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Article courtesy of Career-Resumes.com Site. By Peter Newfield
When presenting a résumé to a prospective employer, whether on paper or
on-line, you have approximately 15-30 seconds to get past the "gatekeeper"
whose job it is to screen résumés out, not in. Putting your best effort
out there is critical in making that all important first impression.
From a content standpoint, a résumé should start off with a
"Summary of Qualifications" which is a 3 - 8 sentence overview of your
career experience. Unless you have recently graduated from college or you are
completely changing fields, an "Objective" is not appropriate to start off
the résumé. In your "Summary of Qualifications" you can hit
the highlights right up front -- "twenty years of product marketing
experience"-- "skilled in building strong sales teams" or "fluent
in Mandarin and Cantonese".
Next you need to define your "Areas of Strength" and briefly list the
keywords as if you were going to put the résumé on the Internet. Many
companies scan for keywords and need to see your particular buzzwords -- "Sales
management" "Cost controls" "Financial reporting" or
"Distribution" -- you get the idea.
When you list your job experience under the heading of "Professional
Experience", you need to identify and describe your skills and responsibilities.
Skills are what you do and how you do it in regards to each position held from most
current to ten years ago. Prospective employers are most interested in what your
skills and experiences have been over the past 10-12 years. You can list previous
jobs if they are related to your field, but please don't give a three page laundry
list going back to that after-school job in high school.
What will ultimately set you apart from everyone else with similar work experience is,
of course, "Accomplishments". Your accomplishments under each job title or
position must be quantified. By quantified, I mean how did you make your company
money, save the company money, increase department efficiency, and/or reduce operating
costs. Be specific with numbers and percentages, if possible. Some specific examples
of "Accomplishments" are: "Reduced operating costs by 13% within first
year in this position" -- "Negotiated the company"s first global
marketing contract for entire product line" or "Named to President's Circle
three consecutive years".
After your job responsibilities and accomplishments have been clearly presented, the
next category on the résumé should be "Education". List
degrees earned, name of college/university, and city/state. A general rule of
résumé writing is to include the years of graduation only if you have
graduated within the past three years. Please do not "fudge" the subject
area you majored in, your GPA or the type of degree earned. If you attended college
for three years but did not graduate, don't list BA. If a background check is carried
out, you will be immediately disqualified for consideration if even one "white
lie" is caught by the personnel department.
Having addressed the issue of content, the final piece of the résumé to
focus on is "format" or visual presentation. If the format is weak,
regardless of the content, it just won't work. Visual presentation is almost as
critical as content. If the typeface is too small, there is not enough white space on
the page, or the print is smudged or too light to read easily, you are just wasting
your time and postage in sending it out. Again, the "gatekeeper" is the
first roadblock that your résumé encounters and it must get past that
person on the first attempt.
Please understand that a résumé's function is not to get you a job. A
résumé's function is to get you a phone call inviting you in for an
interview. If that is accomplished, the resume has done its job; the rest is up to
you.
For a free critique/price quote, email Career Resumes at
Peter@career-resumes.com
.
-- Peter Newfield is President of Career-Resumes.com, one of the premier
résumé writing services in the United States. He is The
Résumé Expert for SpencerStuart.com, BlueSteps.com,
ExecutiveRegistry.com, NETSHARE.com, DirectEmployer.com and the former
Résumé Expert for Monster.com and the Career Center on AOL. View
samples at: www.career-resumes.com
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