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SECRETS OF A PERFECT RESUME

Your resume is your ambassador to the work world. It helps open the doors to many wonderful opportunities you didn't even know existed. Not only is your resume the first thing an employer sees from you, it is what the employer will use to decide whether you are eligible for the job or not. Basically, most recruiters spend 10-15 seconds scanning a resume. A brief glance is all they give when they categorize the thousands of resumes that are sent by candidates. Thus it becomes very important for you to ensure that your resume doesn't go unnoticed in the pile of papers. The secret lies in the details you include, how intelligently you include them, how readable your resume is, and most importantly, its overall presentation and appearance. There are different types of resume which are listed as follows:

Chronological Resume
In this format, the emphasis is placed on employment experience. Your job history is presented in reverse chronological order, with the most recent jobs placed at the top of the list. Potential employers can easily see what you have done, and how you have worked with which company for how many years and also your progressed is analyzed.

This is the most common style of resume but freshers should avoid this format since this type of resume may end up highlighting their lack of experience. Experienced people to show their job history and experience can use this type of resume.

Functional Resume
In this format, your skills and achievements are emphasized. Your skills and previous relevant experience (including educational experience) are presented at the beginning of your resume. By this type of resume the employers can have a basic idea of how you are fitted for the job and what are your qualifications regarding the job. Preparing this type of resume may take lot of time, but you are free to highlight your talents instead of your recent job experience. The Functional resume will not be of use if the employer is looking for a clear job history and he may be put off by this format, especially if you've used it to hide your inexperience.

Combination Resume
This type of resume is fast gaining popularity. It is an effective combination of both. The Combination resume is simply a functional resume with a brief employment history and job experience added. Skills and accomplishments are still listed first; the employment history follows. Thus the employer will immediately know your qualification for the post as well as the experience you had and how well he can hire your expertise for the job.

Whichever format you may use, remember, you can't afford to make any mistakes. You have to be perfect in every sense and your perfection and smartness is what will count.



Here are a few important tips:

Draw the attention of the employer
Use such a design that it will draw the attention of the employer towards your resume. Employers make a snap decision at the mere sight of a resume. Don't make silly spelling mistakes. Keep your resume neat and clean. Your resume must highlight the most important information about your work experience, skills and education. If they see unrelated job titles or skills the likelihood is very high that they will make an immediate assumption that you are not qualified for the job. So avoid that please.

Say the key words
Never keep beating the bush. Be brief and to the point. The right words and descriptions can go a long way into getting yourself short-listed for the interview. Highlight numbers, skills and accomplishments in a concise, clear manner.

Read the job ad carefully and use proper terms
The job ads use key word and descriptions in the ad that gives you a brief idea of the type of job available with the particular company and their requirements. Analyze these words and try to use synonyms or replicate them on your resume.

Highlight your skills
This is very important because it will make the employer to be aware of your skills and achievements. For example if you are looking out for the post of a steno-typist you must mention your speed on the typing machine and your capabilities as a steno.

Create an image to match your needs
As you write your resume, keep in mind the level of job and salary you want. Be sure to create an image that presents you at the appropriate level with the words you choose.

Thus resume preparing is not that tough. It only requires some smartness and skill. Remember your resume is a unique marketing tool, which pays you back for all your hard work. Think of your resume as a promotional brochure about you. It is the first thing that helps a potential employer decide why you are right for his organization. It is a competitive world out there, with many people contesting for the same job. You can use your resume to get an edge over other candidates and increase your chances of getting hired. So make sure your resume stands out

 

1. What IS a resume anyway?
Remember: a Resume is a self-promotional document that presents you in the best possible light, for the purpose of getting invited to a job interview.
It's not an official personnel document. It's not a job application. It's not a "career obituary"! And it's not a confessional.

2. What should the resume content be about?
It's not just about past jobs! It's about YOU, and how you performed and what you accomplished in those past jobs--especially those accomplishments that are most relevant to the work you want to do next. A good resume predicts how you might perform in that desired future job.

3. What's the fastest way to improve a resume?
Remove everything that starts with "responsibilities included" and replace it with on-the-job accomplishments. (See Tip 11 for one way to write them.)

4. What is the most common resume mistake made by job hunters?
Leaving out their Job Objective! If you don't show a sense of direction, employers won't be interested. Having a clearly stated goal doesn't have to confine you if it's stated well.

5. What's the first step in writing a resume?
Decide on a job target (or "job objective") that can be stated in about 5 or 6 words. Anything beyond that is probably "fluff" and indicates a lack of clarity and direction.

6. How do you decide whether to use a Chronological resume or a Functional one? The Chronological format is widely preferred by employers, and works well if you're staying in the same field (especially if you've been upwardly-mobile). Only use a Functional format if you're changing fields, and you're sure a skills-oriented format would show off your transferable skills to better advantage; and be sure to include a clear chronological work history!

7. What if you don't have any experience in the kind of work you want to do?
Get some! Find a place that will let you do some volunteer work right away. You only need a brief, concentrated period of volunteer training (for example, 1 day a week for a month) to have at least SOME experience to put on your resume.
Also, look at some of the volunteer work you've done in the past and see if any of THAT helps document some skills you'll need for your new job.

8. What do you do if you have gaps in your work experience?
You could start by looking at it differently.
General Rule: Tell what you WERE doing, as gracefully as possible--rather than leave a gap.
If you were doing anything valuable (even if unpaid) during those so-called "gaps" you could just insert THAT into the work-history section of your resume to fill the hole. Here are some examples:
  • 1993-95 Full-time parent -- or
  • 1992-94 Maternity leave and family management -- or
  • Travel and study -- or Full-time student -- or
  • Parenting plus community service

9. What if you have several different job objectives you're working on at the same time? Or you haven't narrowed it down yet to just one job target?
Then write a different resume for each different job target. A targeted resume is MUCH, much stronger than a generic resume.

10. What if you have a fragmented, scrambled-up work history, with lots of short-term jobs?
To minimize the job-hopper image, combine several similar jobs into one "chunk," for example:

  • 1993-1995 Secretary/Receptionist; Jones Bakery, Micro Corp., Carter Jewelers -- or
  • 1993-95 Waiter/Busboy; McDougal's Restaurant, Burger King, Traders Coffee Shop.

Also you can just drop some of the less important, briefest jobs.
But don't drop a job, even when it lasted a short time, if that was where you acquired important skills or experience.

11. What's the best way to impress an employer?
Fill your resume with "PAR" statements. PAR stands for Problem-Action-Results; in other words, first you state the problem that existed in your workplace, then you describe what you did about it, and finally you point out the beneficial results.

Here's an example: "Transformed a disorganized, inefficient warehouse into a smooth-running operation by totally redesigning the layout; this saved the company thousands of dollars in recovered stock."

Another example: "Improved an engineering company's obsolete filing system by developing a simple but sophisticated functional-coding system. This saved time and money by recovering valuable, previously lost, project records."

12. What if your job title doesn't reflect your actual level of responsibility?
When you list it on the resume, either replace it with a more appropriate job title (say "Office Manager" instead of "Administrative Assistant" if that's more realistic) OR use their job title AND your fairer one together, i.e. "Administrative Assistant (Office Manager)"

13. How can you avoid age discrimination?
If you're over 40 or 50 or 60, remember that you don't have to present your entire work history! You can simply label THAT part of your resume "Recent Work History" or "Relevant Work History" and then describe only the last 10 or 15 years of your experience. Below your 10-15 year work history, you could add a paragraph headed "Prior relevant experience" and simply refer to any additional important (but ancient) jobs without mentioning dates.

14. What if you never had any "real" paid jobs -- just self-employment or odd jobs? Give yourself credit, and create an accurate, fair job-title for yourself. For example:

  • A&S Hauling & Cleaning (Self-employed) -- or
  • Household Repairman, Self-employed -- or
  • Child-Care, Self-employed

Be sure to add "Customer references available on request" and then be prepared to provide some very good references of people you worked for.

15. How far back should you go in your Work History?
Far enough; and not too far! About 10 or 15 years is usually enough - unless your "juiciest" work experience is from farther back.

16. How can a student list summer jobs?
Students can make their resume look neater by listing seasonal jobs very simply, such as "Spring 1996" or "Summer 1996" rather than 6/96 to 9/96. (The word "Spring" can be in very tiny letters, say 8-point in size.)

17. What if you don't quite have your degree or credentials yet?
You can say something like:

  • Eligible for U.S. credentials -- or
  • Graduate studies in Instructional Design, in progress -- or
  • Master's Degree anticipated December 1997

18. What if you worked for only one employer for 20 or 30 years?
Then list separately each different position you held there, so your job progression within the company is more obvious.

19. What about listing hobbies and interests?
Don't include hobbies on a resume unless the activity is somehow relevant to your job objective, or clearly reveals a characteristic that supports your job objective. For example, a hobby of Sky Diving (adventure, courage) might seem relevant to some job objectives (Security Guard?) but not to others.

20. What about revealing race or religion?
Don't include ethnic or religious affiliations (inviting pre-interview discrimination) UNLESS you can see that including them will support your job objective. Get an opinion from a respected friend or colleague about when to reveal, and when to conceal, your affiliations.

21. What if your name is Robin Williams?
Don't mystify the reader about your gender; they'll go nuts until they know whether you're male or female. So if your name is Lee or Robin or Pat or anything else not clearly male or female, use a Mr. or Ms. prefix.

22. What if you got your degree from a different country?
You can say "Degree equivalent to U.S. Bachelor's Degree in Economics-Teheran, Iran."

23. What about fancy-schmancy paper?
Employers tell me they HATE parchment paper and pretentious brochure-folded resume "presentations." They think they're phony, and toss them right out. Use plain white or ivory, in a quality appropriate for your job objective. Never use colored paper unless there's a very good reason for it (like, you're an artist) because if it gets photo-copied the results will be murky.

24. Should you fold your resume?
Don't fold a laser-printed resume right along a line of text. The "ink" could flake off along the fold.

Quick Composition Tips
Tailor your resume to each job position, focusing on how your unique skills and accomplishments meet or exceed the requirements for the position.

 Keep sentences short and select words carefully - action words are best. Use the same key words listed in the job ad.

 Be brief, and use bullet points and sentences that can be easily scanned by the eye.

 The top third of your first page will determine whether the reader will keep reading or stop. Be sure to use this real estate wisely. Showcase your achievements.

 Make sure the type size is large enough to easily read, and the font legible. Use white space, and avoid long sections of type with no breaks.

 spell-check, then proof read your resume for grammar and punctuation. Repeat this step until your resume has no errors.

 Have a friend, mentor, or career counselor review your resume before sending.

Submitting Your Resume
 An email attachment will preserve formatting. A resume pasted into an email may not remain formatted properly. Be sure to use a common document format, such as MS Word or rich text, or a PDF, that will open easily without the need to locate special software.

 If sending a hardcopy resume, use quality paper that is cream or white. Office supply stores sell paper and matching envelopes specifically for resumes.

 

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