicates which items will be offered
at a discount. Trouble is, there’s no advertising piece
this week, and no one to answer your questions. If you want to
purchase the items you most need at a discount, you’re forced
to walk up and down each and every aisle until you find what’s
available.
Doesn’t sound like much fun
or an effective use of time, does it? And yet this is the same
type of frustration hiring managers are exposed to every time an
applicant sends in a resume that fails to open with a well-written
Qualifications Summary and/or Skill Set.
What is a Qualifications
Summary?
It’s a brief paragraph that
showcases your most effective skills and experience as they pertain
to your job search. More importantly, it’s your chance to
convince a hiring manager of the skills you can bring to the
position. This is essential, given that hiring managers
generally afford no more than 10 seconds to an applicant’s
resume, unless they’re compelled to read further.
So, how do you compel them to keep
reading?
Let’s use this example:
You’re an accountant who has worked at XYZ Company for nine
years and been promoted every time you’ve come up for review.
Because of your organizational efforts, the company is saving $2500
monthly. You’ve passed the CPA exam. You’re
skilled in Profit & Loss (P&L), audits, taxation matters, and
internal controls. Now, you want a Controller position.
Rather than including all of the
aforementioned data in the body of the resume, where the hiring
manager would be forced to look for it, but won’t (remember,
you’ll be given 10 seconds before the hiring manager
moves on), the wise candidate would write something like this:
Results-oriented, detailed
professional with comprehensive accounting experience. Background
includes consistent promotions to positions of increased
responsibility. Skilled in P&L, audits, taxation, internal
controls, and streamlining procedures, effecting a monthly savings of
$2500 at XYZ Company. Recently passed the CPA exam; currently seeking
a Controller position.
In five lines and a mere 45 words,
you’ve given specific examples of what you can do (P&L,
audits, taxation, internal controls), quantified an
accomplishment (streamlining procedures, effecting a monthly savings
of $2500 at XYZ Company), indicated past performance
(consistent promotions to positions of increased responsibility),
provided data on certification (recently passed the CPA exam),
and provided your career path (currently seeking a Controller
position). And you’ve done all of that in a well-written
paragraph that’s interesting and easy to read. (Note that
personal pronouns are not used here. In business writing, which
includes resumes, personal pronouns such as I, me, or my
are never used).
Three examples of outstanding
Opening Summaries:
IT
Professional, Webmaster
Government
Consultant
Foreman
Fine, you say, but what about an
Objective? Where does that go?
In the modern resume, an objective
statement is no longer used. The reason for this follows.
Qualifications Summary vs. the
Objective
In the outmoded Objective, the
candidate told the hiring manager what he wanted, whether that was a
job at the company, room for advancement, a chance to use a new
college degree, or any other reason an applicant could think of and
the hiring manager could dismiss as self-serving. On the other
hand, the Qualifications Summary proactively declares what the
candidate can do for the targeted company, which places the
hiring manager’s needs first. A wise applicant
always uses a Qualifications Summary, either by itself or combined
with a Skill Set.
What is a Skill Set?
Generally speaking, it's a list of
your core competencies as they relate to your targeted career goal.
Again, let’s take the example of the accountant who has just
passed the CPA exam and now wants to be a controller. Rather than
presenting all of that data in the qualifications summary, a portion
of it would be showcased as a tag line (professional title or title
of job you’re targeting) and skill set, and might look
something like this (followed by a reworked qualifications summary
paragraph):
Results-oriented,
detailed professional with comprehensive accounting experience.
Background includes consistent promotions to positions of increased
responsibility for notable achievements, including $2500 in monthly
savings at XYZ Company by streamlining procedures.
This time, the first two lines,
which contain just 15 words, present core strengths
quickly and effortlessly.
STEP FOUR:
Accomplishments and Special Skills
Accomplishments
There is no data on your resume
more important than your accomplishments. Why?
Think of it this way: you’re
a hiring manager with one position to fill and 10 qualified
candidates clamoring for the position. Each candidate has the
same basic educational and professional background. So, who
gets the job?
The candidate who contributed the
most at past positions. Accomplishments are all that separate
you from other equally qualified candidates, with one caveat. Your
accomplishments must be quantified.
What is an Accomplishment?
Increasing the company’s
bottom line (i.e. facilitating its growth)
Streamlining procedures
Promotions
Special projects successfully
completed
Decreasing costs
Company- or
industry-sponsored awards
Certifications and licensure
What is not an
Accomplishment?
Daily responsibilities that
are included in your job description
Regular attendance at work
Getting along with co-workers
Working full-time while going
to college at night
Volunteer or community
service unless it has a direct bearing on your job search
In other words, an accomplishment
is service that goes beyond your usual job description. But for
an accomplishment to have the most effect, it must be quantified.
What is a Quantified
Accomplishment?
One that includes dollar figures,
percentages, and time periods.
For example: Our accountant has
streamlined procedures, realizing a $2500 monthly savings for his
company. The dollar figure quantifies the
accomplishment, while the “streamlined procedures”
explains how he did it. Now, if he achieved those savings
within three months of hire, that would further strengthen his
accomplishments, and it might be written thusly:
Imagine the hiring manager’s
reaction to the above as opposed to this entry:
Doesn’t say much, does it?
Special Skills
Special Skills should always be
presented up-front so that a hiring manager knows what you can do.
In some instances, a special section (i.e. Computer Skills,
Languages, Office Procedures, etc.) should be created to showcase
these special skills.
Special skills will include:
Computer proficiencies
Office
procedures (i.e. answering multi-lined phone systems, taking
dictation (include speed), transcription, typing (include speed),
10-key, etc.)
Linguistic
capabilities (i.e. fluency in a foreign language, ability to
translate, etc.)
Any skill that’s
industry-specific for the job you’re seeking
Here are a few examples of resumes
with outstanding accomplishments and skills showcased effectively for
hiring managers:
IT
Professionals – Project Manager
Chief
Marketing Officer
Executives
– Supply Chain Director
STEP FIVE:
Professional Experience
In the Professional Experience
section you will list your employers, job titles, and dates of
employment in a reverse-chronological order; that is, your most
recent job comes first, followed by your next most recent job, and so
on. This format is standard and is expected by all hiring
managers and admissions directors.
With regard to employment
dates:
Generally speaking, hiring
managers prefer years of employment, rather than months and years
(i.e. 1999 - 2003 as opposed to May 1999 - April 2003).
However, some college admissions programs want specifics when it
comes to dates, so it’s best to use precise dates when applying
to graduate school.
In the Professional Experience
section you will also include daily tasks and responsibilities
beneath the appropriate employer listing. If you’ve
included a Career Accomplishments section in your resume, you should
not repeat that data here. Once data is presented in a
resume, it must not be repeated.
To ensure that your daily tasks
are presented in an interesting and easy-to-read manner, you should
do the following:
Use a bulleted format.
This breaks up large blocks of text that could prove daunting to a
hiring manager.
Delete unnecessary articles
and adjectives. Your sentences should be short and snappy.
Begin
each sentence with an action verb. This quickens the pace of
your writing and makes the text more enjoyable to read. For a
comprehensive choice of action verbs, please use this link: Power
Verb List.
An example of a bulleted format,
pared down writing, and sentences beginning with power verbs follows:
(Again, we use our accountant)
Verb tense:
For those jobs
where you are still currently employed, write your job duties in the
present tense.
For those jobs in
the past, write the responsibilities you held in the past tense.
Additionally,
Professional Experience can be captured and showcased in three
formats:
Functional
Chronological
Combination
In the functional format,
you are stressing what you know over where you gained your
experience. This works for those who have strong skills, but a weak
employment record.
In the chronological format,
you are providing a work history dating back from the present. This
is the most common format and is generally preferred by hiring
managers.
In the combination format,
you are stressing what you know in one section, while also providing
work history dating back from the present in another. This is a
highly popular modern format.
STEP SIX:
Education and Training
Education:
Data provided in this section
should be prioritized (and included) according to:
Your
current career level (entry-level as opposed to professional)
The
purpose of your resume
The country in which your
resume will be distributed
Your current career
level:
If you’re an
entry-level candidate with little or no professional experience, your
education should be presented immediately after the Qualifications
Summary and/or skills
area. The reasoning for this is that education is
currently your most marketable asset. Here, you would include:
If you’re a
professional with five or more years of experience, Education should
be listed
last on your resume. GPAs, awards or scholarships,
and mention of dean’s lists are not generally provided in a
professional or executive resume, except for those used for entrance
into graduate school programs.
The purpose of your
resume:
Resumes sent to
admissions directors for graduate school can list Education before
Professional Experience or after, depending upon these factors:
If
the applicant has just recently completed his bachelor’s
degree, it should be listed before Professional Experience.
If the applicant has
real-world experience related to the graduate degree she is
seeking, the Professional Experience should be listed first.
The country in which your
resume will be distributed:
If you are distributing your
resume within the US, high school education is not included.
The only exception to this rule would be if you’re applying for
a job with the federal government. In that case, you would include
high school data.
When distributing a resume outside
the US, then high school education is included.
Training:
Include all specialized training
that is transferable to your new job target. If you
have not attended college, include all specialized training in
your target field. Hiring managers generally prefer to see some
post-secondary education.
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