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Job Seekers Column

Job Search II: Creating Your Resume

In the Job Search 1 column, you did your homework and created a vision of your ideal next job. Now, you can start writing your resume! This resume should show your experience, skills, and knowledge for that ideal job.

Remember a resume is an ADVERTISEMENT.

It is NOT your biography. It does not include everything about you--just that which directly supports your value in terms of the work you are seeking.

Step 1: Start your resume with the basics.

Surprisingly, people do forget these! You need your name and contact information right up front. Name, address, phone numbers, and email are the most common.

use a phone number with voicemail. If you do not want to be contacted at work, give only your home or cell phone numbers.
use an email address you can check easily

Think about using one email address specifically for the job hunt. Cutesy names, braggadocio, and nasty names hurt your chances. When 'topstud' , 'blondbabe', and such show up, both hiring managers and Human Resources folk wonder about the business sense of the person --and are more likely to pass on you even if your resume is terrific. And many hiring managers wonder about those who use their business email to look for another job – plus this may trigger problems for you at work. Keep your voicemail message professional too while you are looking for a job!

Keep your resume simple: use a major word processing program to do it. Every organization has the ability to read these easily. Many organizations use resume-tracking software to receive and manage resumes automatically. These also accept only major WP software ? some will specify what in job postings. Skip the fancy fonts and the multi-color or highly designed layouts. These slow down the process and may get you ignored/delayed because no one there takes the time to pull up the right program to read them or to translate them into something the resume system can read.

Keep your resume to one or two pages, depending on how experienced you are.

Be ruthless in omitting everything that is not directly relevant to your job goal!

Skip personal information unless it really is related. Unfortunately, personal information is more likely to raise issues and questions than to help you. I have seen too many hiring managers whose reaction to multiple outside activities was to wonder if the person was really work-oriented, for example. Most importantly, unless you have so little education and work experience that you need to fill up a page, you can use the space for more relevant, useful items.

Step 2: What goes in your resume?

Answer: Those items that showcase your achievements, skills, experience, and education related to the position you are seeking.

Chronological resumes are still the most common type. These show your experience in reverse chronological order, starting with the most recent.

For each organization: list your title and dates you were there. You can add a location or not. TIP: It is helpful if you give a one-line summary of the organization for each place you have worked, such as "a private, $35M systems consulting company."

Unusual title? Use a generic one. At GE, my titles were 10-12 words long but became the standard Employee Relations Manager on my resume.
Very senior title, small organization? Consider moving to something more generic. That Vice Presidency may really equate to a manager or team lead anywhere else, but the VP title left on your resume may also mean some hiring managers will skip over you when they see it.

For the job: Achievements tell your story best. Skip the job descriptions and give us the meat of what you actually did and how you achieved your goals.

Be factual
Give any quantitative data you can
Use action verbs: designed, developed, wrote, analyzed, administered, organized, co-ordinated, created, and such.
Write in the first person.

Give more information about more recent work and less to that which is older or unrelated.

If you are changing focus, explicitly describe the relevant skills so the hiring manager can easily make the connection.

If you have relevant skills or experiences from non-paid work such as community organizations, volunteer efforts, or professional associations, include them.

Other sections might include: Education, Professional Development, Technology. Depending on your search focus, you might add sections which are standard in your field - Publications, Patents, etc.

A list of the significant technologies you can use effectively is always helpful. Just remember to spell them correctly! I wear pearls; I don't hire people who know 'Pearl'. Yes, you would be surprised how many people make such errors!

Your major education and any relevant training should be included. High school data and a laundry list of every seminar you ever attended should not.

If you are active in relevant professional associations, have held industry/trade association offices, published articles or spoken to such groups: include that. Again, a laundry list of organizations you belong to does not help you. Nor does information about such activities if it is older than a few years.

You may want to write an objective to start your resume or you may wish to write a summary of your professional self. Pick one or the other or neither, but not both. If you do include either an objective or summary, keep it short and crisp. Dump all the cliches: everyone wants to work in a place that values personal growth, offers opportunity, etc.

If you have more than one job in mind, write one resume tailored to each. No one who is hiring is interested in mind-reading or in helping you figure out what you want to do.

In all the 'should' and 'should-not' ideas above, remember the resume is your best advertisement. If you do not put your best effort into a well-focused, well-written document that makes the hiring folks want to contact you, you have wasted your time.

Now run it through a spell checker.

Step 3: Give your resume to several folks and ask them to review it.

Ask each person to be a tough critic to ensure it is clearly written, that it captures your abilities and supports what you want to do.

Most of us are too close to our work and our resumes. We know what we mean to say, and it is hard for us to realize that someone else may not understand what we mean. So don't be defensive and do explore the ideas you get back.

Then, take the best of the suggestions and make the needed changes. Do spell check again. Better, ask a competent person to proofread your resume.

Create a master copy with a standard, easily read font and plenty of white space to make it easy to read. Do a version for electronic mailing both in the email text and as an attachment. Use that for cutting and pasting into online resume forms.

If you have a question or want to suggest a topic, contact Patricia Frame at patricia@dcwebwomen.org. Please include "HRC" in the subject line.

The advice and suggestions in this column are solely those of the author. DC Web Women assumes no responsibility for its content. The content is intended to be for informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional advice.