This posting is a guest entry from the Career Doctor, Randall S. Hansen, PhD:
James writes:
I’m searching for a guide on how to write my resume, but I can’t seem to find
anything. If you could give me some tips, or a site that I could go to, that would
be greatly appreciated.
The Career Doctor responds:
Can’t find anything on resumes? Wow. There’s tons of stuff available on resumes —
in magazines, books, and on the Web… but I’ll give you a quick primer.
Your resume is a critical marketing tool. Your resume has to entice a prospective employer enough — through its focus, content, and style — to first consider your
qualifications for the job at hand and then to invite you for a job interview. A resume
is a statement of your unique mix of experiences, education, and skills. You must
not lie on your resume, but you must always remember its goal.
I think the most important thing any job-seeker should do before attempting to write
a resume is to first sit down and make a list of your skills and accomplishments from
all your previous experiences (work, volunteer, school, etc.) because you will take
from this list those critical skills and accomplishments — not your duties and
responsibilities — that highlight your fit for the next job you are seeking.
The next step is researching and identifying the job — and all the requirements of
that job — that you are seeking because it is critical that your resume is focused on
specifics. You should also research the potential employers that may have jobs that
you seek so that you can incorporate some of their keywords into your resume.
Wait! Does this advice suggest that job-seekers need to have a specifically tailored
resume for every single job they apply for? Yes! There is absolutely no reason for you
not to develop a different resume for each job and employer. For most job-seekers,
this task will simply mean tweaking small parts of your resume for similar jobs.
Once you have the content down, you should focus on the style and look of your
resume. Do not use a template; design your own. Follow a consistent style. Use
normal fonts and sizes. Use bullets rather than paragraphs. Do not use personal
pronouns. Consider using a career/job objective or profile section. Always list
education and experience in reverse chronological order (starting with the most
recent stuff). Do not list any personal information (such as age, marital status,
weight). Do not include controversial information. And ALWAYS, ALWAYS,
spell-check and carefully proofread your resume for any and all errors.
Read our articles published on Quintessential Careers: The
Scoop on Resume Length: How Many Pages Should Your Resume Be? and
10 Resume Mistakes to Avoid.
You can gets lots more advice, including resume samples, resume-writing tutorial, and more, in this section of
Quintessential Careers: Resume and CV Resources.
Need help with your resume, cover letter, or other career-marketing document?
Order today from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters, powered by About Jobs Resume Writing Service.
- accomplishments,
- education,
- experiences,
- job interview,
- job-seeker,
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- prospective employer,
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- Quintessential Careers,
- resume,
- resume samples,
- resume-writing tutorial,
- skills
This posting is a guest entry from the Career Doctor, Randall S. Hansen, PhD:
Ben writes:
I have a question concerning submitting my cover page and resume via email. The
question is that most companies will not accept attachments so I must submit my
resume within the message body of my email vs. attachments. How do I maintain
the same appearance as the original written in MS Word?
The Career Doctor responds:
The short answer is you can’t. And while appearances are important for
traditional cover letters, the most important element is the content. The
same holds true for resumes; appearances are important for traditional
resumes, but content is the most critical element — regardless of the format.
So, how are emailed cover letters different than traditional cover letters? Let
me walk you through some of the key issues, but before I do, let me emphasize
that you should always go to each employer’s career center site and examine
the guidelines for submitting electronic documents, if they list them.
Here are the five critical email cover letter issues.
First, know the rules of writing a cover letter. If you are still writing “vanilla”
cover letters, you won’t get any employer response — no matter how you send it.
Second, keep it short. Email cover letters need to be more concise and shorter in
length than traditional cover letters.
Third, take advantage of keywords. Be sure to use all the keywords from the
employment listing — and any other important jargon or keywords from your industry —
without making the letter a string of sentences full of jargon.
Fourth, watch your line length. Some email software automatically perform line returns
for you, but I would make sure the lines of your email are no longer than 60 characters.
Fifth, take the time to send the email cover letter to yourself first — so you can see
what it looks like after transmission.
Finally, as you know, don’t even bother with attachments. Most employers don’t want them.
Instead, consider developing Web versions of your resume and providing the URL to the
employer (in addition to providing a text-based version).
Find more information and guidelines in my article,
Tips for a Dynamic Email
Cover Letter, published on Quintessential Careers. You can also find more information
about types of resumes in the Resume
Resources section of Quintessential Careers.
Need help with your resume, cover letter, or other career-marketing document?
Order today from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters, powered by About Jobs Resume Writing Service.
This posting is a guest entry from the Career Doctor, Randall S. Hansen, PhD:
Tad writes:
What if your job doesn’t involve numbers, dollars saved. I’m a security officer. How do I write a compelling resume?
The Career Doctor responds:
Tad, kudos to you for understanding the importance of quantifying on your resume. Job-seekers must show prospective employers your accomplishments rather than simply telling them — and quantifying results is one method to do just that.
But now you have to take that understanding to the next level, because you can quantify and showcase your accomplishments in just about any job. For example, can’t you quantify the number of hours, days, weeks, etc. without incidents; the number of hours of training and professional development; the number (and types) of security devices/technology you’ve mastered; number of security investigations successfully closed; commendations (or other records of achievement) you have received.
There are really two keys to writing successful resumes and cover letters. The first key, as you know, is stating your accomplishments (rather than job duties). For an in-depth review of this issue, please read our article, For Job-Hunting Success: Track and Leverage Your Accomplishments.
The second key is researching and using job-specific keywords in your resumes and cover letters. Employers are increasingly turning to keywords to conduct searches of resume databases, and if your resume doesn’t contain those keywords the company is using, then you are pretty much dead in the water. So, how does a job-seeker know what keywords to use on his or her resume? Good question. The quick and dirty answer is that you need to study job postings and job descriptions and find the pattern of words employers use and then be sure to insert them into your resume. The longer — and
better — answer is to read the very detailed article (and sidebars) from my partner, Katharine Hansen, published on Quintessential Careers: Tapping
the Power of Keywords to Enhance Your Resume’s Effectiveness.
Need help with your resume, cover letter, or other career-marketing document?
Order today from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters, powered by About Jobs Resume Writing Service.
- accomplishments,
- dollars,
- employer,
- job-seeker,
- Katharine Hansen,
- keywords,
- numbers,
- quantification,
- Quintessential Careers,
- results,
- resume,
- resume databases
This posting is a guest entry from the Career Doctor, Randall S. Hansen, PhD:
Kenneth writes:
I have read numerous instructions on how to prepare a resume, use key words, proper fonts and paper, list education, etc. etc. I’m looking for a way to tell a prospective employer about my knowledge. I know a resume lists my schools, degrees jobs, job titles, etc., but I want a way to describe my knowledge gained in these studies and experiences. Preferably, I’d like to have it in database format so that a prospective employer can search it to see if I have the knowledge they want. After all we are in a knowledge age. Do you know if there is a tool or a way I can do this?
The Career Doctor responds:
I think there are really two answers for you here, Kenneth.
First, there is very trendy “Summary of Qualifications” section of your resume. (Sometimes also called “Professional Profile,” “Key Skills,” “Qualifications,” or “Key Accomplishments.”) It is in this section where you can showcase your knowledge from all your education and work experiences. I like to think of this section as an executive summary of your entire resume.
Second, you can develop a text-based resume, which is designed specifically for databases. Text resumes follow all the rules of regular resumes, but the design and format are much different, focusing on key words and jargon that may be used when an employer searches their resume database. These searches are done using keywords and phrases that describe the skills and education required for the position, thus when writing a text-based resume it is extremely important for you to use terms and familiar industry acronyms (jargon) that describe your skills and experience. Read my article, Scannable Resume Fundamentals. (Although very few resumes are “scanned” anymore, the same principles apply to text-based resumes.)
Finally, you should consider reading: Ten Easy Ways to Improve Your Resume. This is a great article for anyoneM working on sharpening and improving their resume.
Need help with your resume, cover letter, or other career-marketing document?
Order today from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters, powered by About Jobs Resume Writing Service.
- accomplishments,
- database,
- executive summary,
- fonts,
- format,
- jargon,
- Key Skills,
- keywords,
- knowledge,
- knowledge age,
- ndustry acronyms,
- Qualifications,
- resume,
- Summary of Qualifications,
- text-based resume
This posting is a guest entry from the Career Doctor, Randall S. Hansen, PhD:
Judy writes:
I have worked information systems in many different industries and am attempting to streamline my resume to each company’s “buzz words” or keywords. Do you have
access to or can you refer me to site to find these words?
The Career Doctor responds:
Keywords are nouns and phrases that employers use to search internal and external resume databases when searching for job candidates. While this practice started in the technology industry, it has certainly spread to many other industries, and more and more job-seekers are placing keyword sections on their resumes to strengthen their chances of being selected. (See our article, Tapping the Power of Keywords to Enhance Your Resume’s Effectiveness, for more details.)
The best way to develop a list of keywords for your resume is to first examine your accomplishments and skills areas. Second, examine the type of job you are seeking to move into. Third, conduct some job searches at our job board and some of the other major job sites and make a list of the keywords from the job postings (using, for example, job title, job description, qualifications, skills, software, industry jargon, etc.). You might also consider searching the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook for keywords.
Need help with your resume, cover letter, or other career-marketing document?
Order today from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters, powered by About Jobs Resume Writing Service.
- buzz words,
- industry jargon,
- information systems,
- job description,
- job title,
- keywords,
- noun,
- Occupational Outlook Handbook,
- qualifications,
- resume,
- skills,
- software
This posting is a guest entry from the Career Doctor, Randall S. Hansen, PhD:
Mark writes:
My past with the automotive aftermarket leads me to think I never was a true salesman. I seem to service accounts more than sell them. Could I say I was a customer relations or account manager? I sold maybe 20 percent of the time and did stock adjustment, new part numbers. and buying lunch.
The Career Doctor responds:
You have to remember that above all else, a resume is a marketing tool. A resume’s purpose is to interest the potential employer just enough to grant you an interview and help you along to the next step in the job-hunting journey.
So, my answer is yes, of course you can define your accomplishments — and your transferable skills — as you see fit. From your brief description, I would have to totally agree. And believe me when I tell you I have seen some pretty long stretches when I have reviewed resumes.
The key for you is determining if servicing accounts or account management is important. If it is, then you should certainly emphasize all the experience you have in this area.
You can read much more about resumes and find some great resources
by going to Quintessential Careers:
Resume Resources.
Need help with your resume, cover letter, or other career-marketing document?
Order today from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters, powered by About Jobs Resume Writing Service.
This posting is a guest entry from the Career Doctor, Randall S. Hansen, PhD:
Maria writes:
I had been job-hunting without much success when a recruiter at a job fair
told me he thought my resume was really bad. I was shocked! I thought
I had a pretty darn good resume. What do I need to write and improve my
resume?
The Career Doctor responds:
You didn’t attach your resume, so I don’t know for sure what the specific
problem is with your resume, but I have seen enough bad resumes to know
some of the most common problems. And for a recruiter to tell you that your
resume was bad means that it must be really bad. I’m not trying to be overly
harsh, but to add a douse of realism because I find job-seekers often ask for
advice on improving their resume when they secretly love it and plan no changes.
So… here are my all-purposes fixes for resumes.
First, your resume has to have a focus. Every job-seeker needs to be a specialist,
a specialist that fits the needs of the prospective employer perfectly. Sometimes
a job objective or summary of qualifications can give you the edge you are seeking.
Second, your resume must showcase your accomplishments. Employers like
specifics. They don’t want to know you saved your former employer money; they
want to know exactly how much money you saved. They want to know the exact
size of the staff you managed, the amount you increased revenues, the level of
customer satisfaction you delivered.
Third, there is no such thing as one resume. Gone is a one-size-fits-all resume.
Every resume you send out should be different from all the others. You need to
use specific keywords and phrases that fit each employer.
Fourth, your resume has to look appealing, welcoming. Yes, it’s superficial, but a
plain resume (or worse, from a template) screams plain job-seeker. Take the initiative
to design your own resume style… or hire a professional resume-writer who can do
it for you.
For more information, check out these articles on Quintessential Careers:
Many more articles, resources, and tools can be found in the
Resume Resources section of
Quintessential Careers and in the Resume
and Cover Letters Tips Blog of Quintessential Resumes & Cover Letters.
Need help with your resume, cover letter, or other career-marketing document?
Order today from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters, powered by About Jobs Resume Writing Service.
- accomplishments,
- job fair,
- job objective,
- job-hunting,
- job-seeker,
- keywords,
- professional resume-writer,
- prospective employer,
- Quintessential Careers,
- recruiter,
- resume,
- summary of qualifications
This posting is a guest entry from the Career Doctor, Randall S. Hansen, PhD:
Ashley writes:
Dr. Hansen, I have gotten several different opinions on my resume, with some saying
it’s good, and others saying I should have a functional resume. I have been to my
college’s career services and other professors. So I am not really sure which is
best for me. Should a new college grad have a functional resume? Should my
resume be limited to one page? Please let me know what you think.
The Career Doctor responds:
Several things jump at me when I look at your resume. All job-seekers should
remember that a resume is a strategic marketing document that must have two
key elements: design and content.
First, let’s discuss design. Every design aspect must be consistent on your resume
— same style of headings, same margins… a coherent and appealing look. One of
my pet peeves deals with margins… I hate unusually narrow margins. There’s a rule
of “thumb” with resumes — margins must be big enough for my (big) thumbs to hold on
to it and not cover any content.
Resumes must also be designed with some flair, and job-seekers often accomplish this style
through varying typography, font size, and font selection. Your name and major headings
should be larger, perhaps in a different font. And be sure to include as much contact
information as possible.
Second, let’s talk content. I would recommend you — and all job-seekers — use one
of the “hotter” elements in resume writing — the “Qualifications Summary,” also
sometimes referred to as “Professional Profile.” This section is what I
like to refer to as the executive summary of your resume — it may change depending
on what type of job you are seeking — but it should be the key 3-5 accomplishments
that make you better than anyone else for the job you are seeking.
And as you write about your experience, remember to focus on accomplishments, keywords, and action verbs. Whenever possible, quantify your accomplishments.
As for resume length, the current rule is a resume is as long as it needs to be based
on your experience, and college grads with lots of experience can have two-page resumes.
Get more information on resumes and resume-writing in this section of Quintessential Careers: Resume and CV
Resources for Job-Seekers.
Need help with your resume, cover letter, or other career-marketing document?
Order today from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters, powered by About Jobs Resume Writing Service.
- accomplishments,
- action verbs,
- executive summary,
- functional resume,
- job-seekers,
- keywords,
- Professional Profile,
- Qualifications Summary,
- Quintessential Careers,
- resume length,
- resume-writing,
- resumes,
- strategic marketing document
This posting is a guest entry from the Career Doctor, Randall S. Hansen, PhD:
Cathy writes:
For the first time in 23 years, I am conducting a job search that includes the
Internet. I understand the importance of having a resume in text format to
submit where requested.
I am also hearing that most recruiters, employers, etc. prefer resumes now be
submitted electronically. Is this true? Maybe it’s the old-fashioned marketer in
me, but my tendency is to search the web for jobs and then send my resume the
traditional way by mail so I can differentiate by different fonts, paper style,
appearance-related factors. Could this be working against me?
If so, even when I am asked to attach my resume as a Word document, I fear that
various PCs will alter formats, fonts and spacing — so it’s back to the plain Jane text,
or is it?
The Career Doctor responds:
While I totally agree with you about the power of print resumes, I have to sadly
state that their influence in job-hunting is definitely on the decline. Job-seekers
will still need these documents for job fairs, interviews, and a direct-mail campaign,
but because the Internet has so dramatically changed how we search and apply
for jobs, you know need to focus on having a text resume.
Employers want text resumes — especially electronic versions (submitted online
or via email) — because they can easily deposit every resume into a massive
database and then use keywords to search and find the resumes that most match
their needs.
Text resumes are almost completely void of any style — and when printed, they
look pretty ugly.
So, not only are resume formats changing, but so is the content. As you work on
your electronic resume, you must be focused on keyword and keyword phrases
for your occupation and industry. Where we often avoided industry jargon in the
past, now we embrace it. Of course, accomplishments are still extremely important,
but you must now also try to phrase them the way you think a hiring manager
might conduct a resume database search.
One final thought, though. I always recommend — when possible — to follow-up an
emailed resume with a formatted resume sent through the mail. I think job-seekers
who use this combination approach have an edge over those who do not.
Read more about electronic resumes in this article on Quintessential Careers:
The Top 10 Things You
Need to Know about E-Resumes and Posting Your Resume Online. And for a
quick review of resume-writing, you might want to review this article:
Avoid These
10 Resume Mistakes.
Need help with your resume, cover letter, or other career-marketing document?
Order today from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters, powered by About Jobs Resume Writing Service.
- accomplishments,
- database,
- direct-mail campaign,
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- employers,
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This posting is a guest entry from the Career Doctor, Randall S. Hansen, PhD:
James writes:
I’m searching for a guide on how to write my resume, but I can’t seem to find
anything. If you could give me some tips, or a site that I could go to, that would
be greatly appreciated.
The Career Doctor responds:
Can’t find anything on resumes? Wow. There’s tons of stuff available on resumes —
in magazines, books, and on the Web… but I’ll give you a quick primer.
Your resume is a critical marketing tool. Your resume has to entice a prospective employer enough — through its focus, content, and style — to first consider your
qualifications for the job at hand and then to invite you for a job interview. A resume
is a statement of your unique mix of experiences, education, and skills. You must
not lie on your resume, but you must always remember its goal.
I think the most important thing any job-seeker should do before attempting to write
a resume is to first sit down and make a list of your skills and accomplishments from
all your previous experiences (work, volunteer, school, etc.) because you will take
from this list those critical skills and accomplishments — not your duties and
responsibilities — that highlight your fit for the next job you are seeking.
The next step is researching and identifying the job — and all the requirements of
that job — that you are seeking because it is critical that your resume is focused on
specifics. You should also research the potential employers that may have jobs that
you seek so that you can incorporate some of their keywords into your resume.
Wait! Does this advice suggest that job-seekers need to have a specifically tailored
resume for every single job they apply for? Yes! There is absolutely no reason for you
not to develop a different resume for each job and employer. For most job-seekers,
this task will simply mean tweaking small parts of your resume for similar jobs.
Once you have the content down, you should focus on the style and look of your
resume. Do not use a template; design your own. Follow a consistent style. Use
normal fonts and sizes. Use bullets rather than paragraphs. Do not use personal
pronouns. Consider using a career/job objective or profile section. Always list
education and experience in reverse chronological order (starting with the most
recent stuff). Do not list any personal information (such as age, marital status,
weight). Do not include controversial information. And ALWAYS, ALWAYS,
spell-check and carefully proofread your resume for any and all errors.
Read our articles published on Quintessential Careers: The
Scoop on Resume Length: How Many Pages Should Your Resume Be? and
10 Resume Mistakes to Avoid.
You can gets lots more advice, including resume samples, resume-writing tutorial, and more, in this section of
Quintessential Careers: Resume and CV Resources.
Need help with your resume, cover letter, or other career-marketing document?
Order today from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters, powered by About Jobs Resume Writing Service.
- accomplishments,
- education,
- experiences,
- job interview,
- job-seeker,
- keywords,
- marketing tool,
- prospective employer,
- qualifications,
- Quintessential Careers,
- resume,
- resume samples,
- resume-writing tutorial,
- skills
This posting is a guest entry from the Career Doctor, Randall S. Hansen, PhD:
Ben writes:
I have a question concerning submitting my cover page and resume via email. The
question is that most companies will not accept attachments so I must submit my
resume within the message body of my email vs. attachments. How do I maintain
the same appearance as the original written in MS Word?
The Career Doctor responds:
The short answer is you can’t. And while appearances are important for
traditional cover letters, the most important element is the content. The
same holds true for resumes; appearances are important for traditional
resumes, but content is the most critical element — regardless of the format.
So, how are emailed cover letters different than traditional cover letters? Let
me walk you through some of the key issues, but before I do, let me emphasize
that you should always go to each employer’s career center site and examine
the guidelines for submitting electronic documents, if they list them.
Here are the five critical email cover letter issues.
First, know the rules of writing a cover letter. If you are still writing “vanilla”
cover letters, you won’t get any employer response — no matter how you send it.
Second, keep it short. Email cover letters need to be more concise and shorter in
length than traditional cover letters.
Third, take advantage of keywords. Be sure to use all the keywords from the
employment listing — and any other important jargon or keywords from your industry —
without making the letter a string of sentences full of jargon.
Fourth, watch your line length. Some email software automatically perform line returns
for you, but I would make sure the lines of your email are no longer than 60 characters.
Fifth, take the time to send the email cover letter to yourself first — so you can see
what it looks like after transmission.
Finally, as you know, don’t even bother with attachments. Most employers don’t want them.
Instead, consider developing Web versions of your resume and providing the URL to the
employer (in addition to providing a text-based version).
Find more information and guidelines in my article,
Tips for a Dynamic Email
Cover Letter, published on Quintessential Careers. You can also find more information
about types of resumes in the Resume
Resources section of Quintessential Careers.
Need help with your resume, cover letter, or other career-marketing document?
Order today from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters, powered by About Jobs Resume Writing Service.
This posting is a guest entry from the Career Doctor, Randall S. Hansen, PhD:
Tad writes:
What if your job doesn’t involve numbers, dollars saved. I’m a security officer. How do I write a compelling resume?
The Career Doctor responds:
Tad, kudos to you for understanding the importance of quantifying on your resume. Job-seekers must show prospective employers your accomplishments rather than simply telling them — and quantifying results is one method to do just that.
But now you have to take that understanding to the next level, because you can quantify and showcase your accomplishments in just about any job. For example, can’t you quantify the number of hours, days, weeks, etc. without incidents; the number of hours of training and professional development; the number (and types) of security devices/technology you’ve mastered; number of security investigations successfully closed; commendations (or other records of achievement) you have received.
There are really two keys to writing successful resumes and cover letters. The first key, as you know, is stating your accomplishments (rather than job duties). For an in-depth review of this issue, please read our article, For Job-Hunting Success: Track and Leverage Your Accomplishments.
The second key is researching and using job-specific keywords in your resumes and cover letters. Employers are increasingly turning to keywords to conduct searches of resume databases, and if your resume doesn’t contain those keywords the company is using, then you are pretty much dead in the water. So, how does a job-seeker know what keywords to use on his or her resume? Good question. The quick and dirty answer is that you need to study job postings and job descriptions and find the pattern of words employers use and then be sure to insert them into your resume. The longer — and
better — answer is to read the very detailed article (and sidebars) from my partner, Katharine Hansen, published on Quintessential Careers: Tapping
the Power of Keywords to Enhance Your Resume’s Effectiveness.
Need help with your resume, cover letter, or other career-marketing document?
Order today from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters, powered by About Jobs Resume Writing Service.
- accomplishments,
- dollars,
- employer,
- job-seeker,
- Katharine Hansen,
- keywords,
- numbers,
- quantification,
- Quintessential Careers,
- results,
- resume,
- resume databases
This posting is a guest entry from the Career Doctor, Randall S. Hansen, PhD:
Kenneth writes:
I have read numerous instructions on how to prepare a resume, use key words, proper fonts and paper, list education, etc. etc. I’m looking for a way to tell a prospective employer about my knowledge. I know a resume lists my schools, degrees jobs, job titles, etc., but I want a way to describe my knowledge gained in these studies and experiences. Preferably, I’d like to have it in database format so that a prospective employer can search it to see if I have the knowledge they want. After all we are in a knowledge age. Do you know if there is a tool or a way I can do this?
The Career Doctor responds:
I think there are really two answers for you here, Kenneth.
First, there is very trendy “Summary of Qualifications” section of your resume. (Sometimes also called “Professional Profile,” “Key Skills,” “Qualifications,” or “Key Accomplishments.”) It is in this section where you can showcase your knowledge from all your education and work experiences. I like to think of this section as an executive summary of your entire resume.
Second, you can develop a text-based resume, which is designed specifically for databases. Text resumes follow all the rules of regular resumes, but the design and format are much different, focusing on key words and jargon that may be used when an employer searches their resume database. These searches are done using keywords and phrases that describe the skills and education required for the position, thus when writing a text-based resume it is extremely important for you to use terms and familiar industry acronyms (jargon) that describe your skills and experience. Read my article, Scannable Resume Fundamentals. (Although very few resumes are “scanned” anymore, the same principles apply to text-based resumes.)
Finally, you should consider reading: Ten Easy Ways to Improve Your Resume. This is a great article for anyoneM working on sharpening and improving their resume.
Need help with your resume, cover letter, or other career-marketing document?
Order today from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters, powered by About Jobs Resume Writing Service.
- accomplishments,
- database,
- executive summary,
- fonts,
- format,
- jargon,
- Key Skills,
- keywords,
- knowledge,
- knowledge age,
- ndustry acronyms,
- Qualifications,
- resume,
- Summary of Qualifications,
- text-based resume
This posting is a guest entry from the Career Doctor, Randall S. Hansen, PhD:
Brian writes:
I came across Quintessential Careers last night as I was trying
to unearth the answer to a question which was plaguing me all night.
I’d be most grateful if you could tell me whether or not one should
include a resume with a broadcast letter.
I’ve heard conflicting opinions on the subject. What’s your advice?
The Career Doctor responds:
The answer is: it depends.
Although not talked about as much compared to networking and online job-hunting, a broadcast cover letter is part of a direct marketing
campaign by the job-seeker —in which you identify a list of prospective employers, research the names of the hiring managers at each
employer, and send an unsolicited letter to tap into what has been
called “the hidden job market.”
The strength of this strategy is that you can sometimes catch a hiring
manager just as an opening is occurring, giving you sort of a first-strike
advantage over other job-seekers before the position is even advertised —
internally or externally. Because turnover happens frequently, a broadcast
letter is still a good job-seeker strategy.
But I never liked using the term broadcast letter because it carries the
implication that the job-seeker can write one cover letter and broadcast it
to a large number of employers — and that strategy will just not work.
If you want to effectively use a direct-marketing approach, you will need to
target (customize) each letter for each prospective employer. While parts of
the letters can be the same, you will need to adjust other parts to showcase
your knowledge of the company.
Should you include a resume with your cover letter? My view is yes —
always. But again, as with the cover letter, you will need to customize
each resume to each employer. You’ll want to use some of the keywords
that each employer uses in describing themselves in describing yourself.
Other experts, such as Jeffrey Fox, author of Don’t Send a Resume,
say that job-seekers should send resume after first winning over the hiring manager
with a dazzling cover letter. In fact, Fox says a job-seeker should not send a resume
to the employer until after the job interview — so that the resume can be as narrowly
targeted to the position and employer as possible.
Read more about cover letters —
and resumes — in these sections
of Quintessential Careers.
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- broadcast cover letter,
- cover letter,
- direct marketing campaign,
- direct-marketing approach,
- Don't Send a Resume,
- employers,
- hidden job market,
- hiring managers,
- Jeffrey Fox,
- job interview,
- job-seeker,
- job-seeker strategy,
- keywords,
- networking,
- online job-hunting,
- prospective employers,
- Quintessential Careers,
- resume
This posting is a guest entry from the Career Doctor, Randall S. Hansen, PhD:
Judy writes:
I have worked information systems in many different industries and am attempting to streamline my resume to each company’s “buzz words” or keywords. Do you have
access to or can you refer me to site to find these words?
The Career Doctor responds:
Keywords are nouns and phrases that employers use to search internal and external resume databases when searching for job candidates. While this practice started in the technology industry, it has certainly spread to many other industries, and more and more job-seekers are placing keyword sections on their resumes to strengthen their chances of being selected. (See our article, Tapping the Power of Keywords to Enhance Your Resume’s Effectiveness, for more details.)
The best way to develop a list of keywords for your resume is to first examine your accomplishments and skills areas. Second, examine the type of job you are seeking to move into. Third, conduct some job searches at our job board and some of the other major job sites and make a list of the keywords from the job postings (using, for example, job title, job description, qualifications, skills, software, industry jargon, etc.). You might also consider searching the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook for keywords.
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- buzz words,
- industry jargon,
- information systems,
- job description,
- job title,
- keywords,
- noun,
- Occupational Outlook Handbook,
- qualifications,
- resume,
- skills,
- software
This posting is a guest entry from the Career Doctor, Randall S. Hansen, PhD:
Elaine writes:
I am seeking help with my cover letter. I have a basic resume, but would like to improve it. I need help. I currently quit my eight-year-long job and went to work in an environment I am very unhappy in.
The Career Doctor responds:
You are right to want to try and make your cover letter and resume as strong as possible. Your resume, especially, should be polished regularly.
Let’s start with your cover letter. Your cover letter is a marketing document — in which you are trying to spark the interest of the potential employer. I am amazed at how many cover letter “experts” advise people to waste their first paragraphs — which are the most important part of your cover letter. In this first paragraph, you need to attract the interest of the potential employer, not simply state that you are applying for a job.
You can read more about the Dynamic Cover Letters Cover Letter Formula or visit the Quintessential
Careers Cover Letter Tutorial.
Now to your resume. Resumes have not changed all that much over the last few years, with the exception of text-based resumes and the move toward using keywords or skills summaries in resumes. You should make sure your resume includes strong action verbs to describe your accomplishments (not your duties). You may also want to read up on transferable skills. All this resume information can be found at Quintessential Careers:
Resume Resources.
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This posting is a guest entry from The Career Doctor, Randall S. Hansen
Mauro writes:
I read an article of yours — Resume
Critique Worksheet for Job-Seekers — and found it very interesting. I have been applying for
quite a few jobs recently and have not had much luck getting interviews, and I think this has a lot
to do with my resume. I know it can be improved a lot and was wondering if you could provide me
with some critique given your knowledge and experience. I sincerely appreciate any help you can provide.
The Career Doctor responds:
I’m sorry for your lack of job-searching success, but pleased that you have taken
the time to analyze your situation and recognize that your resume is probably the
problem. Anytime you are not getting job interviews, the problem generally lies with
your resume or cover letter. (It could also be that you are applying for positions for
which you are not qualified — or overqualified, but let’s assume that is not the case.)
I was kind of stunned recently when the results of a recent online poll revealed that
almost 50 percent of business professionals thought their resume needed improvement.
I can only imagine how high that percentage would be for all job-seekers.
Your resume is one of the most — if not the most — crucial career-marketing tool
a job-seeker uses, and yet, as evidenced from the thousands and thousands of resumes
I have seen over my career, many job-seekers just do not get either the importance
of the resume or simply do not put the time in that is necessary to produce a resume
that results in employer interest.
Sometimes, all it takes is some tweaking and minor adjustments, but other times, it is
best to start from scratch. How do you decide? Get your resume professionally critiqued. If
you are a college student or alum, go to your college’s career services office. Or, hire a
professional resume writer (many will critique your resume at no cost). Or, even just ask some of the people in your network to
critique for you.
Here are some suggested links for mastering the resume-preparation skills you need:
- branding statement,
- career change,
- career services office,
- college student,
- cover letter,
- employer,
- headline,
- interviews,
- job interview,
- job postings,
- job-searching success,
- job-seekers,
- keywords,
- network,
- objective statement,
- professional resume writer,
- profile,
- Randall S. Hansen,
- resume,
- Resume Critique Worksheet for Job-Seekers,
- resume-preparation skills,
- skills and accomplishments,
- The Career Doctor
Inundated by resumes from job-seekers, employers have increasingly relied on
digitizing resumes, placing those resumes in keyword-searchable databases,
and using software to search those databases for specific keywords that relate to job
vacancies. Most Fortune 1000 companies, in fact, and many smaller companies now use these
technologies. In addition, many employers search the databases of third-party job-posting
and resume-posting boards on the Internet. Based on figures from the early 2000s,
it is safe to estimate that well over 80 percent of resumes are searched for job-specific
keywords.
The bottom line is that if you apply for a job with a company that searches databases
for keywords, and your resume doesn’t have the keywords the company seeks for the person
who fills that job, you are pretty much dead in the water.
To some extent, job-seekers have no way of knowing what the words are that employers
are looking for when they search resume databases. But job-seekers
have information and a number of tools at their disposal that can help them make educated
guesses as to which keywords the employer is looking for. See a detailed discussion of
resume keywords and how to identify them in our article,
Tapping the Power of Keywords to
Enhance Your Resume’s Effectiveness and
use our Keywords Worksheet
to help identify keywords for use in your resume.
Need help with your resume, cover letter, or other career-marketing document?
Order today from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters, powered by About Jobs Resume Writing Service.
- employers,
- Fortune 1000 companies,
- Internet,
- job-posting,
- job-seekers,
- keyword-searchable databases,
- keywords,
- Keywords Worksheet,
- resume databases,
- resume-posting boards,
- resumes
You may wish to present a Qualifications Summary or Profile section on your resume.
In addition to Profile and Qualifications Summary, these resume-topping sections go by numerous
names: Career Summary, Summary, Executive Summary, Professional Profile, Qualifications, Strengths, Skills, Key Skills, Skills Summary, Summary of Qualifications, Background Summary, Professional Summary, Highlights of Qualifications. All of these headings are acceptable, but our favorite
is Professional Profile.
Twenty-five years ago, a Profile or Summary section was somewhat unusual on a resume. Career
experts trace the use of summaries or profiles to include information about candidates’ qualities
beyond their credentials to the publication of the late Yana Parker’s The Damn Good Resume Guide
in 1983. For the last 20-plus years, resume writers have routinely included these sections; however,
the age of electronic submissions has now caused the pendulum to swing the other way.
On one hand, electronic submission means that hiring decision-makers are inundated and overwhelmed
with resumes and have less time than ever before to peruse each document. That means that many of
them do not read Profile or Summary sections.
On the other hand, the age of electronic submissions has increased the importance of keywords so
that candidates can be found in database searches. Even some of the hiring decision-makers who
don’t read Profiles and Summaries advise including them as a way to ensure sufficient keywords
in the resume.
A vocal contingent of decision-makers, especially among recruiters, strongly advocate for a
Summary section — but one that is quite succinct — a short paragraph or single bullet point.
They want to see in a nutshell who you are and what you can contribute.
For a detailed discussion of these sections, including guidelines for crafting them and samples, see
Chapter 3 of our
e-book, The Quintessential Guide to Words to Get Hired By: Your Professional Profile:
Bullet Points that Describe Your Strengths in a Nutshell.
And use our Resume Professional
Profile/Qualifications Summary Worksheet to help you develop bullet points for
this very important resume section.
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- Background Summary,
- Career Summary,
- database searches,
- Executive Summary,
- Highlights of Qualifications Profile,
- hiring decision-makers,
- Key Skills,
- keywords,
- Professional Profile,
- Professional Summary,
- Qualifications,
- Qualifications Summary,
- recruiters,
- resume writers,
- resumes,
- Skills,
- Skills Summary,
- Strengths,
- Summary,
- Summary of Qualifications,
- The Damn Good Resume Guide,
- Yana Parker'
Here are ways to consider sharpening the focus of your resume:
- Use a branding statement or headline or both atop your resume.
- Add a profile/qualifications summary with keywords relevant to the job you seek.
- Add a keyword section relevant to the job you seek.
- Beef up portrayal of accomplishments and transferable skills. Be sure to spotlight
skills that apply to what you want to do next.
- Use our Cover Letter and Resume Customization Worksheet to help you sharpen your focus.
- For college students and new grads: Consider adding class projects in your major
(or other classes) that are applicable to what you want to do upon graduation.
Riskier options for sharpening your focus:
- Consider a chrono-functional format. Organize your resume around skills
clusters that directly apply to the job you seek.
- Use an objective statement.
Read more in our
Frequently Asked Questions About Resumes: The Complete Resume FAQ.
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Order today from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters, powered by About Jobs Resume Writing Service.
- accomplishments,
- branding statement,
- class projects,
- college students,
- Complete Resume FAQ,
- Cover Letter and Resume Customization Worksheet,
- graduation,
- keywords,
- new grads,
- objective statement,
- profile,
- qualifications summary,
- resume,
- transferable skills
The most important things to remember about writing an effective resume
can be encapsulated in a six-letter acronym, FAKTSA, in which the letters stand for:
- Focus
- Appearance
- Keywords
- Transferrable Skills
- Accomplishments
Get more details about these elements in our article,
FAKTSA:
An Easy Acronym for Remembering Key Resume Enhancers.
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Keywords are crucial in resumes, but use keywords in your cover letters, too.
Many employers don’t scan cover letters or include them in resume databases, but some do.
And keywords in cover letters can be important for attracting the “human scanner.” If you’re
answering an ad, tying specific words in your cover letter as closely as possible to the actual
wording of the ad you’re responding to can be a huge plus. In his book, Don’t Send a Resume,
Jeffrey Fox calls the best letters written in response to want ads “Boomerang letters” because
they “fly the want ad words — the copy — back to the writer of the ad.” In employing what Fox
calls “a compelling sales technique,” he advises letter writers to: “Flatter the person who
wrote the ad with your response letter. Echo the author’s words and intent. Your letter should
be a mirror of the ad.” Fox notes that when the recipient reads such a letter, the thought
process will be: “This person seems to fit the description. This person gets it.”
Learn more about keywords .
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In larger corporations, resumes will be entered into a keyword-searchable database, so job-seekers should know key skills and software packages and list them as appropriate, said human resources manager John Logan in the Q&A interview he did with Quint Careers.
Having those key words on a resume will get a candidate into the search pool, but employers still have to review each resume to understand the depth of skills in desired areas. Job-seekers should remember that it’s NOT about buzzwords, it’s about having
the skills that an employer needs. Employers should remember that resume databases are tools to help find candidates with required skills, but those databases cannot replace reviewing resumes against the job specifications. “Despite technology, I believe there is still some art in the employment process,” Logan said. Database systems may not format a resume correctly, and appearances do count to interviewers. Job-seekers in creative fields (graphic design, advertising, performance, etc.) have more leeway in resume format.
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What are the most important things to remember about writing an effective resume?
They can be encapsulated in a six-letter acronym, FAKTSA, in which the letters stand for:
Focus
Appearance
Keywords
Transferrable Skills
Accomplishments
Learn more about these components in our article, FAKTSA: An Easy Acronym for Remembering Key Resume Enhancers
Need help with your resume, cover letter, or other career-marketing document?
Order today from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters, powered by About Jobs Resume Writing Service.
Use the right keywords in your resume, writes Deborah Walker in her article for Quint Careers, Is Your Resume Lost in the Great Internet Void?.
More than ever, resumes are stored in a database and queried for keywords to
indicate candidate match. If you aren’t using the right words to describe your
employment experiences, then your resume might be rejected before it’s ever seen.
Review the keywords your resume uses to:
- Describe your dream job. Do your qualifications match the job description?
Look closely at areas listing your technical skills, job responsibilities and core competencies.
- Attract your desired industry. Are you using industry buzzwords? In other words, does your resume talk the employer’s talk?
- Attract your occupational field. Do the phrases you use prove your level of
experience in your field? [See our article, Tapping the Power of Keywords to Enhance Your Resume.]
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More than 80 percent of resumes are searched for job-specific keywords. Therefore, if you apply for a job with a company that searches databases for keywords, and your resume doesn’t have the keywords the company seeks for the person who fills that
job, you are pretty much dead in the water.
Summary/profile sections can be important for front-loading your resume with these all-important keywords. (Lack of front-loaded keywords decreases ability to match resumes to potential jobs quickly at critical first- and second-level scanning. Many job-seekers would likely benefit from a section of industry-specific keywords, labelled with a heading such as Areas of Expertise, Core Competencies, or Key Proficiencies. To display your
keywords, you might want to use a reader-friendly table, as in this sample resume or in this sample resume.
To read more about keywords, see our article Tapping the Power of
Keywords to Enhance Your Resume’s Effectiveness.
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More than 80 percent of resumes are searched for job-specific keywords. Therefore, if you apply for a job with a company that searches databases for keywords, and your resume doesn’t have the keywords the company seeks for the person who fills that
job, you are pretty much dead in the water.
Summary/profile resume sections can be important for front-loading your resume with these all-important keywords. (Lack of front-loaded keywords decreases ability to match
resume to potential jobs quickly at critical first- and second-level scanning. Many job-seekers would likely benefit from a section of industry-specific keywords, labelled with a heading such as Areas of Expertise, Core Competencies, or Key Proficiencies.
To read more about keywords, see our article Tapping the Power of
Keywords to Enhance Your Resume’s Effectiveness.
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Order today from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters, powered by About Jobs Resume Writing Service.
The easiest way to get an employer's attention in your resume is to include in your summary the exact skills requested in the employer's job announcement, writes Sherri Edwards in her article for Quint Careers, Ten Resume Tips.
The use of keywords at the very beginning of a resume will capture the employer's attention. Conversely, using a variety of skills that are unrelated to the position will detract from your value, not add to it.
Using the employer's specific words will ensure you get attention, while paraphrasing with other language can be disadvantageous. Tagging "hard" (technical) skills on at the end of the resume may work for recruiters' electronic searches, but when the recipient/screener is actually reading your resume, your most important skills may be overlooked.
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To sharpen your resume’s focus, you can add a section called something like “Summary of Qualifications,” “Profile,” or the like. Such a section, in a reader-friendly bulleted format can contribute to powerful resume opener that draws the reader in; it can be part of the top third of resume that showcases your best selling points, catches the prospective employer’s attention, and immediately demonstrates your value as a candidate.
A synthesis of the ideas of two leading resume experts, Susan Britton Whitcomb, author of Resume Magic, one of the best books on the market for resumes, and Deb Wile Dib of Advantage Resumes, reveals that a Summary/Profile section can contain:
- Title/functional area/level of your current position and/or position you seek.
- Number of years of experience (which, for age-discrimination reasons, should not exceed 15-20; “15+” is a good guideline for mature workers)
- Industry you’re in or seeking to be in.
- Core competencies/areas of expertise/strengths/specialization for that field.
- Highlights of representative accomplishments, especially used to demonstrate skills and competencies you’ve used throughout your career.
- Top business, leadership, craft-related skills, both “hard skills” and “soft skills” (such as communication, interpersonal, teamwork); however, be aware that many hiring decision-makers believe soft skills can be substantiated only in person or by references, so be sure to provide strong substantiation of these skills in your resume.
- “Value-added” information: Skills/accomplishments/experience that
- add to your value because they are not necessarily expected of someone with your background (e.g., operations manager with deep knowledge of IT).
- Any advanced degrees, certifications, or licenses that are integral to the type of job you seek.
- Language and international business skills, if relevant.
- Technical/computer skills, instead of burying them at the bottom of your resume (Exception: IT professionals, who should place IT skills in a separate section).
- Personality /management style: Open a little window into your personality with your Summary/Profile (e.g., mention sense of humor)
- Possibly affiliations if integral to the job, otherwise in a separate section.
- Any extremely prestigious colleges, employers, or clients.
- Quantification whenever possible, using numbers for, e.g., revenue generated, size of accounts, typical budgets, money saved, etc.
- Positive quotes, testimonials from supervisors, clients, taken from memos, letters, performance evaluations.
- Awards you’ve earned, such as Employee of the Month and President’s Club, can also be listed in the Summary/Profile section to give them more up-front attention than if they were listed in their own section.
- Keywords/buzzwords from ads or job postings you’re responding to.
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- accomplishments,
- affiliations,
- awards,
- college,
- degree,
- focus,
- hard+skills,
- keywords,
- language,
- personality,
- profile,
- qualifications+summary,
- quantification,
- resume,
- soft+skills,
- strengths,
- testimonials,
- value+added
New graduates and continuing students can approach a competitive job market with enthusiasm and confidence when equipped with job search tools that translate academic achievement into marketable job skills highly applicable to a wide range of professions. A resume of this kind successfully uses powerful career-marketing language, industry keywords, and professional formatting to look, sound, and perform just like a resume.
Career marketing professionals advise college students to conduct a thorough inventory and evaluation of academic accomplishments and work with campus career development counselors or professional resume writers to translate academic achievement, internships, and club or volunteer activities into compelling language that effectively frames skills and educational background and highlights achievement.
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Not possible! A common mistake jobseekers make is to submit the same version of their resume for each and every position to which they apply. This approach to job-hunting makes no more sense than wearing your summertime Tevas through the rains of autumn and on into the snowdrifts of winter and wondering why your feet are cold and wet! In almost all circumstances, this practice is destined for repeated failure in a job search. Even jobs with the same title can differ distinctly from each other, from company to company, on a range of levels.
The wise job hunter will use some minor sleuthing skills to decipher the advertising language of each listing, identify exactly what hard and soft skills a specific employer seeks, and utilize that information to tweak a resume and cover letter to play to the target reader. Picking up on the keywords in employment ads and job postings can truly be the key to success in the job market. Making minor adjustments in language, to otherwise identical documents, can mean the difference between getting an interview and having your resume land in the circular file—especially in an age where use of keyword-based resume screening software is becoming more common.
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Your e-resume must be loaded with keywords. This advice really relates to all resumes in the era of the keyword-searchable database, but it’s especially important for e-resumes. Job-hunting today increasingly revolves around the mysterious world of keywords. Employers’ use and eventual dependence on keywords to find the job candidates they want to interview has come about in recent years because of technology. Inundated by resumes from job-seekers, employers have increasingly relied on digitizing job-seeker resumes, placing those resumes in keyword-searchable databases, and using software to search those databases for specific keywords that relate to job vacancies. Most Fortune 1000 companies, in fact, and many smaller companies now use these technologies. In addition, many employers search the databases of third-party job-posting and resume-posting boards on the Internet. Learn more at The Top 10 Things You Need to Know about E-Resumes and Posting Your Resume Online.
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This advice actually applies to all resumes. Accomplishments are the points that really help sell you to an employer — much more so than everyday job duties. In fact, there’s a direct relationship between keywords and accomplishments in that keywords can be tied to accomplishments rather than job duties, so a good way to make the leap from keyword to a nice, contextual bullet point is to take each keyword you’ve identified as critical to the job and list an accomplishment that tells how you’ve used the skill represented by that keyword. Learn more at The Top 10 Things You Need to Know about E-Resumes and Posting Your Resume Online.
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