By Peter Newfield – Career-Resumes.com®
WHAT IS A RESUME SUPPOSED TO DO?
It’s NOT to get you a job. It’s to
get you a phone call inviting you in for an interview. If you go
into an interview dressed in jeans, sneakers and a cut off T-shirt,
in all probability, you won’t get the job. If you’re
not qualified for the job, you won’t get it either. The resume
is seen BEFORE you are. It better convey the information the company
is looking for. If it doesn’t, it’s just like wearing
a T-shirt.
DO WE NEED AN OBJECTIVE? MAYBE?
An “Objective” on a resume should
be there for an entry-level position. As one acquires years of experience,
an Objective becomes restrictive, giving the impression that “I
want to be this…”. as opposed to “I am this….”
For example if you say “Seeking a Position as an Accountant………,”
what you are really saying is; if you don’t have a job in
this company for an Accountant, I’m not interested. If you
insist on using an Objective, it would be much better to say “Seeking
a position utilizing broad based experience in accounting………………,”
which is the same as saying “ If your company is looking for
someone with an accounting background, I would be interested in
discussing options with you.” Another way to handle this is
to start with a “Summary of Qualifications,” which is
a 3-8 sentence overview on your background, as follows: “A
results oriented financial industry professional and operations
specialist. Strong analytical and planning skills. Demonstrated
ability to develop…………”(Strong action
words).
KEYWORDS: WHY DO YOU NEED THEM?
Everyone’s talking about “key words.”
Put them under a category of “Areas of Strength.” Key
words are what it is about the various positions you’ve held
over the years that you do really well, such as: Contract Negotiations,
Budget Development, Wage & Salary Administration. On the technical
side, consider them to be Hardware and Software. Large organizations
scan resumes into their computer and when needed, retrieve them.
They are retrieved using key words, which should be focused on your
industry or skill set. When someone does a key word search, your
document will be missed, if you do not use them. Tell me the last
time you think a company did a key word search on “gets along
well with people”.
WHAT ARE YOUR CURRENT SKILLS?
What you do and how you do it at your current
job, and what and how you did it at the previous jobs. Don’t
itemize work history back to the beginning of the flood. Maximum
15-20 years. And the way we handle that is in the Summary of Qualifications.
It should state.“ A senior executive with over 18 years (etc.
etc),” and when the resume is written, don’t go back
any further. If they see 30+ years of work experience on a resume,
they will figure out how old you are immediately and you will have
about as much chance of getting that interview and/or job as this
writer has of being the next President of the United States. Now
you say they’ll figure it out when they see what year I graduated
from college. Don’t indicate when you graduated from college,
just list the school and the degree.
IF YOU DON’T TELL THEM HOW GREAT YOU
ARE, WHO WILL?
Now, if you see a position that you think you
are qualified for, you and 212 other individuals think so also.
How does an organization make the decision as to who to invite in
or not to invite in; what separates you from everyone else with
the same skills? It’s “Accomplishments.” How did
you make money for your current (or last) employer, how did you
save them money, increased their efficiency, and reduced their costs.
That’s what will make you stand out from your competition.
If you don’t think so, think again. Remember that a resume’s
function is not to get you a job, it’s to get you a phone
call inviting you in. If you get that phone call, you have the opportunity
to build on what is in the resume and get into more detail to sell
yourself.
YOUR RESUME BETTER VISUALLY LOOK GREAT
After explaining all of this, the resume’s
format (visual presentation) becomes as critical as content. The
format for the Internet doesn’t matter, because we convert
everything into ‘text”, however, the format for the
rest of the world is very important (every job out there is not
found on the Internet). If you want that interview, your resume
better look as good as you do. Believe me, this is as important,
if not more important than the content. When those 212 resumes or
more come in on a job posting, you get 15 seconds of fame. The information
literally MUST jump off the page and grab the “Gatekeeper’s”
attention. The gatekeeper’s job is not to screen paper in,
but to screen it out, so it better look great. All of this should
be presented in two pages or less, if possible. This resume MUST
be a marketing tool, not an obituary.
For a free critique/price quote, email Career
Resumes® at Peter@career-resumes.com.
Peter Newfield is President of Career-Resumes.com®,
one of the premier resume writing services in the United States.
He is The Resume Expert for BlueSteps.com, ExecutiveRegistry.com,
NETSHARE.com, DirectEmployer.com and the former Resume Expert for
Monster.com, Spencer Stuart Talent Network and the Career Center on AOL. View samples at: www.career-resumes.com
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