What Kind of an Employee Are You?
If you have to think about the answer too long, or if you’re satisfied with a flip response such as: “A great employee” without providing any supporting data to your statement, then you’re in trouble.
More and more companies are demanding that their employees prove their worth. It’s not enough to simply come in on time, engage in the tasks in your job description, then go home, especially if you’re in a contracting industry or your company is downsizing.
To be retained in this poor economy, you need to show your employer that you are invaluable. And if the worst happens and you’re laid off or your employer goes out of business, then you must market yourself to another company as being their only choice in a new hire.
How do you do this?
At your current job, keep updating your resume with all of your accomplishments (those activities in which you have either made your company money or saved it money). An up-to-date, polished resume will be invaluable should a promotion come available or if staff is going to be cut and your job is on the line.
If you’re looking for new employment, updating your resume is even more essential. Hiring managers and recruiters don’t know who you are and they won’t believe blanket statements like “I’m great at what I do”, “I’ll be an asset at your firm”. They want proof.
The only way to provide that proof is to again showcase what you’ve done at previous jobs. Make your resume accomplishment-focused rather than task-focused. There may be hundreds of other individuals who can do what you do on the job. But there’s only a few that will excel, proving they will grow a company, adding to its success.
From the first day of any job, you should be looking five years down the road to what you want next and how you intend to succeed. During that time, you should do all that you can to make certain your employer sees you as an asset rather than a liability.
Keep a running record of what you’ve achieved. That running record is a resume. Make certain it’s always updated, always ready for the new job search.
The kind of employee you should be is one that everyone wants. All you have to do is prove it.
What Do You Like to See in Your Resume?
You’ve decided to take the plunge and get your resume written or revised by a professional company. Naturally, the cost of such a service is your most important consideration, along with the company’s reputation and client success.
Once you get past those initial concerns, your next thought may be:
1. The format you like best. Reverse chronological, functional, a combination of the two.
2. Presentation or template choice. Resume writing companies often have several from which to choose in a variety of fonts.
3. Page length. One, two or more?
While you’re pondering these choices or considering what the resume writer suggests, it’s important to remember one thing: What you like or don’t like is not as important as what the hiring manager expects to see.
That’s right, your opinion as to style, page length and template choice isn’t important. After all, you’re not the target audience for the resume. The hiring manager or recruiter is. Therefore, it’s best to keep their preferences in mind. And to trust your resume writer.
Professional resume writers know from experience what will fly with a hiring manager or a recruiter. They know not to list every single thing you’ve done in your professional or academic career even if the data is dear to your heart. They know personal information isn’t wise to include either. Yes, you’re very proud that you once won a music award. However, if you’re no longer in the performing arts, the hiring manager couldn’t care less about that part of your background.
Other pitfalls to avoid include:
1. Going back too far in your work history. That invites age discrimination.
2. Keeping your resume task oriented (daily duties) rather than showcasing accomplishments (results of what you’ve done).
3. Failing to quantify achievements.
4. Writing a ‘general, one-size-fits-all’ resume that is so generic none of your skills stand out.
Even if you’re tempted to tell the resume writer what you prefer, it’s best to listen to the advice she or he has to offer. If you’re told a two page resume is best, given the resume writer’s past experience, then believe what’s said. Your resume writer wants you to succeed and to get an interview.
Trust the experts. Listen to what they propose. Benefit from their years of expertise. And put the hiring manager or recruiter’s preferences first rather than your own.
Different Resume Formats for Different Needs
If you’ve ever researched resumes online or have written one yourself, you know that the basic resume format is an opening summary (or an objective) followed by professional experience and ending with education.
For many of us, that format works just fine.
But what if your circumstances are different and you don’t have a consistent work history? What if you have gaps? Spotty employment? You’ve job hopped a lot? What then?
You need to consider other resume formats to minimize those deficiencies as much as possible.
The most popular resume format is the reverse chronological. You present your most recent job first, followed by the next most recent and on and on. Employers prefer this type of resume as it clearly shows job progression, length of employment and gaps.
Since gaps are a negative, many candidates want to hide them. The format they might choose is called functional. In a functional resume, a skills section follows the opening summary (or objective), stating the individual’s strengths. For a salesperson that might be cold calling, closing, upselling, etc. This section, rich with detail, is then followed by an employment area with no detail whatsoever. The idea here is to show what you know rather than where you learned and used it.
While that might seem like a good idea, know this – hiring managers don’t like functional formats because they do hide gaps.
Keeping that in mind, another format has become popular and it’s called a combination resume. In this type of document, a skills section follows the opening summary…showing the candidate’s knowledge and abilities in a particular industry or position. Following that is the professional experience section in a reverse chronological order. Details are provided. Dates given. Yes, the gaps are still there for all to see; however, the hope is that the previous skills section is so strong that a hiring manager will still be impressed enough to consider the individual for an interview.
If you have a less than perfect background – and most of us have something we’re worried about – then it’s wise to organize your data to showcase your strengths and minimize any negatives. The correct resume format can go a long way toward doing that.
When You’re Returning to an Earlier Career Path
Many jobseekers today are constantly reinventing themselves in order to stay afloat in our poor economy. For some, that means returning to a previous career when their current industry is downsizing.
While that can be a great move in terms of job prospects, it does present a challenge in updating your resume.
Let’s say for example that you’re in retail management and have been for the past 15 years. However, before you were in retail you were an accountant for 5 years. Given the state of the economy, you see that there are more accounting than retail jobs available and you decide to go for it.
You create your reverse chronological resume (latest job first) and send it out, knowing you’ll be called in to interview. Days pass, then weeks without one call.
You can’t figure out what you did wrong. You’re a seasoned professional. You have the requisite accounting experience. It’s all there near the bottom of page two on your resume. Didn’t the hiring managers see it?
Probably not.
Hiring managers are very busy. They scan opening summaries and then the most recent work experience. They see that you’ve been involved in retail management, so they move on to find someone with accounting experience. They never bothered to get to the second page of your resume, because they don’t have time to search for important data.
How do you overcome this problem?
Rather than writing a reverse chronological resume, consider a combo type format. It’s a combination of a functional resume and a reverse chronological resume, and is popular with those in career transition.
After your opening summary – in which you state clearly that you have 5 years of accounting experience – you would have a section titled “Relevant Experience” - here, you would list what you know about accounting in subsections. They might be titled: AP/AR, reconciliations, payroll, etc.
Following that section, you would have a section titled “Professional Accounting Experience” – this would be listed in a reverse chronological order detailing your accounting career. Following it would be a section you’d call “Other Experience” – here you would list your retail management experience. However, you wouldn’t detail it as much as your accounting tasks.
By showcasing your accounting experience first, you’re providing the hiring manager instant access to the data s/he needs to make an informed decision about your candidacy. You’re not forcing the individual to search for the data. Trust me, most won’t. They’ll simply move on to the next candidate.
Whatever path you’re taking in your career, it’s wise to remember to dovetail and highlight your skills as they relate to the job you’re targeting.
