Tuesday, March 30th, 2010
(This article ran on our blog a few years ago. We believe it’s so important, we’re running it again this week)
Creating a succinct and attractive resume that contains well-prioritized data is one of the major challenges facing candidates today. Not only will an applicant’s resume be competing against hundreds of others, it must clearly portray the candidate in the most favorable light and as the most appropriate choice for the opening. In order to do this, several resume pitfalls must be avoided:
1. Poor or Inappropriate Formatting: The first impression a resume makes on an admissions director or hiring manager is generally the most lasting. Large blocks of uninterrupted text, small margins, text that is very small, or an abundance of bolding, italics, and “designer” fonts make documents difficult to read. Only one font (preferably Times New Roman or Arial) should be employed and never in a point size lower than 11. Bolding should be left to the header information (name, address, phone number, email) and subheadings within the document (Profile, Work History, Education). A candidate’s industry or field will determine whether the resume format will be conservative (i.e. Physicians, Teachers, CPAs, Individuals Seeking Admission to Graduate Schools, etc.) or more stylish (i.e. Marketing Professionals, Artists, Performers, etc.).
2. Lack of Focus: An effective resume should indicate to the reader within seven seconds, or less, the candidate’s targeted position and qualifications that match the opening. It’s not enough to list schooling, work history, and activities. Admissions directors and hiring managers will not thoroughly read a resume to cull needed information – candidates must provide this data quickly and effectively. Qualifications Summaries should include information as to what is sought (a position or entrance into a university program) and the candidate’s qualifications that are related to this. Employment History, Accomplishments, and Education should build upon what is provided in the Qualifications Summary.
3. Use of Self-serving Objective Statements: In today’s economy hiring managers are not interested in what a candidate wants (i.e. Seeking a position that will fully utilize my college education and provide for sufficient advancement within the industry). Rather, they seek candidates that clearly state what they can do for the targeted company in terms of cutting costs, increasing profits, and enhancing productivity. Hiring manager’s take note of applicants who place the company’s needs above their own.
4. Poor Data Prioritization: A resume should reveal the candidate’s professional & academic background as it applies to the targeted position or program being sought, and in reverse-chronological order (the last job worked or school attended is listed first within that section). If Education is an important qualification it should be presented before Work History, not dead last on the document. If real-world experience is valued, then it should come before Education. If special skills, such as IT, are at a premium, they should be showcased immediately after the opening summary, not left to the end of a two-page resume.
5. Failure to Showcase and Quantify Accomplishments: Hiring managers and admissions directors will not read every line of a resume to determine what a candidate has to offer, especially if it’s buried within dense blocks of text. Applicants must provide special sections indicating professional or academic achievements and these must be quantified. It’s not enough to write: Increased productivity within the division. Hiring managers and admissions directors will find this self-serving. A better way to present the data is to write: Increased productivity 58% within three-months of hire by retraining staff on latest accounting software. Providing percentages/dollar figures and time frames strengthen achievements.
6. Including Non-relevant Data: Hobbies and interests unless directly related to the current job search should never be included – such activities do not enhance candidacy. Additionally, birth dates, religious affiliations, race, social security numbers, and marital data should never be included.
7. Inappropriate Length: There is no one correct page length for a resume. The document is as long as it has to be in order to provide a clear and effective picture of the candidate. Professionals with many years of experience will most likely have two pages. To cram this data into one page or exclude important information in order to reach an arbitrary length will only dilute candidacy. The key is to provide only that data which is relevant to the current career goal. When this rule if followed, appropriate page length is always reached.
8. Personalizing the Document and using Casual Language: Modern resumes are business documents and should never be personalized with use of “I’ “my” “we” or other personal pronouns. Additionally, the tone of the resume should always remain professional and businesslike – slang is always excluded.
9. Redundancy of Data: Once information has been provided in a resume, whether it’s in the Qualifications Summary, Career Accomplishments section, or Professional Experience section, it is not repeated elsewhere. Hiring managers and admissions directors soon tire of redundancy and feel the candidate is padding the resume to reach a certain page length.
10. Spelling or Grammatical Errors and Incorrect Verb Tense: Once a spelling or grammatical error is detected by an admissions director or hiring manager, they will stop reading the resume. Their trust in that person’s abilities is forever lost. This is also true when dates of employment or education are obviously incorrect (i.e. a recent college graduate listing the date of graduation as 1979 instead of 1999), or when verb tense does not match dates of employment (i.e. current jobs have duties listed in present tense; previous jobs have duties listed in past tense).
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010
Private sector resumes demand clear language that even those outside of a candidate’s industry can easily understand.
For example, a Certified Public Accountant who works with non-profit companies and the self-employed would not write:
- Oversaw 501 (c)(3) accounts; provided 1099s to meet government regulations.
A non-accountant would be mystified when reading the above. A better way to present the same data would be:
- Oversaw non-profit – 501 (c)(3) – accounts; provided self-employment tax forms (1099s) to relevant parties to avoid IRS related fines and penalties.
One government site – The Defense Finance and Accounting Service – suggests the following:
Using Appropriate Terminology
Use plain English. Write your resume as though you are submitting it for review by someone who has no technical understanding of the kind of work done in positions you may have previously held. Imagine that you are explaining what you have done and the skills you have used to a friend who has never worked in the same kind of jobs as you.
Describe the knowledge and skills you possess and the duties you have performed using terminology common to the general occupational field. Describe skills and experience in universally accepted terms that could be readily understood in both the public and private sectors.
Minimize the use of acronyms in your resume narrative. If you must use them, explain what they represent, what processes or systems they describe, and how you have used the knowledge, skills, or abilities associated with them.
The following examples demonstrate ways “technical goulash” can be translated into something understandable for both the Resume Builder and staffing specialists:
BAD: Use IATS to process travel vouchers.
BETTER: Use an automated financial system, IATS, to compute and process travel reimbursements for transportation, meals, lodging, and similar entitlements.
BAD: Process vouchers and issue a variety of disbursements using SRD1.
BETTER: Using knowledge of disbursing principles and procedures, examine requests for payments to individual military and civilian employees, private sector vendors, and other public agencies. Perform a quality control review to ensure that these requests are in order, assign appropriate accounting classifications, and prepare checks or electronic transfer payments. Use an automated disbursing system, SRD1, to accomplish these actions.
This straight forward, three sentence paragraph might be sufficient to describe all of the major duties performed by a disbursing clerk or technician position.
BAD: Assist functionals in writing SCRs. Develop interfaces and serve as the POC for all EC initiatives.
BETTER: Work with functional users of automated financial and accounting systems to help identify needed changes and to write system change requests (SCRs). Write computer programs to enable automated systems to interface and to communicate with each other. Serve as the primary contact for automated electronic commerce (EC) systems and improvements.
Descriptions of duties performed, knowledge used, and skills applied in accomplishing those duties should be simple and straightforward, descriptive, and reduced to only essential information. When finished writing a paragraph, it is helpful to stop and ask yourself the following questions:
Would a third party who is not familiar with my occupational background understand the kind of work that I do?
Is there nonessential information (nice to have, but not helpful in meeting mandatory qualification requirements) in what I have written?
Have I omitted any unique, but relevant special experience or skills I possess that might distinguish me from other candidates if my resume reaches the desk of a selecting official?
Have I adequately described the major characteristics of my occupation or background and skills that are most common to my occupation?
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010
In this economy, it’s not enough to craft a stellar resume and to submit it to countless recruiters and hiring managers. No matter how terrific your background is, no matter your outstanding accomplishments, the reality is there are dozens, perhaps hundreds, of equally-qualified candidates out there all vying for the same position.
Does that mean you should throw up your hands and give up?
Not at all.
What it does mean is that you need to remain realistic. Gone are the days when a candidate could send out five resumes and receive four calls for interviews and a bidding war for the individual’s services. Today, each of us has to realize that even with a hundred resumes sent out, there may be no call backs. So, we have to submit again and again.
We may also have to take a lesser position to get our foot in the door. We may have to transition to a growing industry if ours is contracting or being outsourced.
A great, accomplishment-based resume is always a terrific way to begin the job hunt. But it’s no longer the be-all and end-all. It’s only one part of a very long process.
The key is to keep submitting your resume, keep looking for opportunities and to recognize an opportunity when it arrives. It may not be what you dreamed about, but it could be the chance for something better in the future.
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
By David Jensen, CPRW, CARW, CEIP
Government jobs are plentiful even in a down economy. They are also good career-oriented positions with advancement opportunities. Landing a government job is a complex process, but it is well worth the effort if you desire to work in the public sector. Many private-industry job applicants use a standard resume thinking it is the same or just as effective as a Federal resume when applying for a government job. This is not the case. There is certain information that needs to appear on a Federal resume that you would not include on a private-sector resume. The human resource professionals need to see certain information in your application materials in order for you to be considered for further review as an applicant.
Federal Résumés Require More Personal Information
The information you need to provide for a government application (often called a vacancy announcement) includes your full name, complete mailing address, social security number, and your country of citizenship. Vacancy announcements contain a list of what to include in your résumé. If you leave any information out such as your social security number, you might not be considered for the job.
Federal Résumés Need to Align with the Job Announcement
With a standard resume, you might use a qualifications summary to outline your skills and experience that relate to the job you are applying for. With a federal résumé, you use an objective statement that needs to include the job title and department, the position’s grade level (the job’s level of difficulty), and the job announcement reference number. Following the objective statement you include a list of your qualifications that apply to the requirements listed in the job description.
Adhere to all Application Guidelines
Each vacancy announcement includes a “How to Apply” section that tells exactly what application process you need to follow and what information you need to include. It is critical that you provide information for every category in this section because most résumés are electronically scanned before a hiring manager reviews them. The required information often includes your past supervisor’s name and phone number and if that person can be contacted. This section often asks for your highest employment grade level whether you are a veteran or a civilian employee. You won’t be able to provide this information if you are transitioning from the private sector so you could enter N/A. Do not leave any categories blank.
Standard resumes are commonly one-to-two pages. Federal résumés can range from two-to-six pages and must comply with the guidelines required by the government personnel offices. Federal employment can be a good career opportunity if you are prepared and willing to produce a Federal résumé package that promotes you as the “best qualified” candidate for your selected government position.
To request David for your federal or private sector order, please key in his last name (jensen) in the ’select your editor’ field of the online form.
