Resume Help Blog

Archive for December, 2008

It’s hard to write a resume. Most of us are not “born salespeople.” Just mentioning the word “sales” usually sends a shiver of fear up our spines. Add to this the fact that we are taught from childhood that it’s not polite to brag about ourselves it’s no wonder that when you’re asked to “sell yourself” on a resume you freeze up like a deer in the headlights.

So instead of panicking let’s take a resume apart piece by piece and explain how to write an effective resume. Hopefully this will eliminate some of the fear involved in “selling yourself” on paper.

RESUME BASICS (what every resume MUST have)

Your name, address and phone number (obviously). But also your email address.

Email addresses are where most people tend to go wrong. I have a friend with an email address called “1hottiger” (one hot tiger). While this might be cute among friends, to a prospective employer it shows poor taste, and a lack of maturity (since she’s in her late 40′s). If you don’t have a professional sounding email, create a new one just for your job search. You can get free email addresses on Google, Yahoo or Hotmail.

Example of a BAD email address:

ImAPartyGirl@email.com
JennysMom@email.com
2Hot2Handle@email.com

Example of a GOOD email address:

MaryMartin@email.com
M.Martin@email.com
Mary.A.Martin@email.com

STYLE

When you write a resume avoid using fancy fonts or colored ink. This just makes you look immature. Plus, statistics show that if someone has to struggle to read something they won’t. Which means you’re resume is guaranteed to hit the trash faster than most if you use a script font.

Try to make your resume look like a nice letterhead. One thing I do when I write a resume is condense lines by putting my address all on one line and my phone number all the way to the right. Then I separate it all with a nice line to look like professional stationery.

Leslie K Phone:                                                 (888) 555-0123
123 My Street • Anytown, USA 11223              Email: LeslieK@email.com
__________________________________________________________________

(hint: If you’ve ever wondered how people put in those dots and long dashes, it’s a simple code. Just hold the ALT key and type a specific number on the number pad (number pad, NOT numbers above the letters)

ALT + 0149 for a dot (•)
ALT + 0150 makes a dash (-)
ALT + 0151 makes a long dash (—)

When To Use An Objective Over A Summary

The Objective Statement

An objective statement is for people who are either just starting out or changing careers. Your resume should state your desired job and field (engineering for instance) and demonstrate that you have the skills or education (if not the job background) for the position.

When you write your resume make sure that you use “action words” in your objective statement. Just like they sound they convey that you are a person willing to get to work and do your best. It should state your skills, your desires and what you want to do FOR the employer.

The WRONG Way To State An Objective:

Looking for a position with a dynamic company that will recognize and use my talents. I am seeking a company that promotes from within and will recognize and reward hard work and talent.

This statement is all about YOU. It gives the prospective employer no information about yourself that makes you stand out from the crowd. When you write your resume try to think from their position. They want someone that’s gonna get in there and work hard to make THEM money. How will you do that?

The RIGHT Way to State An Objective:

To apply my knowledge acquired through my Masters degree in Graphic Design and internship at ABC Advertising Company to an entry level position in the art and marketing department of a major magazine.

The Summary Statement

A Summary statement is for people that have been working for a while. It “sums up” your skills and positions using strong “action words” and states your qualifications up-front. It’s a way for a prospective employer to “glance” at your resume and determine if it’s worth reading further. It should outline briefly your skills and background and anything you feel you did that was “above and beyond” the nature of the job you held.

BAD Summary

Department manager for 15 member department in large marketing firm. Managed schedules and oversaw daily department duties and workflow.

The reason this is BAD is that it’s generic. Lots of people have jobs like that. What set you apart? Let’s try again:

GOOD Summary

Accomplished department manager with 10 years experience. Created highly synergistic department of 15 creative marketing employees that generated over $5 million dollars in annual sales through applying teamwork and incentives/rewards.

This is just a sample but you should have 3 to 5 strong sentences like this. When you write a resume show the results your efforts made whenever possible, whether it was saving the company money and/or time, or bringing in sales.

Fact #1: Most resume’s are boring. The average resume reads like an outline for a term paper. A,B,C, 1,2,3. BORING.

Fact #2: Most of us are not born writers and writing about ourselves is extremely hard.

So how do you outline all your great skills and assets in an interesting (if not exciting and dynamic) way?  In this article we’ll give you a resume sample to get you started. Let’s begin with the basics and perhaps if you discover the “hidden writer” within you might work up to exciting and dynamic.

In How To Write A Resume – Lesson #1: Objective Vs. Summary I explained how to layout your name/address, etc. and gave a resume sample of an objective statement vs. a summary statement. Here’s how to write about your experience, skills and education.

Professional Experience

The experience section is where you really get to shine. This is where you break out what you did for your last employer(s) and tell that prospective new employer exactly what an awesome employee you’re going to be.

This is also where most people fall really flat. By just outlining job duties in a paragraph (typed letters, managed inventory, made coffee, ran errands, shot myself in the head from boredom . . . ) you are virtually guaranteeing that your resume will be put in the “round file.”

Before you begin grab a pen and paper and do some real, deep down, thinking about your last job. Were you given goals to achieve? Did you exceed them? Did you do anything above and beyond? Where and how did you “stand out?” Did your prior job contain elements that the new employer is looking for? For instance, if you did the payroll for your last employer is the new employer looking for someone experienced in payroll?

Resume Sample Of A BAD Experience Section

• General bookkeeper for small construction company.
• Managed day to day activities and schedules.
• Reconciled books and did payroll. Paid quarterly taxes.
• Kept track of inventory and supplies.
• Paid bills.

Why is this bad? Because while you MAY have done all those things, you don’t tell the employer how you stood out from the crowd! Lots of people have the skills outlined above. What can you bring to the job that someone else might not?

Resume Sample Of A GOOD Experience Section

• Maintained all accounting and bookkeeping records for multiple construction sites.
• Implemented new cost accounting and inventory control that saved the company $1 million dollars on one single construction site alone.
• Generated payroll for over 100 employees in 5 states.
• Maintained accurate books and paid quarterly taxes – that used to be done by professional CPA firm.
• Created new cost-accounting system that tracked all costs associated with construction site and saved company over $100,000 by eliminating duplicate reimbursements to construction sites.

Use action words and positive phrases. In the sample resume piece above “Saved, Implemented and Created” are a few action words an employer might look twice at.

At this point you’re probably saying, “but I didn’t do anything special at my job.” Well, yes – you did (unless you’re a slug, then I highly suggest you start thinking about how you might perform above and beyond at your next position). Most people get “writers block” when it comes to bragging about themselves. Don’t be nervous. Take a breath and start thinking.

• Were you hired for one job and before long you were given 10 others too?
  • Why did they give you those extra jobs?
  • Were you were more efficient than your co-workers?
• Did you create a special tracking spreadsheet? Because you were more organized?
• Did you train any other employees? Even just through mentoring?

• Did you reorganize something or streamline it in some way?
  • For instance, A long, long time ago I reorganized an entire filing system and created a color-coded key for it. This saved people a lot of work trying to find the right files. You bet I mentioned that on my resume for future executive assistant positions!

NOBODY just sits like a lump and does only what they are initially hired for. We always take on extra jobs. Problem is that after a while we are so comfortable doing them we forgot that we weren’t originally HIRED to do those.

So, think hard about what you started out doing and what was added to your position and think about how you can “brag” about it.

SKILLS

Skills can be broken out in two ways. You can use them to brag about yourself more by stating things you’ve achieved. For instance:

Successfully managed 15 accounting employees processing over $1 million dollars a day in billing.

Or you can actually list your skills:

MS Office • QuickBooks • Photoshop • ABC Accounting Program

And then list your certificates:

• HR1 Certificate
• Certified bookkeeper through the ABC College of Accounting

Education should be kept simple:

• If you have a college degree then don’t list your high school. That’s implied.
• Spell out the name of your college. With the hundreds of colleges out there it’s impossible for everyone to know their initials. Plus it just looks more professional.
• DO NOT exaggerate or lie about your education. Most companies hire professional background checking companies and you WILL be found out.
• You do not need to put the year you graduated down (this gives them a hint at your age) but you may have to list it on the background check information if you’re hired.
• DO NOT list your GPA – unless you’re fresh out of college and the job you’re applying for is in the field you studied.
• DO NOT list college clubs or activities unless they apply to the job or show some sort of leadership ability (for instance being on the student government or donating your time to, or founding a charity)
• Be careful to not list any political activities you might have been involved in. You never know the politics of the person you’ll be interviewing with so don’t give them an opportunity to exclude you before interviewing you.

So that’s it in a nutshell! I hope these resume samples have helped. Now sit down with a pad and paper and put your thinking cap on! You know you were a stellar employee, now all you have to do is make your resume show it!

By Joe Turner

We are in a recession and who knows how long or how deep it will go. Are you prepared? Do you know how to find and win a job in a smaller, more competitive job market?

Here are six winning resolutions to maximize your chances of scoring a secure paycheck in 2009:

Get in the Game:

If you’re serious about finding employment, become proactive. Stretch yourself, get out of your comfort zone and aggressively search beyond the listed jobs you find on the Internet. This requires a game plan and the expectation that you’re going to win this game. Decide to excel and achieve at job search.

Do something every day to further your search. Positive action diminishes anxiety and other negative feelings. This goes beyond survival of the fittest. For anyone who wants to succeed, it requires an iron will and determination. You will not be defeated by this job search process. You will prevail and you will outlast this challenge. Remind yourself of that.

Lose the Neediness:

Take the words “desperate” and “defeat” out of your vocabulary. Employers can sense neediness and they won’t hire you. If you present yourself with a sense of desperation, you’re bringing your anxiety and fears to the table. Rather, focus on what you can do for an employer. Don’t focus on your needs. Instead, focus on what the employer needs, and this leads us to Resolution #3.

Think ROI:

Employers don’t hire people to be liabilities on their balance sheets. They hire people to be assets (to provide a Return On Investment) and to solve a problem. To do this, demonstrate clear benefits that you offer them.

Take a look at your skills, experience, abilities and talents. Determine how you can best help the employer either make money or save money. Turn your skills and talents into benefits that an employer understands and appreciates. Pull out examples from your past work experience. Ask yourself, “How did my work save time or money, make money or otherwise improve the overall situation for my employer?”

Education and skills, while valuable, do not translate into benefits. What can you do for this employer that your competitors can’t? You have a unique set of skills, experiences and talents. Turn them into a “Unique Selling Proposition” for the employer.

Widen Your Network

In the past it was easier to find work by responding to ads found in the newspaper or on the Internet. That was before the bar was raised. Now it’s foolhardy to limit yourself to ads on the Internet and expect success. Aggressively seek out those 80% of jobs that are not advertised.

Start widening your network both in person and online. Begin by making some new contacts each week through local events or related professional meetings. Online, you can add your bio to LinkedIn, Spoke and even MySpace, for starters. Don’t forget family, friends and neighbors who might know someone. Job searching is tough enough. Don’t isolate yourself behind a computer screen.

Be Persistent

Nothing worth having is ever easy to achieve. There is a lot of rejection in job search. Sometimes it seems as if you’ll never get a “yes”. Remember what good sales people already know. That winning a sale, a job, or any other goal is a numbers game. Commission sales people will tell you that every “no” is one step closer to a “yes”. When you can see your process from a more objective viewpoint, knowing that you’re one more rejection closer to a “yes”, you’ll be less inclined to take the “no’s” personally, and less likely to get discouraged.

Inoculate Yourself Against Negative Messages

Succeeding at a job search is a mental process, and negative input from anywhere can poison your outlook and encourage fear, discouragement, anxiety and other negative emotions. Associate with positive people and protect yourself from all types of negativity. A job search can be a big undertaking. You need all of the assets and advantages that you can possibly bring to the party. You can’t afford to be exposed to the negativity of others. This includes friends, relatives and negativity from newspapers, magazines and TV. Read books and articles that motivate, encourage and inspire you. Avoid anything and anyone that doesn’t fall into this category.

Summary

The job search market will only get tougher and more competitive in 2009. Get an early edge by implementing these six resolutions now to catapult your job search into the fast lane in a tightening job market.