The value of writing a resume, however, goes far beyond producing a tool for generating interviews. Through the process of composing this document, you'll gain a clear picture of how you want to present yourself with potential employers, especially what to emphasize and play down from your background. As a result, you'll make a more persuasive presentation and be better equipped to convert interviews into offers.
Writing a resume also presents two challenges. The first is to make the document as brief as possible, but not at the expense of omitting vital information. The shorter the length (one page is preferred; however, two are acceptable), the greater the likelihood that your resume will be read. Interviewers balk at having to sift through reams of data in order to learn what an applicant has to offer. Lengthy resumes are often automatically filed away and the applicants are eliminated from consideration.
The second challenge is to describe your background so that your resume paints the most inviting picture possible of your qualifications. Although you can't change the facts about your background, you can present them in such a way that your resume highlights the most important points about your experience and plays down-or even omits-any negative factors. Clearly, most job-seekers have circumstances in their backgrounds that they wish were not brought out by their resume.
In the following paragraphs, you'll learn how to meet both of these challenges and create a resume that will achieve the results you want.
Preparing Your Resume
Your resume has one purpose-to convey your qualifications for the position you're seeking-and it achieves this in a specific way, by highlighting those strengths, accomplishments, and responsibilities that will demonstrate your ability to perform this job. Here's how to proceed:
Begin by stating your job objective
Your job objective is one of the most important parts of your resume. It plays two key roles:
First of all, it determines the content of your resume-the specific information that will be included, emphasized, played down, and even omitted. Your job objective is like a rudder-it steers you through the process of deciding what to say about your back ground so that you'll convincingly set forth your qualifications for the position you want.
Second, the presence of your job objective increases the likelihood of generating interviews. Employers are accustomed to seeing this statement on a resume, and when it doesn't appear many believe that the job-hunter lacks career direction. This hurts their chances of being selected for an interview.
In addition, resumes often receive no more than a 15- to 30-second scan, especially when someone is performing an initial screening function and has to comb through dozens or even hundreds of these documents. By stating your job objective, you make it easy for the screener to forward your resume to the proper manager. This is particularly the case at large companies where there are many managers to choose from.
Due to the importance of your job objective, exercise great care when wording it. On one hand, you want it to be specific so that people will know exactly what it is that you want to do. On the other hand, you don't want your job objective to be so narrow that you can be eliminated from closely related positions. If you have several job targets in mind-and they are diverse in their tasks and responsibilities-it's best to write a separate resume for each one.
Use "Job Objective" for the title of this section.
Presenting your educational background
When your education relates to your job objective, this information should appear next. When your education is unrelated, it should be presented toward the end of your resume after you've described your work background. This will allow prospective employers to get right to your work experience, which will set forth your key strengths, accomplishments, and responsibilities.
If you have a college degree, or hold a two-year degree from a community college, cite the degree, your major, the college you attended, and the year in which you were graduated. Also include any honors, awards, or scholarships you received as well as your G.PA. (grade point average) or class standing, if they were favor able. Always omit high school education.
In the event that you hold an advanced degree (or are currently studying for one), include this information by citing the degree, the name of the college, and the graduation date (or expected graduation date). This information should appear before your undergraduate degree.
If you lack a degree but have some college or community college experience, list the school you attended (or are attending), courses you've taken that pertain to your job objective, and dates of matriculation.
If you have no college experience at all, state the high school you attended, its location by city and state, and year of graduation.
In addition, list any other educational experiences that pertain to your job objective. These can include courses taken at a vocational school as well as correspondence courses, evening classes, company-sponsored training, seminars, workshops, and conferences.
This section is almost always titled "Education."
Describing your work experience
Your work experience can be presented in two different ways: the chronological format or the functional-chronological format.
