In today's competitive job market, it is frequently necessary to tailor your resume to each type of job opportunity that comes along. You may find yourself saying, "Come on I don't have all year for this. There must be some way to create a single resume that will fit a variety of situations!"
It's true. There are certain kinds of opportunities where most employers will look for broadly similar qualifications. In some cases, one resume might do the trick. The idea of a new resume for each job still has a great deal of validity, though.
Just as you write your cover letters keeping the needs of the potential employer in mind, you must often do the same when drafting your resume. If you come across an opportunity that requires a substantially different set of skills than the one for which your first resume was written, you will need a substantially different resume. It's a lot of work, but it will pay off. Don't despair the changes you'll make from resume to resume will probably be minor ones. (By the way, if you have or have access to a word processor, you'll save quite a lot of time.)
The First Draft
Have you ever cooked a really substantial stew? You start out gathering and preparing a great many ingredients: carrots, beef, turnips, onions, a bay leaf or two, potatoes, tomatoes, some soup stock, spices of your own... you think to yourself that, once it really gets boiling, you'll want to add a pinch of this... a touch of that...
Then you toss all the painstakingly sliced, diced, and chopped pieces into the pot... and guess what? They don't fit.
All the work it took to prepare those ingredients, and now you're going to have to take some out!
With a resume, what you decide to take out is every bit as important as what you initially want to put in. And if you're just getting started, it's probably tough to know what's important and what isn't in the first place!
With a stew, how would you solve the problem?(Assume that you can't simply go out and buy another pot; to here's a nationwide stewpot shortage on.) One way to solve it might be to think of the person you'll be serving at dinner that evening. Does he or she like turnips? No? Get rid of them. How about the celery or the onions?
The first draft is a real luxury because you're the only one who has to "taste the stew" at that point. So toss everything in and then start subtracting!
You will have to work hard to choose the right experiences in your background and fit them on a one page resume (virtually all professional resumes are one page long.) Build your resume in accordance to what an employer would be looking for while hiring, and you'll find that you've gained some objectivity yourself!
Where to Begin
Choosing experiences from your varied background as you write your first draft can be a nightmare. Immediately, all sorts of questions come to mind: How far back should I go? Should I include anything I did in high school? How much of my college experience should I list? Is it worth putting down jobs I did "just to make money"? How about my outside activities?
All these questions are valid and need answers. But do yourself a big favor. Don't answer them at this stage. Start by making a list of everything!
Try to think of all the significant events or activities in your life. Don't limit yourself: list jobs, school activities, sports, awards, honors, travel, musical talent, hobbies, foreign language fluency, office skills (such as typing, shorthand, or word processing), and charitable activities in short, any and every skill, interest, or worthy achievement that might be of interest to an employer. Make a point of filling up several pages. (Some employer somewhere will be thrilled to learn that you play the tuba and speak Farsi. Put it all down.)
There are a number of objectives behind this process. One is to build your confidence. Most people forget about all the things they have accomplished in life and concentrate on their mistakes or misfortunes. Another is to help clarify in your own mind exactly what it is that you like to do and are good at doing.
Finally, you must establish a list of your accomplishments for your own reference; you'll be mentioning these heroic deeds prominently throughout your job search process!
Some of the items on your list may not be appropriate for inclusion on your resume; however, the simple act of classifying these items can create patterns that will, in turn, remind you of certain career strengths you may have overlooked. If you won a Good Citizenship Award in high school, and later volunteered to head the local Meals on Wheels program after graduating from college, both of these activities would be important indicators of your leadership qualities and vision of community service, and should be included in your "long list." However, when undertaking a later draft of your resume, you might include only the volunteer work on the grounds that it best exemplified the accumulated skills on your list.
Once you have listed everything, you will be ready to take on the task of selecting those items you feel will present the best picture to your potential employer.
The Basics And Beyond
There are certain basic elements that should appear in every resume. For example, there should be standard sections that outline your education and work experience.
In the education section, be sure to list the highest degree or certificate that you have attained. If you have been out of college for a few years, all you really need to list is your college experience. However, if you're still in college, it may be appropriate to list your high school. Don't forget to list any summer courses you may have taken, or any post graduate training you may have. Give some thought to all the educational experiences you've had, and list those that seem to you to be most significant. As with all the items on your resume, list the most recent ones first and work backwards. Once again; how do you know if an item is worth including?
Think of what your potential employer would most like to read.
