Bob Harris, features editor
YOUR RESUME will meet a potential employer long before you will. It's job is to persuade the employer that you are interesting and have something to offer. It has to stand out and argue your case more convincingly than every other resume in the pile. It has to say "I'm what you're looking for, buy me!"
Although the facts you put on your resume will always remain the same, the way you present them should be carefully honed and targeted to match the job you're applying for. To do that your resume has to be a piece of advertising copy that sells your skills rather than an autobiography that tells your life story. It has to look elegant and speak the employer's language.
Here's how to make your resume sell you:
Where to begin
1. Decide what you're offering
Begin by making a list of all the activities you have been involved in. Put down all of them, you can decide later which are relevant. Next, list the tasks you performed at each of these activities and the skills you developed from those tasks. Finally, try to describe how those skills could be of benefit to an employer.
This is what you have to offer, and these are the messages your resume will have to put across. How you present them, which skills you emphasize and which you leave out, will depend on the needs of the position you're applying for.
2. Find out what's being offered
In order to target your resume to a particular position, you'll need to know as much about the job as possible. If you are looking for a job in the same field, then you'll probably already have a good idea about the kind of skills the employer is looking for. On the other hand, if you're trying to change track, or you're just starting out, then you'll have to do some research. Read the wanted ad carefully to glean as much information as possible. Talk to people or companies working in the same field. Try to put yourself in the position of the person doing the hiring.
Your job now is to match the skills you have to the job they're offering in a way that makes it clear you fit.
Writing a resume that sells
Most resumes are scanned not read. You'll have about 20 seconds to grab an employer's attention and put across your argument. Divide your resume into two sections. Think of the first section as "The Promotion." This is the first thing the employer will read and should explain what you're offering. It should catch his eye and entice him to keep reading. The second section should contain "The Facts." This is where you put all the basic information, the evidence that backs up the claims made in the first section.
The Promotion
1. The Objective
If you're planning a career change, or looking for your first job, then your resume will begin by stating your Objective. This should be a concise phrase describing clearly what you're looking for - which of course, will be the job on offer. From an employer's point of view, your objective shows that you understand the requirements of the job and that you have the desire and motivation to do it successfully. The best way to do this is to concentrate on what the employer wants, rather than what you want. A simple but effective format would be "An X position in a company which requires Y and Z", where X is the job you are applying for and Y and Z are the skills you have and they need!
For example:
"A fund-raising position in a development organization which requires a record of collecting unprecedented amounts of revenue and broadening the donor base."
This tells the employer that you not only want the job, but understand what the job requires and have the skills it demands. It also shows that your first concern is to make a contribution to the company, rather than improve your own abilities or gain further experience.
Above all, your Objective should be focused. An Objective that says "An opportunity to utilize my skills in a new and exciting environment," says nothing about you or about the job you're applying for. On the other hand, if your experience is limited, or if you're unsure about precisely what the job demands, then your Objective can still be general and effective.
For example:
"A programming position with a start-up company in Silicon Valley."
If you are already working in your desired field, then you'll want to concentrate on where you've been rather than where you want to go, and you can leave out an Objective in favor of a strong Summary.
2. The Summary
The Summary is a little golden nugget of you. It is probably the most important part of the resume and should explain briefly and clearly why you are the best candidate for the job.
Begin by going back to the list of skills you made earlier, and ask yourself which of these are relevant to the job you're applying for. Try to fit these skills into a few lines describing your profession, your particular expertise, any special awards you've won or achievements that you've accomplished, any relevant personal characteristics that could help you do the job successfully and perhaps also your objectives or interests. The key point here is to be relevant. Gear the skills you have to the demands of the job.
For example:
Over 15 years as a museum curator, specializing in Pre-Columbian Art. Proven experience in exhibition planning, loans, acquisitions, collection management and research. Several articles published in leading academic journals. High-level professional contacts at numerous international museums. Accustomed to producing exciting and educational exhibitions of the highest possible standard.
Note that one way to plan your summary is to break it into three parts, with the first part describing your profession, the second, your skills and knowledge, and the third, a short sentence summarizing personal characteristics that might be useful to the job you're applying for.
The Facts
If your "promotion" has done its job, your potential employer will still be reading and on the way to becoming a future employer. But now you have to back up the claims you made in the first part of the resume by listing exactly where you gained your Experience, Education, Awards, etc.
Note that there are at least two ways of presenting this information. The first and most frequently used is a chronological format in which your details are laid out in reverse order, the most recent, first.
For example:
Foreman, Bertie's Bolts Ltd. 1997-current
Responsible for a team of twelve machine operators with 100% record of meeting production targets.
Machinist, Wally's Widgit Factory 1996-1997
Operated specialized heavy machinery, producing 10,000 widgits per day. Increased widgit production by 12% over a three month period.
Alternatively, you can present your experience according to function. This means grouping together your various experiences according to skill area. Functional resumes tend to be longer than chronological resumes, but avoid repeating descriptions of similar work in different places and place the emphasis on the work you've done rather than where you did it.
In general, employers say they prefer chronological resumes, however for people looking to change careers or for those with short, sporadic or repetitive employment histories, a resume which emphasizes skills and hides periods of unemployment can be a way to avoid early disqualification
For example:
Marketing and Management
?Managed new business from start-up to profitable venture
?Opened new markets resulting in a profit increase of 18%
?Hired and trained sales and administration staff
?Sold business at a profit four times the initial investment
A functional resume would contain two or three skills-based area such as this, followed by a brief chronological work history.
Style
So far, we've discussed what your resume is going to say in order to sell you. Here are a few tips on how your resume should speak:
?When listing work experience decide which are more impressive, the positions you held or the firms you worked for and emphasize them in bold.
?Put dates in italics at the end of the line to de-emphasize them.
?Use numbers wherever possible, especially in your "facts" section. ("Increased sales" is nice, but "Increased sales by 15% over a 6 month period" sounds credible.)
?Begin sentences with active power words (achieved, clarified, conducted etc.)
?Use short phrases rather than sentence: "Increased sales by? rather than "I increased sales by." Remember, employers scan, they don't read.
?Make sure the layout is consistent; if you've put periods at the end of headings, check that all headings have periods.
?Forget the old adage about keeping your resume to one page. Size doesn't really matter!
When your resume is finally finished read it through carefully to ensure there are no spelling or grammatical errors. Give it to a friend to check as well, then leave it for a few days, before checking again with fresh eyes.
Lastly, laserprint your resume on clean white paper (unless you're looking for a job in a particularly creative field, colored paper suggests that you're trying to stand out by means other than your skills) and finally,卲ost it, pray and move on to the next job!