Category Archives: Resumes

Resumes

Resumes Must Close the Sale on Getting a Job Interview

Resumes

Resumes must close the sale on getting a job interview ~ www.jaywren.com

Resumes: Do you have all the qualifications and are not getting job interviews.  Look at your resume. These resume tips might help.

I owned a recruiting company for thirty years.  Like most recruiters, I spent a couple of seconds scanning for the correct job qualifications.  If they did not leap out to me, I tossed the resume.  Clean, simple, well-written resumes helped me do my job.

Resumes Employers Will Want to Read.

You must write a resume that shows three things.

  1. How your experience qualifies you for the job opening.
  2. The ways your accomplishments set you above the competition.
  3. How your background shows that you love the type of job the hiring company is trying to fill.

This is an Example of How to Write a Resume.

If you replace the information below with your information, you will have written a resume.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Your name
Street address City, State Zip
Phone
Email address

OBJECTIVE AND SUMMARY

Some people include an “Objective” or a “Summary” at the beginning of the resume. However, including these two elements is optional. If you use either, you must make them specific to the required job qualifications of the hiring company.

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY (Most recent job first)

Company Name, Company Location, From -To

Most recent title, location, From – To

Use bullet format.

  • Don’t waste space on listing details of your current job description.
  • Instead, show your successes.
  • Furthermore, show how your work made a difference.  For example, “Saved the company $30,000 by switching suppliers.”
  • Give examples of how you exceeded your peers.
  • Include specific data.  For example, “Exceeded assigned sales goal 30% by adding new accounts.
  • Include keywords that fit the job where you are applying. You can find these keywords in the hiring company’s job description.

Previous Experience

Then include earlier experience at companies going back in time from most recent experience.

EDUCATION

Normally, education goes at the bottom of the resume. However, people who have no experience after receiving a degree might consider putting their degree at the top of the resume.

OTHER EXPERIENCE

Other items that might go at the bottom of the resume are awards, extra skills, volunteer work, or college employment.

HOW TO SHORTEN YOUR RESUME FOR READABILITY

The following items don’t belong on your resume.

  • Hobbies
  • References
  • Compensation
  • Long paragraphs
  • Details on responsibilities with well-known job functions
  • Details on jobs that date back in time
  • Referring to yourself in the third person

Sentence Structure

It is not only okay to use sentence fragments in a resume. In fact, most resumes include sentence fragments.

  • Instead of writing “I doubled the company’s sales in 6 months by adding new accounts” 
  • Write “Doubled company’s sales in 6 months by adding new accounts.”
Interview Preparation

Interview Preparation: Three Steps That Will Land You the Job

Interviewing, Job Search, Job Skills, Quotes, Resumes

Interview Preparation: Are you frustrated with rejection when you have the qualifications for the job? These three steps will help.

Fifty percent of the effort for the best interviews is in the preparation. ~ www.jaywren.com

There are three distinct steps in preparing for an interview.

#1 Interview Preparation: Everything About You

In the first step, review your qualifications.  This step will organize your thinking about the things you want the interviewer to know about you.

In writing your resume, you will have begun to work on this step.  Ensure that you can discuss from memory the dates and places where you where you have worked.  Furthermore, prepare to present your qualifications as accomplishments.

In the United States, applicants for jobs in research, education, and medicine often use a curriculum vitae.

# 2 Interview Preparation: Everything About the Company

The second step in preparing for an interview is to research the company and research the people at the company where you are interviewing.

The Internet is a powerful tool in this step.

Research the directions to location of the interview. Your smartphone can direct you to the location.  However, having to follow your smartphone in traffic is stress that you don’t need.  Additionally, know where to park before you arrive at your destination.

Furthermore, is this a location where you want to work?
Then, research the details of the company business.  What is unique about the company?  Why do you want to work for this company?  Can you explain to the interviewer the reasons you find the company attractive?

Additionally, learn about the people you will meet.  Are these people you want to work with every day? Can you tell the interviewers why you are excited to meet them?

Thoroughly understand the experience and qualifications listed in the job description.  If the company does not publish a job description, find job descriptions for similar jobs at other companies.

#3 Interview Preparation: Everything About the Match

Prepare to discuss how your qualifications are a match for the job and for the company that is interviewing you.  In this step, merge the preparation you have done on presenting your qualifications with your research on the company.

Furthermore, show how you experience makes you the perfect match with the job requirements.

Based on your research, make a list of the things you don’t know about the job and the company.  Prepare questions that you fill in the gaps between what you know and what you need to know.

Do mock presentations.  Become confident that you can show that you are the best candidate for the job.

In Conclusion

You are competing against other candidates.  Most of them have the qualifications to get the job.  Separate yourself from the competition by using the steps in this article to prepare for the interview.

A Winning Resume Compels the Reader to Interview You.

Resume Writing Made Simple: Here’s How

Resume Summary, Resumes

Resume Writing: Are you sending out your resume and not getting interviews? These tips will help you write a resume that attracts interviewers.

Resume Writing Made Simple: Here’s How

The fact is that most people don’t read your resume.  If they look at your resume at all, they spend 5 or 6, maybe 10 seconds to scan your resume before deleting it.

By writing a simple, effective resume, you will not only increase how many people read it; you will have a useful tool.  You can use the dates from your resume to complete job applications.  If you keep your resume simple, you can easily revise your resume to fit different jobs.

Accomplishments versus Experience

Experience Counts but Accomplishments Count More.

Here are three examples of how to word a resume loaded with accomplishments:

Increased sales 10% by setting a deadline for the purchases.

Reduced costs 15% by requiring competitive bids from suppliers.

Built customer base 25% through increased cold calls.

Remember to emphasize achievements and not just tasks or the name of the positions you held.

Simple, powerful format that holds the reader’s attention

Keep your resume simple.  Follow the most popular format.  Here is the format most people use.

Your contact Information first: Name, phone number, email

List your most recent jobs next.  Include the dates of these jobs.  In addition to accomplishments, include skills that match the job requirements the employer listed in the job specifications.  Use bullets to list your accomplishments.
Close your resume with your education.  Include any academic accomplishments or recognition.

Killer Cover Letter

[Name of Person]:

The purpose of this email is to submit my resume for [name of position].

I have a car and live locally to your position. I am available for employment immediately.

May I provide you with additional information on my experience?

Thank you for reviewing my resume,

[Your Name]
[Your Phone Number]
[Your email address]

Cut out the deadwood.

Hobbies, references, compensation, long paragraph, details on jobs with well-known functions, details on jobs that date back in time are examples of deadwood.

Other examples include an objective or a summary at the top of your resume.

Headlines sell the story

Resume Headlines and Why They Matter

Resume Summary, Resumes

 Resume Headlines and Why They Matter

“Writing headlines is a specialty – there are outstanding writers who will tell you they couldn’t write a headline to save their lives.” – The Score Takes Care of Itself: My Philosophy of Leadership, Bill Walsh

Resumes headlines are also known as resume titles.  They serve several purposes.  Here are two of them.

First, they raise the number of times your resume appears in keyword searches.   This purpose is critical to ensuring that hiring managers even find your resume on the Internet or in their database.

Second, in a glance, the hiring manager or the recruiter can decide whether to take time to read your resume.  In most cases, resume readers do little more than glance at resumes before deciding to read them.

Headlines in the Resume Objective

A good place to insert the headline is in the objective statement.  Headlines should be at the top of the resume.  Resume writers put the objective at the top of the resume.

Headlines in the Summary of Experience

A headline should be concise.  Overloading a resume with an objective plus a summary of experience is not wise.  It could discourage hiring managers and recruiters from reading your resume.

If you are going to use either as a headline for your resume, I recommend that you use a summary of experience.  A hiring manager or a recruiter will decide to interview you based on your experience.  They usually infer that your career objective matches their interest by the mere fact that you have applied for a specific job.

Writing attention-getting resume headlines just got a lot easier.

Writing great headlines is not always easy.  Some people have special skills for writing the headline in media.  In many cases, media companies leave the headline writing to the copy editors.  To repeat the opening quote, “Writing headlines is a specialty – there are outstanding writers who will tell you they couldn’t write a headline to save their lives.”

However, here is a simple tip for word selection for your resume headline.

In a very straight forward fashion, just copy the job title and other wording from the job description.  Then paste the same wording into your resume headline. When hiring managers or recruiters are doing resume searches, they are logically looking for wording that matches the wording of their job description.

Headlines sell the story.  Let a great one sell your story.

The Simple Way to Write a Killer Resume

Resume Summary, Resumes

The Simple Way to Write a Killer Resume

“On the average, five times as many people read the headlines as read the body copy.  It follows that, unless your headline sells your product, you have wasted 90 percent of your money.” David Ogilvy, Confessions of an Advertising Man

During the three decades I worked as a recruiter, I scanned thousands of resumes.  I say scanned, because I spent less than ten seconds looking at most of these resumes.

Hiring managers and recruiters don’t actually read most resumes.  Resumes must grab the reader’s attention.  They must compel the reader to read them.

If they don’t, hiring managers and recruiters just don’t read them, and, if it’s your resume, you don’t get an interview.

I contracted with over a hundred hiring companies, and I received positive and negative feedback on resumes.  Here are three things I learned.

Accomplishments

State what you did as accomplishments.  For example, don’t simply say that you did A, B, and C.  Say that you accomplished #1, #2, and #3 by doing A, B, and C.  You will increase the impact of your resume and separate yourself from other people who just list job titles.

Simple Format

Layout the resume in a simple format with the most important information at the top of the resume.

Keywords

Use keywords. These are words that will show up in a resume search.  These words are job titles, names of companies and products, names of skills, names of schools, certificates, degrees, etc.

Here is a simple format.

CONTACT INFORMATION
Your name
Street address
City, State Zip
Home phone
Cell phone
Email address

OBJECTIVE AND SUMMARY
Stating an objective or a giving a summary at the beginning of the resume is common practice.  Stating an objective or providing a summary is optional.

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY 
There is no sentence structure in a resume.  The wording in a resume is simply a series of statements of actions and accomplishments.

For example, this is a sentence: I doubled the company’s sales in 6 months.
This is resume wording: Doubled company’s sales in 6 months.

The history in a resume is just a list that includes employment periods, performance, skills, responsibilities, accomplishments, and education.

(Most recent job first)
Company Name; company Location, From –to
Most recent title, Location, From – to

Use bullet format.
•        List things you have accomplished.  Do not waste space on your just giving a job description.  List things that showed that you made a difference in the positions you held.
•        Use facts—for example, exceeded assigned sales goal by 30%, reduced costs, promoted people, saved time, increased productivity, etc.
•        Employers and recruiters search their databases for specific words, so list successes with specific industry words or functions.  Include the real name of your product categories, product names, sales accounts, functions (e.g., Profit & Loss, Market Research or Software Names, New Product Development, Market Insights, Innovation), etc.

Next List Previous Titles at this company and again list successes and accomplishments in bullet format.

Then include Previous Companies going back in time from most recent.

EDUCATION
Normally, education goes at the bottom of the resume.  People who have recently received an educational degree or credential that alters their employability might consider putting education at the top of the resume.

Other items that might go at the bottom of the resume are awards, extra skills, volunteer work, or perhaps some relevant college employment.

How to Shorten Your Resume for Readability

Avoiding the following items might make the difference whether a hiring manager reads your resume.

Objective
Summary
Hobbies
References
References available on request
Compensation
Long paragraph formats
Long-winded discussions of core responsibilities
Too many details on jobs with well-known functions
Details on jobs that date back in time
Paragraph formatting
Third person reference

More Career Articles
Building Professional Relationships Everywhere
Are you a card collector?
Resumes for Managers
Resumes for Recent College Graduates

Employment Gaps on Your Resume

Resume Summary, Resumes

If you have employment gaps on your resume, you are not alone.  It is not usual for job seekers to have employment gaps.  People take a year off work to travel.  Some people have these employment gaps from periods of recession.  In other cases, job seekers have been in a situation where the need for their skills was very low.

In other cases, job seekers have taken off to take care of their family.  In some cases, job seekers have gone through personal problems, such as depression or drug addiction.

There is no way to know how an employer will view gaps in your employment.  Each employer may view gaps in experience differently.

When you write your resume, you might omit the dates of the unemployment and omit the explanation for a gap in your employment.  If the question comes up in an interview, simply say in a short statement why you have the gap in your employment.  Write and rehearse giving an answer that is true, believable, and completely provides an explanation for your absence.  For example, if you took a year off to travel, you might simply say, “I had the money and the opportunity to travel places I would not likely be able to see if I waited to visit them.”

Effective employer recruiters will notice the omission of the dates of unemployment and will often not ask you about these gaps until you have an interview.

Qualifications

Typically, the first thing that an employer looks for are your qualifications.  If you have strong qualifications for a job, an employer might disregard the gap in your employment on your resume and invite you in for an interview.

You will find greater success by being selective about the jobs for which you apply.  If you send out hundreds of resumes to companies that have no need for your experience, you will have few interviews relative to the number of jobs for which you apply.  The fact that you have a gap in your experience will have little bearing on your getting a job when you are not qualified for that job in the first place.

Therefore, write your resume to show how your qualifications fit the job opening.

Curriculum Vitae or Resume?

Resumes

A curriculum vitae (CV) is similar to a resume.  In the United States, applicants for jobs in research, education, and medicine frequently use a curriculum vitae.  In England and Europe, job seekers more commonly use curriculum vitae instead of a resume.

A resume has less information and is, therefore, shorter than curriculum vitae.  Most resumes are one or two pages long.  For job seekers in the United States business sector, a resume is more effective in getting interviews with hiring managers who spend just seconds reviewing a resume.

This following example is a skeleton of curriculum vitae.  If you replace your information with the information in this example, you will have written curriculum vitae.

Name
Street Address
City, ST ZIP Code
Phone
E-Mail

EDUCATION
University, City, State
Doctorate of Philosophy, Concentration or Field,     Year Received
Dissertation: “Name of Dissertation”
Honors: Dissertation passed “with Distinction”

University, City, State
Master of Arts, Master of Science, Concentration or Field,    Year Received
Thesis: “Title of Thesis”

University, City, State
Bachelor of .Arts, Bachelor of .Science, Major    Year Received
Areas of Concentration: List of focused subjects
Minor: Subject
Honors Thesis: “Title of Thesis”

AWARDS
Postdoctoral Fellowship, University Name    Start Date – End Date
President’s Fellowship, University Name    Start Date – End Date
Excellence Grant, University Name   Start Date – End Date

TEACHING EXPERIENCE
University, City, State
Lecturer – Subject      Years

  1. Prepared and delivered lessons
  2. Developed course structure
  3. Administered all grades

Adjunct Instructor – Capacity    Years

  1. Prepared and delivered lessons
  2. Developed course structure
  3. Administered all grades

Instructor – Subject    Years

  1. Prepared and delivered lessons
  2. Developed course structure
  3. Administered all grades

Teaching Assistant – Subject    Years

  1. Assisted with curriculum and exam development
  2. Graded exams and written work
  3. Met with students regarding field projects

RELATED EXPERIENCE
Company Name, City, State
Title    Start Date – End Date
Manage team of field researchers, provide feedback to management, develop new research projects for internal review

Company Name, City, State
Title    Start Date – End Date
List of accomplishments and responsibilities

Company Name, City, State
Title    Start Date – End Date
List of accomplishments and responsibilities

Company Name, City, State
User Interface Design Consultant Pick the Year
List of accomplishments and responsibilities

PUBLICATIONS AND PAPERS
Title of paper
Location or medium of presentation of paper and date

Title of paper
Location or medium of presentation of paper and date

LANGUAGES or ADVANCED SKILLS
Name of language or skill and level of competence
Name of language or skill and level of competence
Name of language or skill and level of competence

MEMBERSHIPS
Society Name or Organization Name
Society Name or Organization Name
Society Name or Organization Name

Resumes that are Short and Sweet

Resume Summary, Resumes

Here are some tips for creating resumes that are short and sweet.  These tips will help resume readers see you as a great applicant.  Your credentials will stand out immediately.

Eliminate the summary of your experience.

People often include a summary of the experience at the top of a resume.  The information in your summary belongs with your accomplishments within the body of your resume.  Putting a summary of your experience at the top is unnecessary, is a reading burden, and wastes space.

Eliminate your high school graduation if you are a college grad.

People who have to read resumes do not need to read that you have a high school diploma.  The fact that you have started attending college or have graduated from college shows that you have a high school diploma or the equivalent of a high school diploma.

Eliminate full sentences for your accomplishments and skills.

  1. Increased revenue by 10%
  2. Managed a team to create nationally recognized software development process
  3. Fluent in French, conversant in Spanish
  4. Type 55 words per minute
  5. Operated forklifts and narrow aisle trucks

Eliminate non-skill or education information on your resume.

Hobbies, interests, references, and personal recognition do not belong on your resume.

Include information on certificates and credentials you are studying or have completed.

Even if the certificates or credentials do not apply specifically to the job for which you are applying, a brief statement on these additional studies may broaden a resume reader’s view of your skills.  There may be jobs beyond the one for which you are applying and for which these studies make you fit.

Include information on your major, minor, and other important studies.

  1. Majored in computer science
  2. Minored in math
  3. Completed advanced studies in data analysis
  4. Received a certificate for heat transfer engineering
  5. Interned as an assistant project manager at [specific company]
  6. Studied music for a year under the orchestra master at [name of school]

Include a specific area on your resume for volunteer work.

Volunteer work and community service are important things to have on your resume.  They are particularly meaningful to a person reading your resume when the experiences fit the job for which you are applying.  List the organizations and functions just the way your list companies and skills or accomplishments in your resume.

How to Bridge Employment Gaps in Your Resume

Resume Summary, Resumes

If you have gaps in your resume, you are not alone.  Long recessions and a restructuring of the economy in the United States have created new complications for people who need to find jobs.

New types of jobs often require that job seekers develop new skills.  In some cases, job seekers must receive certifications, credentials, or licenses that require formal training.  Some of this training can require that job seekers take time from work.

The result is that many people go through extended periods of unemployment.  According to an article in USA Today, 20% of the people who have lost work over the past 5 years are still unemployed, and many of those who found work are in temporary jobs.

Knowing how to handle unemployment gaps on your resume is important.

There is value in doing consulting work, temporary assignments, and even volunteer work.  Include information on your resume to help people know what you are doing in addition to seeking a new job.

Job searching involves fundamentals.

The uncertainty of job searching can challenge you mentally, emotionally, and physically.  Your finances become uncertain.  Trying to focus on job searching is just part of the mental challenge of finding a job.  Finding mentors and working with friends can help you stay focused and positive as you go through the daily grind of getting a job.  Practicing the fundamentals of contacting employers, making applications, and continuing to seek employment are all critical to finding a job.

Your social media profile has a role in job search.  

Maintain consistency between your social media and your resume.  If you place a record of your career track on LinkedIn or Google Plus, make sure that the records you keep on those websites and profiles on other sites are consistent with each other and with your resume.

List employment periods in years.

Job seekers frequently list periods of employment in years only.  The goal of your resume is to get you to an interview.  If there are periods of weeks of unemployment in your past, getting to an interview to discuss those periods of unemployment is better than not getting to an interview at all.

How to Write a Resume

Adapt, Innovate, Win, Resume Summary, Resumes

How to write a resume: having a resume is an essential part of getting a job for most people.  I based the information in this article on two sources.  The first source is the hundreds of resumes I have read as a corporate recruiter.  The second source is the feedback I have received from hiring managers, staffing managers, other recruiters, and from interviewing hundreds of applicants.  These are suggestions only, but the layout is a working format.  If you replace the information below with your information, you will have written a resume.

A resume is similar to a job application.  When you complete a job application, you will need to list the jobs you have had, where you performed those jobs, and when you had those jobs.  Therefore, you will find it useful to have your resume with you as you complete job applications.

Related Articles
Resumes for Managers
Resumes for Recent College Graduates

CONTACT INFORMATION
Your name
Street address
City, State Zip
Home phone
Cell phone
Email address

OBJECTIVE AND SUMMARY
Stating an objective or a giving a summary at the beginning of the resume is common practice.  Stating an objective or providing a summary is optional.

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY 
There is no sentence structure in a resume.  The wording in a resume is simply a series of statements of actions and accomplishments.

For example, this is a sentence: I doubled the company’s sales in 6 months.
This is resume wording: Doubled company’s sales in 6 months.

The history in a resume is just a list that includes employment periods, performance, skills, responsibilities, accomplishments, and education.

(Most recent job first)
Company Name; company Location,   From –to
Most recent title, Location, From – to

Use bullet format.
•        List things you have accomplished.  Do not waste space on your just giving a job description.  List things that showed that you made a difference in the positions you held.
•        Use facts—for example, exceeded assigned sales goal by 30%, reduced costs, promoted people, saved time, increased productivity, etc.
•        Employers and recruiters search their databases for specific words, so list successes with specific industry words or functions.  Include the real name of your product categories, product names, sales accounts, functions (e.g., Profit & Loss, Market Research or Software Names, New Product Development, Market Insights, Innovation), etc.

Then include Previous Companies going back in time from most recent.

More Career Article
Building Professional Relationships Everywhere
Are you a card collector?

EDUCATION
Normally, education goes at the bottom of the resume.  People who have recently received an educational degree or credential that alters their employability might consider putting education at the top of the resume.

Other items that might go at the bottom of the resume are awards, extra skills, volunteer work, or perhaps some relevant college employment.

HOW TO SHORTEN YOUR RESUME FOR READABILITY
Hiring managers only spend seconds looking at each resume.  They are going through stacks of resumes, often in documents that they have to open one at a time.

Avoiding the following items might make the difference as to whether a hiring manager reads your resume.

Objective
Summary
Hobbies
References
References available on request
Compensation
Long paragraph formats
Long-winded discussions of core responsibilities
Too many details on jobs with well-known functions
Details on jobs that date back in time
Paragraph formatting
Third person reference