Resume Help Blog

Archive for June, 2009

Sometimes your resume can hurt more than help you. In today’s job-search market, you are often competing against large numbers of applicants, and your resume has to be good enough to make it past the first screening.

The first people to view your resume are often lower-level staff looking for a quick way to weed candidates out of consideration. You can minimize the chances of your resume being eliminated during this round by following three simple rules.

LESS IS MORE

Don’t tell too much. A good resume should leave the prospective employer with a whetted appetite, a desire to know more. They will be likely to call and phone-screen you. So don’t fill in all the details just yet. Save that for the interview. Do, however, paint a big picture of who you are and what you can offer.

For example, you may have worked several years at your present employer. Certainly you could fill up several paragraphs with all that you’ve done. Instead, think of the one or two most critical projects, duties or functions that you provide. List the most important and give them no more than a sentence or two each.

Here is an example:

EXPERIENCE: Mar 2003 to Present: XYZ Company, Their City, CA Senior staff design engineer. Products designed/Projects involved: A, B, C. Description of Most Important Project and why Description of 2nd most important project and why

Skip the hobbies and personal info. Avoid mind-numbing detail that will cause a reader’s eyes to glaze over. One page is ideal — two pages only if you are a 15- to 20-year veteran with a significant growth and promotion history.

MORE KEYWORDS

You want the computers to flag your resume for closer examination. Do this by including as many keywords as possible that are relevant to your job and your job skills, as well as specific industry words that may be appropriate. A convenient method to accomplish this is to include a separate “Keywords” section on your resume just below the “Objective”. Think of this as an important catchall specifically for the computers to “see”.

Here is an example from a candidate employed as a medical quality assurance auditor:

KEYWORDS: Quality System, QA, QS, Audit, Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP), International Standards (ISO), Corrective and Preventive Action Programs (CAPA), training, QSR, Medical Device, calibration, 510K, TQM, PMA, FDA.

Also, include the names of major companies you worked with or for, as this often is important to employers. Include those in the “Experience” section.

BE SPECIFIC

Don’t just tell them what you did. Move beyond that and tell the benefit of your accomplishment.  A good way to do this is to include several specific ways you helped your employer make money or save money. Remember, the only benefit you can bring to the table is past performance. When you interview (either phone or in person) this is what will be discussed.

Think of all your jobs in the past and bring forth examples of some of your best work. How can an employer think of you as a problem solver? If at all possible, try to “monetize” your accomplishments (state them in terms of money). At the interview, you will be prepared to enlarge upon these successes.

SUMMARY

Building an effective resume doesn’t have to be drudgery. Using the above three guidelines will keep your resume lean and to the point standing a greater chance of landing on the “to call” stack and getting you a phone screen.

“Everybody does it” as they say. The job market can be a very tough place to compete. If everyone inflates their experience then how can an honest person get a job?

Well, as tempting as it may be, you do NOT want to risk lying on your resume.

Whether it’s personal information, job experience, or schooling – employers are finding new ways to sniff out liars and you don’t want to be one of them. Misrepresenting facts on your resume is a giant No – No! Period!

PERSONAL INFORMATION

While some information may not be easily verified, information such as a criminal record, can be very costly to you in the event it is checked out. With sites like rapsheets.com you can never guarantee that an employer won’t be able to find the information.
JOB EXPERIENCE

Clearly this is not the place to boast about fake employment as you can be sure these are the first places they will call. If you were fired for some reason better to face up and explain it than let it be discovered later. If you have what the employer is looking for they will give you credit for honesty. So be honest.

EDUCATION

Do you really think that nobody will notice if you slip in an education you don’t really have? If you have the degree or certificates to back your claim then you have something to boast of. Even if you do have the skills, you can’t afford to claim education you can’t provide proof of. EmployAct.com is a new service that will allow employers to have background checks – similar to criminal or credit checks – to verify your claim.

WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE

With all that said and done, how can you create a resum that will highlight your skills and abilities without needing to lie?

Give yourself credit. If you are not sure how to write a resume that will highlight your skills and training then hire a professional to write one for you. They will know exactly how to showcase your skills in the best light because that’s what they do. You may not know what an employer is looking for, they will. With many jobs that don’t require a particular expertise, you many find that they are looking for people who are able to learn on the job. Proof that you have gained skills as a worker (or even a volunteer if you’re just starting out) can be very valuable.

Be certain that you focus on skills. Expand your descriptions. Rather than say ‘I worked in an office’, say ‘I was responsible for answering the phones and directing calls to the proper departments. I also was able to multi-task by providing supportive administrative assistance to the head receptionist including maintaining a filing system, processing inter office memos, delivering documents in a timely manner, directing clients to their meeting appointments and providing relief reception.’ Also provide a list of computer programs you are proficient in — i.e. Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc. These are a real plus but make sure you don’t exaggerate your skills. If you know some of the lesser known computer programs list those as well.

As you can see from the above example, it is perfectly acceptable to elaborate on your skills, but do so in an honest and ethical manner. Have confidence in keeping the job you are sure to get by doing it right the first time.

Can writing an effective resume be challenging? Certainly! There are numerous rules and none of them apply 100% of the time. It is much easier for people to craft their document if they understand the rules they need to follow 100% of the time – the mistakes that should never be made and will brand a job-seeker as unprofessional. Eliminating these errors from your resume will go a long way in improving your chances of securing an interview. However, if you are not comfortable with writing or have written your resume and followed the majority of these suggestions without the results you expected then you would benefit from having a professional resume writer do it for you. Many of our writers will also blast it out to the major job boards which really gives you exposure. Here is our list of things to avoid:

1. “Responsible for…”

The Problem:
This is one of the most common, and most amateurish, resume errors. There is no greater example of weak, passive writing than the overused “responsible for.”  It does nothing to draw in the reader, and demonstrates no specific or relevant skill. With the average resume being read in approximately seven seconds, the first word or two in each sentence is absolutely critical because it is the information that will be read first and most. If the hiring manager holding your resume does not spot keywords of interest in those vital locations, then the entire resume is probably going in the trash, no matter how great the rest of your information is.

The Solution:
A great way to test the quality of a resume is to read just the first word in each sentence, and see what image those words convey of you as an employee. If your first words consist of “responsible for”, “helped”, “handled”, or other passive language, then you’re not creating a powerful or compelling first impression. Open each and every sentence with a power verb that is relevant to the job you are applying for. Words such as “manage”, “direct”, “administer”, and “process” can often be used to replace “responsible for”, and are far more effective.

2. Using a paragraph format.

The Problem:
As mentioned above, the average resume is given a cursory glance of approximately seven seconds. In those precious few seconds, the hiring manager will skim through your entire document and determine if you possess the qualifications needed for the job. If your information is organized in long, dense paragraphs that are difficult to read quickly, they are most likely not going to be read at all. Remember, you have only seven seconds. Paragraphs are intimidating to the eye and for the hiring manager who has literally hundreds of other applicants to choose from if it is not in an easy to read format it will be tossed.
The Solution:
Create brief, bulleted statements. Each statement should focus on one particular skill and be no more than two lines in length.

3. Repetition.

The Problem:
It is not uncommon for people, in an attempt to not overlook anything, to mention the same skills multiple times within the same resume. This creates a boring, stale document in which the heavily repeated skills overshadow everything else. In addition to this, the repetition contributes to excess length; again, we come back to that same seven seconds. Let’s say, for example, that in your resume you want to list skills A, B, C, and D. If you do just that, then it is easy to identify all of those skills in seven seconds. If, however, your resume lists A, B, A, A, B, B, B, C, A, C, B, A, A, C, B, D, C, A… suddenly, your qualifications are not as obvious and one – D – could very easily be overlooked.

The Solution:
Identify which skill each and every statement is addressing and write that information directly on a copy of your resume. Then review the skills listed next to all of your statements. Are you seeing one or more skills listed over and over? Consolidate this information.
4. Writing job descriptions.

The Problem:
Committing this error is what can make the difference between getting an interview and losing the opportunity to someone else. State what you did in your position. Make it clear and concise. Employers are not interested in what activities you performed on a daily basis – they are interested in how well you performed those activities.

The Solution:
Focus on accomplishments. Many job-seekers disregard this advice with the mistaken notion that they do not have any accomplishments. Most of the time these people do have quantifiable achievements; they just don’t realize that they do. It can be difficult to look objectively at our own experiences. Review your employee evaluations. What positives are noted? Think about special projects or busy times; were there any instances in which you were praised, or were very proud of the job you did? Any times in which you improved processes, made or saved money, or lifted some of the burden off your supervisor’s shoulders?

5. Using Objective statements.

The Problem:
This is often the result of a job-seeker who has either been out of the market for a long time, or someone who is using a dated resume-writing manual. Objective statements are counter-productive. By definition, an Objective states what you, the job-seeker, want. The problem with this is that the hiring manager does not care what you want; the hiring manager cares about what you can do for the company. Additionally, what you want should be clear from your cover letter and by the simple fact that you sent your resume in the first place – it does not need to be repeated (see #3, above).

The Solution:
Professional Summary, Profile, Summary Statement… whatever you want to call it, a summary section at the top of your resume that reviews your strongest, most relevant skills and abilities is a surefire way to capture the attention of your reader and encourage him or her to read on. This is also a highly effective strategy to position notable achievements that occurred early in your career in a visible location.