GREAT RESUME WRITING TIPS

Writing a resume is easy. Anyone can type a page with their prior employment information and there are plenty of resume writing tips and templates online to help you. However, no matter how you type it, it's the bigger picture your resume provides that either gets the attention of Hiring Managers or gets your resume rejected!

Building a resume takes long term planning and commitment. It starts with your education and follows you with each position you obtain and each rung of the ladder you climb. Over time, a resume built with planning and forethought will show a consistent pattern of stability and increasing responsibility, which will make you an attractive candidate without having to exaggerate.

When you were a child, chances are you played with building blocks. It probably didn't take you long to realize that if you stacked the blocks in a pyramid and began removing blocks from the bottom, the top would eventually fall. Consider your career a pyramid built of blocks. You start building the foundation at the bottom, which represents your education, goals and work ethic. Then you start building up to something bigger with your middle row, which represents your skills and tenure. Then you add your top row, which represents your resume. Now think about what would happen if you were to remove one of the blocks of your career pyramid. Most likely you can tell the structure was a pyramid, but it's not so attractive anymore. Other pyramids probably look better. It doesn't take too many blocks to be removed before you can't see the pyramid at all anymore and it's just a pile of blocks.

As a Hiring Manager, I can tell you that reviewing resumes is like searching for that solid pyramid in a dump truck full of blocks. The pyramids are few and far between and you have to sort through all of the blocks to find them.

If you're a parent, I can't express the importance of teaching this to your children, as it seems to be lost on today's generation completely! If you are still in school, you're reading this at the perfect time to start off on the right foot.

If you've started off on the wrong foot, it may be a little rough at first but it's not too late - determine the blocks that are missing from your career pyramid and work diligently to put them in place.

When writing a resume, remember that it should tell the story of your career history. An ideal resume should:

- explain what you are looking for in a position
- show a brief list of your skill set
- show a consistent work history with continued increasing responsibility
- convey your computer skills
- provide your education
- advise any special training you've obtained
- advise any special accomplishments you have achieved
- provide a way to contact you

It is sometimes very helpful to refer to a professional resume book for detailed assistance that covers many job types.

Ensuring you have a quality resume that covers all of the above, greatly increases you're chances of getting called for an interview. But remember, the quality of your resume work history is most important. Now that you know what to put when writing your resume, let me give you a brief description of each of these resume items. A more detailed description of the importance of each will be discussed in future posts to this blog.

CONTACT INFORMATION:
Resume contact information should include a phone number. Make sure that if you can't answer, you check the voice mail often. Provide an email address that you check frequently. Hiring Managers must have a way to contact you. Do not add personal email addresses that reflect poorly on you. Yahoo Mail, Gmail and HotMail accounts are ok, as long as the personal part of your email does not reflect a poor level of professionalism such as "beerpong@" or something of that nature. Add a Skype name if you use it, but don't answer a call on a whim. Let them call or email you to schedule a video interview at a later time. It is important that when taking a Skype call you are dressed just like you would for a face to face employment interview.

*For more detailed information on resume contact information see my article titled "Resume Contact Information Speaks Volumes!".

OBJECTIVE:
Consider what you are looking for in a job/career and write a clear statement that explains it. Do not copy a friends resume objective because you think it sounds good. Your objective should tell a hiring Manager what YOU are looking for in a job/career so that they can match you to open positions they have to fill. Vague, irrelevant and extremely fancy objectives with too many buzz words could get your resume tossed aside quickly.

*For more detailed information on resume objective see my article titled "How to Write Your Resume Objective".

SKILL SET:
Provide a bullet point list of any skills you have obtained that are relevant to the type of job you are seeking. Don't list menial skills. For Example, an Accounting Manager may include Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Collections and Bank Reconciliation, but would not list Answer Multi-Line Phones or Filing as they are not relevant to the specific position. List skills that actually show you are qualified for the position you are seeking. Again, this helps Hiring Managers match your resume to positions they have to fill.

*Another article with more detailed information on this topic is in process! Check back soon!".

WORK HISTORY:
List each company you have worked for along with the title of the position you held and your month and year of employment. Be sure to list them from current (or most recent) to oldest. Under each position include a bullet point list of all relevant job duties. Your work experience should reflect a growing increase in responsibility. Any gaps in your resume work history, specifically repeated gaps, could cause doubt with the Hiring Manager regarding the length of time you might stay with them. Make sure you plan your job changes to always ensure consistent employment. One layoff may be overlooked, especially in a poor job market, but consistent layoffs tell them your prior employers saw you as a dispensable employee and again, could cause your resume to be tossed aside.

EDUCATION:
Provide the name of the school, course of study, college degree and year of completion for each level of school you have completed. If high school is the highest level you have completed simply list the information for that school. If you have completed any college, leave high school off and list all colleges attended. Some employers look for degrees and some don't, as there are benefits to both. Some companies prefer a higher education and some prefer on the job experience

COMPUTER SKILLS:
List all computer software you have worked in and are comfortable with. You don't have to be proficient in each of them. You can explain your use of each in more detail at an interview. Do not list software for the sake of listing them because it could backfire on you. The purpose is to get a feel for how computer proficient you are and how quickly you might learn a new system. Consider utilizing software tutorials to increase your skills. Brushing up on your Microsoft Office skills is beneficial for any office position.

TRAINING, SEMINARS and CERTIFICATIONS:
List all additional job training, career seminars and certifications that are relevant to the position you are looking to obtain. If in high school you went to a seminar for auto mechanics, and you are now concentrating on a career in sales, the career training in auto mechanics would be completely irrelevant to your goal and would not be considered at all by a Hiring Manager.

ACHIEVEMENTS:
List all achievements you accomplished that are over and above what your job duties required. For example, if you created a new company procedure that caused a significant savings to the company in cost or efficiency, it should be noted. This tells Hiring Managers that you go above and beyond the typical candidate.

Write professionally, but do not embellish it with resume buzz words you would never use when speaking or writing business correspondence. If you use a thesaurus to change more than a word or two on your entire resume you've probably done yourself a disservice and made your resume sound too fluffed. A fluffed resume is a poor resume.

Lastly, proof read! A resume error can cost you the job! Use spell check and grammar check, then print it and have at least one other person proof it for errors. If a company's first impressions of you are errors, odds are you won't be considered for an interview.

References should not be included on your resume. If there is adequate room to add "References provided upon request" at the bottom then do so, but it's not necessary. References should be typed on a separate sheet of paper and provided at the request of the prospective employer.

Your resume contact information says more about you than you might think. Pretend for a moment you are the employer. You have two resumes with equal qualifications and you want to contact both for an interview. The resume contact information for the first candidate says "john.doe@isp.com" and the contact information for the second candidate says "psychojohn@isp.com". Would you think twice about calling "Psycho John"? Most employers would. Maybe the employer would not immediately disqualify him. It's possible that his qualifications were so good that they still had interest but you can bet a pay check that they are a little apprehensive about him now. Odds are they quickly started researching him on Google and Facebook to see what they could find before deciding if they would actually call him for an interview.

I gave this example to show you how important it is to avoid putting "funny" or "funky" email addresses on your resume. Although they may be funny to you, they undermine your serious and professional nature. A professional email at the top of your resume shows that you have the common sense of keeping your personal beliefs separate from your business demands. Keep the personal email address for your friends but make sure you have a professional email address for use on your resume. Employers have to sift through hundreds of resumes and only have an average of 10-30 seconds to spend on each one. Approximately 80% of a candidates screening is done based on their resume. The image your resume portrays creates the first impression an employer will have of you. It's important that every detail INCLUDING your email address reflects professionalism.

Ideally, your email should include your name in some form. Your internet service provider (isp) probably gave you several free email accounts with your internet service. Utilize one of them as your professional email address and include it on your resume. If you want to portray a really high level of professionalism, you can buy the domain name for your name, which usually comes with free email accounts. For example, Jane Doe would buy the domain name janedoe.com and create an email address of "info@janedoe.com". An email address of this nature will portray a very professional image for a candidate. Below are some examples of email addresses to avoid as well as those I recommend.

Some Examples of BAD email choices
CrazyCatLady@isp.com
ScaryLary@isp.com
ImBossy@isp.com
CouchPotato@isp.com
MomsTaxi@ips.com

Some Examples of GOOD email choices:
JaneDoe@isp.com
Jane.Doe@isp.com
Jane-Doe@isp.com
JDoe@isp.com
J.Doe@isp.com
JMDoe@isp.com

Some Example of Great email choices:
info@janedoe.com
contact@janedoe.com
email@janedoe.com

Now, let's talk about a phone number. Always include a phone number that has a voice mailbox, check it often and return calls timely. When you answer a call or return a call make sure handle it professionally. Don't take or make phone calls to employers while driving, with a room full of kids, at the grocery store or any other place that has loud noise or hinders you from sounding anything but professional. The employer has formed an opinion of you based on your resume but they are still not sure what to expect when they speak with you. How you handle the call could change their mind. Make sure you always have a pen and paper handy so that you can take down their company name, the position, contact name and address. I strongly suggest a day planner to keep track of your appointments.

Resume objectives are very important. If your resume doesn't have an objective or your objective doesn't state your goals in an effective manner you may miss out on relevant job opportunities. An objective assists employers in matching your goals with theirs. Obtaining a job that will assist you in meeting your goals will be difficult if your resume objective doesn't accurately portray what those goals are.

Writing A Resume Objective Isn't As Hard As You Think. What's your goal? You do have a goal, right? Sure you do. Everyone has a goal. Your goal may be different from your friend and your neighbor, but we all have goals when it comes to our career. Your goal is your objective. It doesn't have to be extremely fancy; professional yes, but overly fancy no.

Ask yourself these questions about your career:

1. What is my expertise and for how long?


2. What am I doing now?


3. What are both my short-term and long-term goals?


4. Is what I'm doing now relevant to either of my goals?


5. What am I personally not getting out of my current situation that I need? (Consider: commute time, employee benefits, salary, relevance to education and background/skills)


6. What is the 'NEXT' step I need to take in my career to reach my goal?


7. How long will it take to accomplish this? Or How long do I plan to work in the next position/for the next company?


8. What type of company do I want to work for to meet this goal? (Consider: industry type, company size)


9. What can I offer my next employer?


10. When this step is complete, what's step is after that?

If you take a moment to sit and think this through you will have your objective. Now you just need to get it on paper. Not all of what you determined with the above questions need to be put in your objective. The answers to the above helped you plan your big picture/long term career goal. Your resume objective should primarily concentrate on your answers to questions 6 and 7, but will have aspects of many of the other questions as well.

Remember, you have 10-30 seconds to make a favorable impression and tell the employer if you are a good match for them. You have to make sure an state your goals, while also telling them why you would be an asset to them.

Here is an example of a resume objective and what it might tell a prospective employer:

• SAMPLE OBJECTIVE: Seeking an entry level position where I can utilize my public relations and marketing education and skills to contribute to the organizations success and develop a long-term career.


• EMPLOYER ANALYSIS:


• NO specific job title was mentioned = Candidate is open to the actual position offered in the marketing industry. Candidate may be flexible once hired to take on other duties or move to lateral positions in the company if needed.


• "Seeking entry level position" = Candidate has little to no related experience. Candidate will likely accept less pay than someone with a degree AND experience. Candidate will require more training and guidance to gain experience.


• "Utilize my public relations and marketing education" = Candidate is most likely a recent college graduate since also wants entry level.
  Candidate has a good knowledge and education related to position.


• "develop a long-term career" = Candidate will likely stay with the company a long time.

As you can see, your resume objective tells an employer a lot so careful consideration of your goals and how you word them should go into writing it. One thing that drives me nuts is when I see articles giving job seekers advise to change their objective to match a specific position, especially when they advise them to mention the company name and/or specific position in their objective. Employers want to know what YOU want and if they feel your resume was changed specifically for their position then they might wonder what else in your resume is tailored to their position and therefore, may not be completely accurate. If your objective provides a good well rounded statement that matches your goals and qualifications there is NO NEED to tailor it for each position you apply for.

Job interviews rarely occur when your resume has errors. Why? Your resume is the first and only impression that a Hiring Manager has of you. If you don't get that right, then why would they consider escalating your consideration for the position to the next level? An accurate resume shows that you are not only qualified, but thorough and detail oriented as well. If your resume has errors it could very well keep you from landing a job.

It always makes me laugh when I am reviewing resumes and come across one that says "detail oriented" and then find a misspelled word. I mean, if they were so detail oriented would they not have ensured their resume was accurate? I always think if this is the VERY BEST they can do when writing their resume when trying to impress us, what will the quality of their work be once they get comfortable working here? If they are that careless with their own personal work that affects their bottom line and reputation, then most likely they will be even more careless with what they do for someone else's.

I'm not saying every resume that is missing a comma gets tossed but, unless everything else is absolutely outstanding and they are a perfect match for the position, they most likely won't get a call for a job interview.

The best advice I can offer you is to proof read your resume several times, but not all at once. Anytime you review the same information over and over your brain starts to skip some of the information it has seen without realizing it. When you've completed your resume proofing, put it down and read it again several hours later to see if anything new pops out at you. You'll be surprised what you overlooked the first fifty times. Now, just when you think it's perfect, ask a friend to proof it for you. It's amazing the mistakes that a fresh set of eyes can find on a "perfect resume".