Like all tools, your resume will "work" only in appropriate situations. You don't market in a vacuum. Your resume must be
- Directed to the right people and
- Potentially valuable to them.
Marketing yourself and using your resume as a marketing tool means making the most of what you honestly have to offer. Just as your mini-stories emphasize your accomplishments, you'll be describing yourself in active terms, communicating that you're a results-oriented person who can benefit your next employer.
That's standard resume advice. Unfortunately, not everyone reads articles like this. Or acts on what they read. If they did, there would be no resumes from American-born college graduates which begin like this (and continue in a similar fashion);
This person has impressive language skills, but his resume, beginning with the inert "able to read," is woefully weak. Simply turning these sentences around, starting with action verbs, improves them.
2. Preparing your resume is valuable. Many job seekers plunge into resume writing prematurely, before they've really thought about what they're looking for and where they might go. That's like starting out on a long journey without money, a map, or a toothbrush. Happily, you've done all your preliminary work already. You've assessed yourself, written your goal, analyzed your accomplishments, and learned to look at yourself from the employer's perspective. You have thought about your values and what gives you satisfaction, as well as what you want to do and the kind of environment that suits you best. All of that vital information is on your worksheets, your Goal Setting/Planning Guide, and your mini-story guide.
Having done that, writing your resume should be relatively easy. It's the end product of all your soul-searching, a place to highlight facts about you, your achievements, and how you have benefited your employers. Be sure your accomplishments get the attention they deserve. Your resume is no place for buried treasures.
3. What's in and what's out? Obviously, you cannot bare all on one or two pages. You must be selective. And there are some rather standard guidelines to help you determine what to include, such as:
- Name, address, telephone number(s)
- Job objective and/or summary highlighting your major qualifications
- Responsibilities (employment history)
- Accomplishments and skills
- Education, including degrees, institution, major fields of study. If your minor could make a major difference, include that. Also include continuing education, which demonstrates that you're always learning and growing-the kind of person they want to hire.
- Awards, recognition, certificates, etc.
- Professional/trade/industry associations
4. It should look good. One page or two? That really depends on how much the recipient(s) should know about you. One page may be preferable, but not if it means a resume that re quires a shoehorn. Resumes with tiny type and 1/4-inch margins punish both the reader and the sender. Spreading the same information on two pages can transform it into a marketing tool for you.
Clearly, your resume should look good and be easy to read at a glance (20 to 30 seconds), since that's all the time most people will give to it. Another bit of common sense about which there should be no debate: no errors. No spelling errors. No punctuation errors. No grammatical errors. Not even one.
5. The head should fit the body. If you state a job objective at the top, be sure it's supported by the body-the facts about you, your accomplishments, and the benefits you can bring to the company. That's often a real challenge for career changers, who may find that their resumes hurt more than they help.
That was Doug's situation. A skilled purchasing manager, he pointed out in his resume that he had saved his employer many thousands of dollars during his 23 years with LTV Steel. But technology had dramatically reduced job opportunities for steel purchasers. The energetic 48-year old wanted to try "the other side of the desk-sales." Having worked with salespeople throughout his career, Doug was sure he could do a good job of persuading others.
But his resume gave no hint that he could sell! He took my suggestion- that he forget about his resume, talk with some sales managers, and explain what he could do for them, he was hired within a few weeks and has been happily selling new cars ever since.
6. Don't let it victimize you. Some job hunters allow their resumes to lash them to the past just as firmly as Gulliver was tied down by the Lilliputians. That happens often, not only to career changers like Doug but to people like Steve, His job as vice president for communications of a mid-sized corporation ended almost four years ago. Since then, he has mailed hundreds of resumes all over the country. But no job has surfaced, frustrated, Steve blames his former title. "I wish I never had that title: vice president. People see that and think they can't afford me. In fact, all I had was the title. No staff."
The solution? Some people would advise omitting the title altogether. Overlooking facts that might be threatening, like advanced degrees, is not unusual, but leaving out the title of your position on a resume is a glaring omission. Could he change the title to something less intimidating? Yes, conceivably, if he could discuss the change with his former employer. But that would not be totally honest, and even if someone at the company agreed, the discrepancy could be noticed and boomerang. Prospective employers are, understandably, very wary about anything that smacks of dishonesty.
Steve's best strategy is to avoid sending out his resume and use other means to contact hiring authorities. When he meets them, he could explain away this trivial item (if it comes up) and they could focus on what's important: what he could do for them.
7. Become a custom tailor. You know what you are selling. Who needs it? Who will be reading your resume? Why? What are they looking for? Before you write your resume, research the company, the position (if there is one), and the hiring authority. A one-size-fits-all resume is really a "shot in the dark." Why shoot in the dark when you can bring in so much light?
8. Start with a core. You can custom-tailor your resume quite easily if you have at least one core resume on your computer. That's your theme-and you can create a number of variations on it. Depending on your experience, you might prefer to have several core resumes. Each tells the truth about you, of course. But each emphasizes different facets of your experience.
9. Submit it after your meeting? No resume you have prepared in advance could possibly be as good as one you would produce after you have met the decision maker. Prior to that, you really don't know exactly what their needs are, no matter how much advance research you have done.
10. Don't get too dependent on your resume. The biggest problem with resumes is that they tend to foster passivity. Job seekers think their resumes are work-horses-out there plowing the fields while they sit and wait for the phone to ring. That's more of a burden than we should place on any one piece of paper, or even two.
