An outstanding resume is extremely important in making a job change. To someone who does not know you- you can only be judged by the quality of your resume.
We should view our resumes as our own sales representatives. These representatives had better look sharp and convey our message well!
Following are some suggestions for putting together an excellent resume:
Do Not Be Cheap--Use Good Paper: Cheap paper makes a very poor first impression. Why mess around? For the amount of paper you will need, you can afford excellent quality. I recommend 24 lb. heavyweight cotton (25%) fiber content. Also, make sure the envelopes match the paper. If not exactly the same, the envelope must still coordinate with the paper-as a sport coat with pants.
Have the Resume Professionally Printed: Do not use your kid's portable typewriter. There is a world of difference between a resume typed on a portable typewriter and reproduced on your typical office copier, and one typed perfectly on an electric executive type typewriter then brought to a printer to be reproduced professionally.
The difference might be compared to a tailor-made suit versus one purchased very cheaply in a discount store. Both suits will cover your back, but one should look a whole lot better.
If neither you nor anyone you know is an excellent typist, then get your resume typed professionally. Your resume should look perfect!
Do Not Be Cute--No Crazy Colored Paper or Family Pictures: In most cases I am against using pictures in a resume, especially family pictures (who cares what your dog looks like in front of the fireplace with you, your wife, and your five kids?).
Make the employer or make his executive search firm invite you in for an interview if they want to see what you look like. If you are ugly ... give your charming personality a chance to work. If you think you are the handsome "macho" looking type . . . remember, the guy evaluating your resume may be ugly and resent your attributes, at least until he sits down to meet you, and finds out what a regular guy you are.
Go to the trouble to obtain the right quality paper use white or something very close. This business about paper attracting attention when compared with a stack of other resumes may work for a creative writing position, but for most others it may be offensive, and why take the chance?
Resume Chronology--First Be Personal: Let the reader know who is being evaluated. At the top of every resume should be your personal data. Include such information as: Your address and telephone number (do not forget the area code).
On the subject of age: I feel that this information should be included in your resume whether you are nineteen or ninety-nine. Even though an employer cannot discriminate because of age (they would be in direct violation of both Federal and State age discrimination laws), by omitting your age you are simply telling the employer you are old, and do not want to reveal it. Furthermore, an employer can simply add the years of experience to when you graduated from school and figure your age.
Always write "Date of Birth" rather than your actual present age. It avoids updating. You are liable to celebrate another birthday, and you do not want the reader to know how long you have really been looking, do you?
The Marital Status Should Be Exactly That: If you are divorced, then specify "Divorced", and not "Single."
When a candidate is checked out and has specified "single," and an employer finds he or she was previously married, that becomes a "red flag." It makes little difference that the prospective employee may have innocently interpreted it as a matter of semantics.
Height and Weight Are Optional: If you are of proportional height and weight, then list the information. If you are five feet five inches tall, and weigh 250 lbs, then I would omit height and weight from the resume. Height and weight help the reader draw a mental picture of you. If it is not going to be favorable then make him interview you, and give yourself the opportunity to charm him.
Do Not Include Your Religion on Your Resume: In this day and age, with stringent Federal laws, there is very little discrimination against any particular religion. I see no point in calling attention to the fact that you are of a specific religion.
Indicating Male or Female is Unnecessary: Unless you happen to have a first name that could belong to either a male or female.
Do Not List Any Racial or Ethnic Description: Again, let the employer interview you face-to-face. If you insist on telling the reader that you are a "minority," you may never get the interview. On the other hand, you may be the minority member who is qualified for the position and whom the employer wants to hire once he has met you.
Don't advertise You Are Disabled: If you have a physical handicap that does not interfere with your ability to do your job, then do not list it. Do not go out of your way to create a negative picture.
There is nothing wrong with highlighting the positives on a resume-but never lie! Not only is it immoral and dishonest to lie on a resume, but just plain stupid. When writing a resume, go on the assumption that the information will be verified and checked out. Chances are it really will be, and any misstatement will soon catch up with you.
Some years ago my firm recruited a district sales manager for a building products company. I will refer to him as Lee. The company had a policy of doing their own reference checking, so we cannot take credit for what I am about to describe.
Lee was working as district sales manager for a competitor at the time we recruited him. He was thirty years old and had worked for his firm for four years. Previously, Lee had been with a smaller company in the same industry which went bankrupt. He had worked for them for two years.
Lee had indicated that he had an M.B.A. and a B.S.M.E. from two top Eastern universities. Lee also indicated that he was an All-Ivy League tennis player while in school.
Every year my client has a National Sales Meeting at a different resort. Three months after Lee joined my client, while attending the sales meeting, the vice president of sales invited him to play tennis. Now, the vice president indicated that some years earlier he had been cut from the tennis squad of the same university where Lee had been a star player.
The vice president completely dominated Lee in their tennis match. Lee was so outclassed that the vice president asked him again what year he was All-Ivy League.
When they all returned, the vice president just could not convince himself that he had so completely outplayed an All-Ivy tennis player who was twenty years younger than he.
He personally called the university to verify Lee's record. Not only had Lee lied about being All-Ivy, he was not even on a tennis team! He never graduated from that school! Lee never even took a single course there!
The university where Lee was supposed to have received his M.B.A. also indicated that they had never heard of him. The vice president called Lee into his office and confronted him.
Lee at first tried to bluff his way out, but finally broke down and admitted that he never went to college at all. In fact, he never finished his last year of high school. All the time Lee was supposed to be in school, he was actually acting for his father, who was a builder. Lee was obviously very bright, and well-read about the construction business.
Lee knew about the company that went bankrupt, so he took advantage of the information, and Presto! Lee instantly became a District Sales Manager of that company before it had folded. Lee figured that no one would bother checking with a bankrupt company. Lee was right. The company he was working for at the time we recruited him had never reference-checked him. In fact my client's personnel department, which insists upon doing all their own reference checking, had not yet checked Lee out.
The irony of the situation was that the vice president called Lee's former employer, and their vice president of sales reported that Lee had done a terrific job during his four years of employment. Only, he thought Lee was an All-Ivy hockey player. . . .
During the three months Lee had been with my client, the vice president admitted he had done an excellent job. But much as the vice president hated to do it, he felt that he could not tolerate having one of his managers less than completely honest. He could not completely trust Lee, and would always hold that against him. Lee was fired.
Job Objectives-Careful, They Can Hurt You: A few years back, I remember a young salesman, two years out of school, attempting to change companies with absolutely no results. I will refer to him as Pete.
Pete had sent out literally hundreds of resumes without a "nibble." As a favor to his father, who is a friend of mine, I went over Pete's resume.
There was only one thing wrong-but what a "whale" of a mistake. His stated job objective was "sales management." With only two years experience, and the first nine months of that spent inside the plant learning the business, this young man felt he was ready for management. Questioned about his job objective, Pete explained that ultimately sales management was his goal. He explained, also, that any reader of his resume would surely realize that no one is ready to become a sales manager in the steel industry after just fifteen months of field-sales experience.
Pete immediately understood my line of questioning, and realized the mistake he had made. His Job Objective on his resume should have stated his intended immediate goal. The Objective should have been Salesman-and not Sales Manager. Do not fall into the trap of assuming the reader of your resume will know what you really mean. Be explicit.
Pete was also very interested in considering other industries for career possibilities. But who would know this, unless it was spelled-out in the Job Objective? His Job Objective made no reference to the fact that Pete would consider other industries.
Resume should be one of the following:
A. Extremely General. Here, you would want to cover just about anything and everything. An example: Pete might have had as a Job Objective, "Professional sales position within either the steel industry, or an industry which could utilize my two years sales experience in the steel industry."
B. Very Specific. This approach can only be done effectively on a customized basis. Each resume must have a specific Job Objective aimed at whatever particular position you are seeking.
An example in the area of advertising and brand management: If you would consider several related areas, then print some resumes aimed at brand management, brand advertising, or sales promotion. You might also print some aimed at the advertising agency side of the business.
Resumes aimed at specific positions are frequently and successfully used. The only negative is the added printing cost, and that is really insignificant when you consider just how much is at stake.
C. No Job Objective. If an individual is genuinely "wide open" about what he or she might do, then instead of having a Job Objective which is so broad as to not really be a Job Objective, simply skip it. Whatever position you apply for will then become your Job Objective.
Education: Education should either be up-front after Personal Data at the very end of the resume. The key question--whether or not you have a good education.
If you are a high school dropout, or an honors graduate from Harvard, the answer becomes rather obvious. If you are somewhere in between, then you should ask yourself, "Are my educational credentials an asset or a liability to my resume?" You must be your own judge.
The reader of a resume with poor academic credentials prominently listed may toss it aside before he finds out that your twenty years experience is exactly what the company is looking for!
List your highest level of academic attainment first. If it is a graduate degree, then that should be at the top. If your only degree is a Bachelor of Science, then begin with that.
Grade point averages should be listed only when they are worth highlighting. If you received all Cs-then omit grades from the resume. If you happen to be a Phi Beta Kappa, then by all means let the reader know. Never lie--"If you've got it flaunt it"--if not, keep quiet.
Do not list a high school diploma, unless that is all you have. An exception might be made if you graduated with such outstanding honors that you really should include them.
I generally do not recommend listing partially completed graduate degrees. Half a Masters Degree and fifty cents maybe gets you on the bus. A partially completed graduate degree can also label you a "quitter." However, if you did not complete a Bachelor's Degree, but have a couple of years of credits under your belt--indicate as much. A year or two of college sounds so much better than "just a high school graduate."
Military: If you were an officer in the military, especially if your total other work experience is limited, definitely list it right up-front, under education-assuming your education is strong enough to be up-front. On the other hand, if your education is weak, but you possess an outstanding Military record, then you have to use good judgment in constructing the resume. You might list Military experience right under Personal Data and Education at the end. Generally, where one has a number of years of job experience, the Military experience could almost be eliminated from the resume. It depends on how much room you have, and how significant your years in the military were.
Experience-The "Meat and Potatoes": This is the part of the resume that can "make or break" you.
To begin with, always list your experience. The reader doesn't care if you worked your way through college twenty years ago mowing lawns ... if he has to read through much superfluous information before he gets to reasons for hiring today, he is liable to get bored and toss your resume aside.
The one exception to listing your last position first would be when the experience of most importance to the reader is not in your most recent position.
If you are applying for, or being considered for, a position as plant manager of a food plant, and you spent the last two years traveling around the country trying to break into show business as a singer, but the prior ten years were spent running food plants--then it becomes obvious which experience you want the reader to see first.
Experience should, generally, be positioned on the front page of the resume, just below Education and/or Military. An exception might be made when the individual has very little experience, but outstanding education, Honors, and Miscellaneous.
In listing your present position, always include the date you began until present. By using the word "present" instead of today's date you avoid creating a rapidly outdated resume; "to present" might have been written a year ago, but if nothing significant has changed, the resume is still perfectly acceptable. If you had used the current date a year ago, your resume is outdated.
Be very precise in writing the names of all your employers. You may know them by their initials, but the reader may not. This is especially true if you are being considered for a position outside your industry. Also, indicate the exact division you work for. If you worked for General Motors, it could make a difference if you were a design engineer for the Diesel Engine Division, as opposed to the Pontiac Car Division.
Your job title should also be exact. No abbreviations. If the Job Title is something that the reader may not readily understand, then include an explanation of just what it means. This is usually necessary when you want to transfer your skills from a technical position to something outside your industry.
The description of exactly what you do on your job should be brief, but paint a picture of just what your employer pays you to do every day. Do not be afraid to list any significant accomplishments in your present and past positions. Keep in mind that you want to create the impression of an employee who is making positive contributions to his job-and demonstrating individual career development along the way.
A word of caution: "Do not blow smoke." If you were part of a team which made a significant contribution, then indicate so. Do not fail to mention "it was a team effort," then try to give the reader the impression that without you ... the company would fold. Sincere honesty has a way of showing through.
Illustrate, in describing your duties, just where you fit into the table of organization at your present and past employers. Indicate to whom, and in what capacity, you report; and who reports to you.
You may or may not want to include a reason for leaving. If you were recruited by an executive search firm--why advertise that you were looking anyway and could be gotten cheaply? If the reason you would consider another position is at least neutral, and preferably positive, then by all means include a reason for leaving.
A neutral reason would be where a company was going out of business. It is not your fault-at least I hope not--but it is not a feather in your cap either.
If the reason for changing is better opportunity, new challenge, or desire for next level of responsibility, then I see nothing wrong with indicating so.
Never use negative reasons for changing. If the reason is negative you are doing a lousy job and want to leave before you get fired--then just omit any reason for leaving.
Never downgrade your present employer or sing "The Old Sour Grapes Song." This will really turn-off the resume reader.
Again, we come down to the positive impression we want to make on whoever is evaluating the resume.
Other Awards and Honors-Miscellaneous: These are catch-all categories to be used when they apply. Generally, they are at the end of the resume. An exception would be made for an individual who is long on awards and honors, but short on experience. If you have received an outstanding award--scholastic, public service, athletic, social, etc.-- by all means mention it.
Association, organization, or society memberships should only be included if they truly are something special to belong to. Examples would be professional associations whose memberships are comprised of doctors, engineers, lawyers, etc. The association, organization, or society should exemplify something very positive, and focus on the high achievement of the individual who belongs. Do not list any group which could possibly antagonize a reader.
Under Miscellaneous, be practical in listing hobbies and other interests. Also, be brief. The reader might not be interested in all the ribbons and trophies you have won showing your champion cocker spaniel.
Money: Pleasant Subject, but avoid it on the resume. I rarely recommend stating your present salary on a resume. If the reader wants to know--let him ask.
Your present salary may be lower than the reader supposes. Why help your future employer reduce your starting salary? There may be a bonus or a significant profit sharing payment in addition to your salary. There may also be a host of fringe benefits that your "present employer provides.
Your present salary may be higher than the reader wants to pay. Why knock yourself out of the box without giving yourself the opportunity to convince him that it would be in his company's best interest to pay more for the job. Maybe the employer is not aware of what the competition is currently paying for the same job. I feel that the personal interview is the time to discuss salary, or at least on the telephone where you can discuss the subject back and forth.
Do not indicate desired salary on your resume because there is no way to include every factor to be considered in setting this desired salary without going into a long dissertation.
Some positions you would accept for a lot less money than others. Some positions offer greater opportunities than others. Some have bonuses while others do not. Some companies have terrific fringe benefit programs, while others have practically none. Some companies would require a relocation to an undesirable area, while others are located close to home or in a very attractive area. Some positions require extensive traveling. Some companies are located where it would require long and expensive commuting every day. Some companies offer terrific opportunities for salary and career growth while others may only offer an attractive starting salary. Some companies working environments are much more pleasant than others.
Salary desired, like present salary, should be discussed in a personal interview.
References: References should not be given on top of the resume. Again, let the reader come to you and ask. Why have valuable references bothered unnecessarily by someone who may have no real interest in hiring you.
Unfortunately, references are contacted for reasons other than they should be. An example would be for a possible employer to check a reference just to "pick the brain" of the reference about his own company. Your reference check could be a perfect excuse to call a competitor and see how they are doing.
If you must answer a blind ad, absolutely do not use any references. You would be leaving yourself wide open for problems, and never know who the culprit was!
Selection of references should be given a great deal of consideration before the final choices are made. Everyone expects a good reference, so you had better make sure that yours come through for you.
References could very easily make or break you. Check beforehand with each reference you cite to obtain their permission.
If there is a reference or two that you must use, such as a former supervisor, but have doubts about, then have a trusted friend conduct a "test run" before you actually give his name as a reference. Your friend could pose as an executive recruiter who is screening a candidate for his client. It is better to have your reference "bum rap" you to a friend than to a real employer.
What you might do afterwards is call that former supervisor and indicate that you were turned down for an outstanding position right after he was called to give you a reference. Tell him that you are now a finalist for another position and hope you can count on him to give you a good reference. Usually, a former employer confronted with the fact that you are aware that he cost you one job opportunity, will go easier on you the next time around. People usually only "bum rap" others when they think they can get away with it. Once they are confronted they usually mellow and come through with a decent reference.
If, when confronted, the former supervisor shows no remorse or blatantly denies that he ever gave you a bad reference, then you had better avoid using him for a reference-period! Use someone else.
Giving glowing references for an individual can quickly grow tiresome. It is time-consuming and could be a nuisance, especially if there are frequent interruptions during important meetings.
Try to have a valuable reference receive the least possible number of calls to still accomplish what you want--that is, getting hired by a new employer.
