Tuesday, November 1st, 2011
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.
Tuesday, October 25th, 2011
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.
Tuesday, August 9th, 2011
Recently, I spoke to an individual who wanted to use her resume for a position as an office manager, legal assistant, customer service rep and retail associate.
She had all the skills and experience required for each of the above positions, so that wasn’t the problem. However, to submit the same resume to hiring managers in different industries is inviting failure.
Why?
First – an applicant who is applying for everything looks scattered – the proverbial ‘Jack of all trades, master of none’. Secondly, a hiring manager will wonder about an individual who’s had so many career changes. Does the applicant get bored easily and move on with little notice? Is the candidate incapable of holding a job for very long?
Whenever you’re applying for a position, it’s best to stay on point with that industry’s requirements and leave all the other data for other industries. It’s never wise to use a ‘one size resume fits all industries’. Resumes need to be tailored and targeted for each field – preferably for each job opening.
If you’re going after a legal assistant’s job, why would the firm’s hiring manager care if you’re great in the retail trade? Although your people skills there and in a customer service position might serve you well in the legal arena, it still dilutes your impact if you’re talking about another industry.
Even worse is if your resume makes you look desperate. Trying to write a resume to fit more than one, perhaps multiple industries is simply stating: “I’ll take anything. Anything – please.”
That’s not the image you want to portray. Your resume needs to show that you are the single best candidate for the position in a field overloaded with other equally, qualified applicants. It needs to show your commitment to the position, the field, the employer and the industry. You can’t do that if you’re targeting several in the same document.
It needs to convey to the employer that you are interested in their opening and that you will do well at it.
Only a targeted and well-tailored resume will be able to do that.
Tuesday, June 7th, 2011
Often, I hear individuals state that a resume should be no more than one page in length. Beyond that limit, the hiring manager will either be overwhelmed or bored.
In one way that’s true – if the resume has extraneous data unrelated to the job search and is filled with fluff, the above reasoning makes sense.
However, if pertinent data is excluded from a resume in order to reach an arbitrary page length, that can be as disastrous.
Too often I’ve seen clients sell themselves short by asking for a one page resume when their background clearly calls for two pages. In order to reach their desired page length, margins have to cut to the point where text appears to be running off the page. And the text must be reduced to a size that’s unreadable to most.
Certainly, the page length is where the client wants it, but is it wise?
I know it’s not. No hiring manager will look at a stellar, superbly organized resume filled with pertinent data on the candidate’s knowledge/skills/abilities and dismiss the individual because of the resume’s length. That simply doesn’t make sense.
If you’re an executive with many years of experience, submitting a one page resume will surely reduce your chances of an interview, especially if you’re excluding vital data in order to meet page length.
Remember, content – not length – is what’s important. A modern, effective resume is as long as it needs to be, provided it contains relevant information about you in relation to the targeted job.
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