How do you want your resume to read?
If you truly don’t know or if you have a long list of preferences, either answer isn’t what will get you an invitation to interview.
One of the hardest concepts for job seekers to understand is that resumes aren’t geared towards their preferences. Rather, it’s the hiring manager or recruiter you’re trying to impress.
Which means that first you need to know what makes a great resume:
1. A strong opening summary that paints you as the ideal candidate for the position. It should be rich with keywords and contain one, preferably two, recent/relevant/quantified accomplishments. No objectives, please. Objectives are telling the hiring authority what you want. They don’t care about that. They want to know what you can do for their company.
2. Showcased accomplishments. Not a repetition of what you have in the opening summary but more in depth results of your work. The best place to highlight them is below the opening summary in their own section. Don’t bury them within tasks in the professional experience section. And remember to quantify your results with dollar figures and time periods.
3. Professional experience that focuses on results not simply tasks. Hiring managers and recruiters want to know if the action you took made the company money or saved it money.
4. Post high school education or training. If you don’t have a college degree, be certain to include any relevant job related training.
What a resume shouldn’t necessarily include is your preferences, such as:
1. Template choice: If you’ve chosen a template because you like its flair consider what a hiring manager might think. Is the template more for a creative when you’re in a conservative industry? Is the font hard to read? Does it take up too much space on the page making the resume unnecessarily long? All good points to consider. Remember, it’s not your opinion that matters here. It’s what the hiring authority thinks.
2. Is your resume too long? Although you’re proud of your lengthy list of projects, if they have nothing to do with the job you’re targeting, you’re wasting the hiring authority’s time.
3. Are you including information that has nothing to do with the job search? You may want to boast about awards you received in college; however, if you’re at a professional level your work history should speak for itself.
4. Have you put hobbies, interests and the like on your resume? If so, take them off unless they add to your professional expertise. Stating that you like extreme sports may cause a hiring manager to pause and reconsider whether you’re too much of a risk taker for the position.
When you keep in mind that your resume is written for an audience other than you, you’ll be able to hit on the points hiring managers and recruiters most want to see.
Tips for Federal Resumes
With so few jobs being available in the private sector, many of you might be thinking of working for the federal government. Before you begin your job search there are a few things you need to know to make your efforts as successful as possible.
1. A federal job search is not like a private sector job search. Let’s say you’re seeking a banking job in the private sector. You tailor your resume toward that industry and send it to all the banking institutions in your area or in other states if you’re agreeable to relocation. A federal resume doesn’t work that way. You can’t write one resume and send it to various agencies (eg: DOD, FDA, FHA, etc.). Every federal job has a vacancy announcement (job position) with a unique number and requirements for it. Therefore, your federal resume will be submitted to one agency or institution only…not all of them.
2. Federal jobs may require additional documentation. These may be KSAs (Knowledge, Skills, Abilities), MTQs (Managerial and Technical Qualification Statements), or ECQs (Executive Core Qualifications). These are essay type questions that you must answer indicating how your background meets the requirements of the position.
3. Federal resumes are formatted for the Resumix system. Unlike formatted Word resumes that go to employers in the private sector, a Resumix resume does not have bolding, italics, special fonts, etc. It is unformatted, looking like an ascii or plain text resume (the kind you send in the body of an email). Some federal resumes may be formatted. It depends upon the job and the agency requirements.
4. Federal resumes may be lengthy – more than 10 pages – or they may have a strict word count.
5. They contain information you would never put in a private sector resume. That would include your Social Security Number, supervisor’s name, contact #, high school information, etc.
The above are just some of the major differences between a federal and private sector resume.
Before you begin your federal job search, it’s important to familiarize yourself with these differences. If you fail to follow guidelines, you will not be considered for the position.
Are the holidays putting the brakes on your job search?
Don’t make the mistake of many job seekers by thinking it’s impractical to look for a job during the holidays. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The wheels of commerce don’t grind to a halt in November and December. Job recruitment in healthcare, IT and many other industries is a constant.
Rather than taking it easy and thinking you’ll get back to your job search in January, consider this: A great deal of job seekers will be doing the same, thereby lessening your competition. While they cool their heels for January, you’ll be sprucing up your resume, honing your job interview skills and applying.
Wouldn’t one of the best holiday gifts be a new job?
Don’t wait and don’t kid yourself that it’s all right to delay the inevitable. Take charge today.
1. Review your resume and if it’s not up to par, have a professional work on it for you.
2. Sharpen your interview skills. Again, if you’re unable to do so yourself, engage professional services.
3. Apply, apply, apply. If you do so now, you may not have to wait until January to begin your new career.
4. Don’t fall for the herd mentality. The only word of wisdom you should be following is to make looking for a job your only job.
Those who keep at it will be the ones invited to interview. This holiday season, make certain it’s you.
You’re 50 or older and you’re looking for a job
Seeking employment at any age and in a poor economy will be daunting to most. Add in the worry about being too seasoned and you may wonder if you have a chance.
You do. What employers want is quite simple:
1. An employee that requires little to no training
2. Someone who works well with others and fits easily into the company structure
3. An achiever rather than an individual who just puts in his/her time
Experienced professionals can easily meet the above ‘wish list’. However, to wow an employer it’s important to structure your resume in a certain manner to showcase what you can offer.
Begin with an opening summary that proves you are the ideal candidate for the position. Dovetail all that you know to what the employer needs. Add one, preferably two, recent/relevant/quantified accomplishments.
Follow that section with even more accomplishments. Most candidates won’t do that. So you’re already well ahead of the pack. Make certain that you add dollar figures of cost savings or earnings, time periods in which the achievement took place and how you managed to excel. Tell a story.
Your professional experience comes next. Don’t make the mistake of listing every job from college on. Go back no further than 15 years (10 for someone in IT). You’ll avoid age discrimination that way. Again, focus on the results of what you did rather than tasks. There are many individuals who can do the same job. There aren’t as many who can make the company money or save it money.
End with your education. If you’re 50 or older it’s best to leave off dates of graduation. Again, you don’t want to invite age discrimination. You want to compel the hiring manager to offer you an interview.
It isn’t always age that keeps a candidate from succeeding. It’s not knowing what to showcase in a resume or how to organize the document.
Keep the above tips in mind and you’ll stand out from the rest.
