Part 4 - A FEW GUIDELINES FOR A BETTER PRESENTATION
The
resume is visually enticing, a work of art. Simple
clean structure. Very easy to read. Symmetrical. Balanced. Uncrowded. As much
white space between sections of writing as possible; sections of writing that
are no longer than six lines, and shorter if possible.
There is
uniformity and consistency in the use of italics, capital letters, bullets,
boldface, and underlining. Absolute parallelism in
design decisions. For example, if a period is at the end of one job's dates, a
period should be at the end of all jobs' dates; if one degree is in boldface,
all degrees should be in boldface.
As
mentioned above, the resume's first impression is most important. It should be
exceptionally visually appealing, to be inviting to the reader. Remember to
think of the resume as an advertisement.
There
are absolutely no errors. No typographical errors.
No spelling errors. No grammar, syntax, or punctuation errors. No errors of
fact.
All the
basic, expected information is included. A resume must have
the following key information: your name, address, phone number, and your email
address at the top of the first page, a listing of jobs held, in reverse
chronological order, educational degrees including the highest degree received,
in reverse chronological order. Additional, targeted information will of course
accompany this. Much of the information people commonly put on a resume can be
omitted, but these basics are mandatory.
Jobs
listed include a title, the name of the firm, the city and state of the firm,
and the years. Jobs earlier in a career can be summarized, or omitted if
prior to the highest degree, and extra part-time jobs can be omitted. If no
educational degrees have been completed, it is still expected to include some
mention of education (professional study or training, partial study toward a
degree, etc.) acquired after high school.
It is
targeted. A resume should be targeted to your goal, to the ideal
next step in your career. First you should get clear what your job goal is,
what the ideal position or positions would be. Then you should figure out what
key skills, areas of expertise or body of experience the employer will be
looking for in the candidate. Gear the resume structure and content around this
target, proving these key qualifications. If you have no clear goal, take the
skills (or knowledge) you most enjoy or would like to use or develop in your
next career step and build the resume around those.
Strengths
are highlighted / weaknesses de-emphasized. Focus
on whatever is strongest and most impressive. Make careful and strategic choices
as to how to organize, order, and convey your skills and background. Consider:
whether to include the information at all, placement in overall structure of
the resume, location on the page itself or within a section, ordering of
information, more impressive ways of phrasing the information, use of design
elements (such as boldface to highlight, italics to minimize, ample surrounding
space to draw the eye to certain things).
It has
focus. A resume needs an initial focus to help the reader
understand immediately. Don't make the reader go through the whole resume to
figure out what your profession is and what you can do. Think of the resume as
an essay with a title and a summative opening sentence. An initial focus may be
as simple as the name of your profession ("Commercial Real Estate
Agent," "Resume Writer") centered under the name and address; it
may be in the form of an Objective; it may be in the form of a Summary
Statement or, better, a Summary Statement beginning with a phrase identifying
your profession.
Use
power words. For every skill, accomplishment, or job described, use the
most active impressive verb you can think of (which is also accurate). Begin
the sentence with this verb, except when you must vary the sentence structure
to avoid repetitious writing.
Show you
are results-oriented. Wherever possible, prove that you
have the desired qualifications through clear strong statement of
accomplishments, rather than a statement of potentials, talents, or
responsibilities. Indicate results of work done, and quantify these
accomplishment whenever appropriate. For example: "Initiated and directed
complete automation of the Personnel Department, resulting in time-cost savings
of over 25%." Additionally, preface skill and experience statements with
the adjectives "proven" and "demonstrated" to create this
results-orientation.
Writing
is concise and to the point. Keep sentences as short
and direct as possible. Eliminate any extraneous information and any
repetitions. Don't use three examples when one will suffice. Say what you want
to say in the most direct way possible, rather than trying to impress with
bigger words or more complex sentences. For example: "coordinated eight
city-wide fund-raising events, raising 250% more than expected goal"
rather than "was involved in the coordination of six fund- raising dinners
and two fund-raising walkathons which attracted participants throughout St.
Louis and were so extremely successful that they raised $5,000 (well beyond the
$2,000 goal)."
Vary
long sentences (if these are really necessary) with short punchy sentences. Use
phrases rather than full sentences when phrases are possible, and start
sentences with verbs, eliminating pronouns ("I", "he" or
"she"). Vary words: Don't repeat a "power" verb or
adjective in the same paragraph. Use commas to clarify meaning and make reading
easier. Remain consistent in writing decisions such as use of abbreviations and
capitalizations.
Make it
look great. Use a laser printer or an ink jet printer that produces
high- quality results. A laser is best because the ink won't run if it gets
wet. It should look typeset. Do not compromise. If you do, your resume will
look pathetic next to ones that have a perfect appearance. Use a standard
conservative typeface (font) in 11 or 12 point. Don't make them squint to read
it. Use off-white, ivory or bright white 8 1/2 x 11-inch paper, in the highest
quality affordable. If you are applying for a senior-level position, use
Crane's 100% rag paper and make sure the water-mark is facing the right way.
Use absolutely clean paper without smudges, without staples and with a generous
border. Don't have your resume look like you squeezed too much on the page.
Shorter
is usually better. Everyone freely gives advice on
resume length. Most of these self-declared experts say a resume should always
be one page. That makes no more sense than it does to say an ad or a poem
should automatically be one page. Your resume can be 500 pages long if you can
keep the reader's undivided attention and interest that long, and at the same
time create a psychological excitement that leads prospective employers to pick
up the phone and call you when they finish your weighty tome. Don't blindly
follow rules! Do what works. Sometimes it is appropriate to have a three pager.
But unless your life has been filled with a wide assortment of extraordinary
achievements, make it shorter. One page is best if you can cram it all into one
page. Most Fortune 500 C.E.O.s have a one- or two-page resume. It could be said
that, the larger your accomplishments, the easier to communicate them in few
words. Look to others in your profession to see if there is an established
agreement about resume length in your field. The only useful rule is to not
write one more word than you need to get them to pick up the phone and call
you. Don't bore them with the details. Leave them wanting more. Remember, this
is an ad to market you, not your life history.
Length
of consulting resumes. In a consulting resume, you are
expected to shovel it as deep as you possibly can. If you are selling your own
consulting services, make it sizzle, just like any other resume, but include a
little more detail, such as a list of well-known clients, powerful quotes from
former clients about how fantastic you are, etc. If you are seeking a job with
a consulting firm that will be packaging you along with others as part of a
proposal, get out your biggest shovel and go to town. Include everything except
the name of your goldfish: A full list of publications, skills, assignments,
other experience, and every bit of educational crapola that you can manage to
make sound related to your work. The philosophy here is: more is better.
Watch
your verb tense. Use either the first person ("I") or the third
person (''he," "she") point of view,but use whichever you choose
consistently. Verb tenses are based on accurate reporting: If the
accomplishment is completed, it should be past tense. If the task is still
underway, it should be present tense. If the skill has been used in the past
and will continue to be used, use present tense ("conduct presentations on
member recruitment to professional and trade associations"). A way of
"smoothing out" transitions is to use the past continuous ("have
conducted more than 20 presentations...").
Break it
up. A good rule is to have no more than six lines of writing
in any one writing "block" or paragraph (summary, skill section,
accomplishment statement, job description, etc.). If any more than this is
necessary, start a new section or a new paragraph.
Experience
before education...usually. Experience sections
should come first, before education, in most every case. This is because you
have more qualifications developed from your experience than from your
education. The exceptions would be 1) if you have just received or are
completing a degree in a new professional field, if this new degree study
proves stronger qualifications than does your work experience, 2) if you are a
lawyer, with the peculiar professional tradition of listing your law degrees
first, 3) if you are an undergraduate student, or 4) if you have just completed
a particularly impressive degree from a particularly impressive school, even if
you are staying in the same field, for example, an MBA from Harvard.
Telephone
number that will be answered. Be sure the phone number
on the resume will, without exception, be answered by a person or an answering
machine Monday through Friday 8-5pm. You do not want to lose the prize
interview merely because there was no answer to your phone, and the caller gave
up. Include the area code of the telephone number. If you don't have an
answering machine, get one. Include e-mail and fax numbers, if you have them.
A FEW MORE TIPS
Try not
to include anything on the resume that could turn the employer off, anything
that is controversial (political, etc.) or could be taken in a negative light.
Put the
most important information on the first line of a writing "block" or
paragraph. The first line is read the most.
Use
bold caps for your name on page one. Put your name at the top of page two on a
two-page resume. Put section headings, skill headings, titles or companies (if
impressive), degrees, and school name (if impressive), in boldface.
Spell
out numbers under and including ten; use the numerical form for numbers over
and including 11 (as a general rule), unless they are the first words in a
sentence. Spell out abbreviations unless they are unquestionably obvious.
If you
are not sure what sort of job you are looking for, you will most likely wind up
in something that turns out to be just a "job." In a "job"
you exchange your life for money. It is possible to choose a career that will
fit you so well that you do it because you like to go to work.
WHAT NOT TO PUT ON A RESUME
·
The word "Resume" at the top of the resume
·
Fluffy rambling "objective" statements
·
Salary information
·
Full addresses of former employers
·
Reasons for leaving jobs
·
A "Personal" section, or personal statistics (except
in special cases)
·
Names of supervisors
·
References
ACCURACY/ HONESTY/STRETCHING
THE TRUTH
Make
sure that you can back up what you say. Keep the claims you make within the
range of your own integrity. There is nothing wrong with pumping things up in
your resume so you communicate who you are and what you can do at your very
best. Did you ever see an ad that didn't pump up the features they hope will
convince you to buy? In fact, you are being foolish if you seek to convey a
careful, balanced portrayal of yourself. You want to knock their socks off!
QUESTIONS A PRO WOULD ASK YOU
What
key qualifications will the employer be looking for?
What
qualifications will be most important to them that you possess?
Which
of these are your greatest strengths?
What
are the highlights of your career to date that should be emphasized?
What
should be de-emphasized?
What
things about you and your background make you stand out?
What
are your strongest areas of skill and expertise? Knowledge? Experience?
What
are some other skills you possess--perhaps more auxiliary skills?
What
are characteristics you possess that make you a strong candidate? (Things like
"innovative, hard-working, strong interpersonal skills, ability to handle
multiple projects simultaneously under tight deadlines")
What
are the three or four things you feel have been your greatest accomplishments?
What
was produced as a result of your greatest accomplishments?
Can you
quantify the results you produced in numerical or other specific terms?
What
were the two or three accomplishments of that particular job?
What
were the key skills you used in that job?
What
did you do in each of those skill areas?
What
sorts of results are particularly impressive to people in your field?
What
results have you produced in these areas?
What
are the "buzz words" that people in your field expect you to use in
lieu of a secret club handshake, which should be included in your resume?
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