YOUR RESUME
By Karen Conole
Your resume is your personal
representative in an employer’s office. How well it’s prepared says
a lot about who you are and how much you care about the people who have to read
it (those same people who can influence your getting the job you seek).
Remember that your resume will
most likely be grouped with many others and an employer’s first task is to
cut down on her reading time by quickly culling the worst, most unreadable
resumes from the stack of those she plans to read in depth.
The first step in putting
together an organized, readable resume is determining what resume format
you’ll be using. There are, in general, three kinds of resumes: the
“Chronological” resume, the “Functional” resume and the
combined “Chrono-Functional” resume.
Chronological
Resume
The chronological resume is
the one you most often see. It lists the chronological sequence of your
employment for the past ten years or so. This type of resume would work best
for you if:
1.
Most or all of your
experience has been in one field
2.
You’re looking
for a job in the same field as your experience
3.
Your past employment
has been traditional, paid positions
4.
You don’t have
a lot of big gaps in your work history
5.
An employer would be
able to tell with a very quick review of your resume what type of work
you’re good at and what your career direction is
6.
You’re seeking
work in a fairly conservative field.
Functional
Resume
The functional resume
doesn’t list dates and places of employment, but rather gives a general
description of your skills and career accomplishments. This type of resume
would work best for you if:
1.
You have a wide variety
of experience that doesn’t show a trend toward any clear career path
2.
You’re just
starting out and have no experience, or at least none in the field you’re
entering
3.
You’re moving from
one field to another and want to express how your skills will translate in the
new field
4.
You have some
experience that was not traditional paid employment but was still valuable and
educational, to include volunteer work, internships, class projects, sports,
consulting or leadership positions. (It’s not the job you’re
highlighting here, it’s the skills you acquired)
5.
You have gaps in
your work history that you don’t wish to highlight
1.
An employer perusing
your resume would not be able to see your next career move
2.
You’re
applying for a job in a field that’s not too conservative.
Chrono-Functional
Resume
This is probably the most
effective resume format, which leads with a strong summary of skills at the top
and follows up with a chronological history of employment (with most recent job
at the top and working backward to least recent). This format works well
because employers can “cut to the chase” and see what your most
marketable skills are right up front and then see what your recent employment experience
was.
The Chrono-Functional resume
usually includes these elements:
1.
Objective statement.
This should not be some overused sentence such as, “To utilize my skills
and experience and serve my employer to the best of my abilities.” That
idea should be obvious and does not need to be stated in your resume (and take
up valuable space). Also, if you’ve been a legal secretary for ten years
and are applying for a job as a legal secretary, you don’t need to put,
“To secure a position as a legal secretary”; that’s also
obvious. You’ll only need to include an objective if your resume
doesn’t readily indicate your career path. For instance, if that same
10-year secretary decided to become a salesperson, then an objective should be
included, which clarifies why this career shift is sought. For example,
“To apply and enhance the strong interpersonal skills I’ve acquired
from a decade in secretarial work toward a new career focus with a position in
sales.”
2.
Summary of
Qualifications. This is three or four brief statements that tell the reader why
you’re the best candidate for the job. You can include information about
your expertise, experience, credentials, personal work values and ethics, your
background and just whatever “makes a case” for hiring you for the job.
3.
Work Experience. Use
short sentences with good grammar (use your computer’s grammar check
function!) and include the company name, location, city and state, job title
and employment dates in month/years.
4.
Education.
Don’t include your high school unless you didn’t go to college at
all.
5.
Certifications
6.
Professional
Affiliations
7.
Awards (optional)
8.
Computer Skills
9.
References.
Generally, it’s acceptable to just state, “References provided upon
request” and then have a separate page prepared with each
reference’s name, phone number, occupation (title and company), years
that person has known you and in what capacity. You should have both a list of
professional and personal (“character”) references available.
Resume Do
& Don’t Checklist
Keeping in mind that no one
has to read your resume if they don’t want to, try to apply these
guidelines to make an employer notice and want to read your resume (all the way
through):
- DO try to fit your resume on one
page, whenever possible. You only have to account for the past
ten years or so, but you can always put “Over 20 years experience in
…” and discuss your earlier experience in the interview, if
asked. If you’ve done secretarial work for the past ten years, you
don’t have to list the similar duties (“typed
correspondence,” “opened mail,” etc.) under each
employer, because those duties are assumed, and employers don’t want
to read the same job description over and over again. It’s better to
list all your current skills once, under a “Skills” section,
and then do a laundry list of the employers you worked for with the dates
of employment.
- DO use standard sized, 8½"
x 11" paper. Legal length or other non-standard sized
paper doesn’t fit in folders neatly with the standard sized resumes and
can be annoying to work with. You don’t want your resume to
“stick out” for the wrong reasons.
- DO use white, cream or gray bond
paper and black ink. Fancy colors or patterns distract from
your message and are more appropriate for seekers of jobs in the creative
arts. If you use an ink color that isn’t dark like black (or navy),
you run the risk of your work not being readable.
- DO use a lot of “white
space” with margins of at least 1 inch on all sides. Use
at least two lines of space between sections and at least one line of
space between paragraphs. The goal is to make essential information as
easy to spot as possible.
- DO stick with just two or three fonts of at least 11
pt in size. Simple, easy-to-read fonts lend your resume
continuity of style and look professionally composed.
- DO put your strengths first.
If your education is good, position that high up on the page.
- DO put months as well as years
in your Employment History. If you put only years with no
months it may look to employers as if you’re trying to gloss over
the length of your jobs.
- DO include your email address.
Employers like to know you’re computer literate. Also, email is
often the simplest, most effective means of communication these days.
- DO spell out all words.
That includes state names like “
- DO give as many contact numbers
as possible. You don’t want anyone to become frustrated
and move on to the next candidate just because they can’t contact
you.
- DO invest in an answering
machine and/or pager. Again, you want to be as accessible as
possible.
- DO spell check and grammar check
your resume. Even if you already proofed it. Misspelled words
and poor grammar on resumes are the kiss of death for job seekers.
- DO include any professional
associations to which you belong. Employers like to see that
you’ve invested your personal time in your chosen field. If you hold
an office in your organization, that’s even more worthwhile
mentioning.
1.
DON’T use a
resume template if you plan to email your resume. Templates transmit differently than text and the spacing
may get altered, looking completely different after transmission.
2.
DON’T
include personal information that has no bearing on the job duties. Information such as your age, marital status, number of
children, national origin, religious affiliation or any disabilities you may have
which does not impact your ability to do the job is irrelevant and takes up
valuable space. In fact, it is illegal to solicit that sort of information from
a candidate before a job offer is extended.
3.
DON’T
include school graduation dates, especially high school. It’s not necessary for most positions and can
indicate your age.
4.
DON’T use
fancy, hard-to-read font styles. Fancy
fonts, such as calligraphy, might be pretty or artistic, but they are always
harder to read (especially by someone who is reading dozens of resumes) and you
want your information to flow effortlessly, without having to be deciphered by
the reader.
5.
DON’T use
smaller font sizes to cram a lot of information on one page. No one wants to take the time and effort to read a
cluttered resume. It will simply be set aside in favor of easier-to-read
resumes. Take the time to condense your information, rather than expect the
employer read it all.
6.
DON’T
include hobbies. They take up valuable
space on your resume and are often irrelevant. The exception would be those for
which you’ve won special awards or hobbies that might indicate a
character strength, such as running marathons.
7.
DON’T ever
put your social security number on your resume. You never know where it will end up and whose eyes will
see it.
