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1. To start, what is a resume?
A resume is a self-promotional document that presents you in the best
possible light, for the purpose of getting invited to a job interview. It's
not an official personnel document. It's not a job application. It's
not a "career obituary"! And it's not a confessional.
2. What should the resume content be about?
It's not just about past jobs! It's about YOU, and how you performed and
what you accomplished in those past jobs--especially those accomplishments
that are most relevant to the specific work you want to do next. A good
resume predicts how you might perform in that desired future job.
3. What's the fastest way to improve a
resume?
Remove everything that starts with responsibilities included and
replace it with on-the-job accomplishments. (See Tip 11 for one way to write
them.)
4. What is the most common resume mistake?
Leaving out their Job Objective! If you don't
show a sense of direction, employers won't be interested. Having a clearly
stated goal doesn't have to confine you if it's stated well.
5. What's the 1st step in writing a resume?
Decide on a job target (or "career objective") that can be stated in just a
few words. Anything beyond that is probably "fluff" and indicates a lack of
clarity and direction.
6. How do you decide whether to use a
Chronological resume or a Functional one?
The Chronological format is widely
preferred by employers, and works well if you're staying
in the same field (especially if you've been upwardly-mobile). Only use a
Functional format if you're changing fields, and you're sure a
skills-oriented format would show off your transferable skills to better
advantage; and be sure to include a clear chronological work history!
7. What if you don't have any experience in
the kind of work you want to do?
Get some! Find a place that will let you do
some volunteer work right away. You only need a brief, concentrated period
of volunteer training (for example, 1 day a week for a month) to have at
least SOME experience to put on your resume.
Also, look at some of the volunteer work you've done in the past and see if
any of THAT helps document some skills you'll need for your new job.
8. What do you do if you have gaps in your
work experience?
You could start by looking at it differently.
General Rule: Tell what you were doing then, as gracefully as
possible--rather than leave a gap. If you were doing anything valuable (even
if unpaid) during those so-called "gaps" you could just insert THAT into the
work-history section of your resume to fill the hole. Here are some
examples:
-
1993-95 Full-time parent -- or
-
1992-94 Maternity leave and family management -- or
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Travel and study -- or Full-time student -- or
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Parenting plus community service
9. What if you have several different job
objectives you're working on at the same time? Or you haven't narrowed it
down yet to just one job target?
Then write a different resume for each different job target. A targeted
resume is MUCH, much stronger than a generic resume.
10. What if you have a fragmented,
scrambled-up work history, with lots of short-term jobs?
To minimize the job-hopper image, combine
several similar jobs into one "chunk," for example:
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1993-1995 Secretary/Receptionist; James Bakery,
Micro Corp., Cartier Jewelers -- or
-
1993-95 Waiter/Busboy; Mom's Restaurant, Burger
King, Traders Coffee Shop.
Also you can just drop some of the less important,
briefest jobs. But don't drop a job, even when it lasted a short time, if
that was where you acquired important skills or experience.
11. What's the best way to impress an
employer?
Fill your resume with "PAR" statements. PAR stands for
Problem-Action-Results; in other words, first you state the problem that
existed in your workplace, then you describe what you did about it, and
finally you point out the beneficial results.
Here's an example: "Transformed a disorganized, inefficient warehouse
into a smooth-running operation by completely redesigning the layout; this
saved the company thousands of dollars in recovered stock."
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Another example:
"Improved an engineering company's obsolete filing system by developing a
simple but sophisticated functional-coding system. This saved time and money
by recovering valuable, previously lost, project records."
12. What
if your job title doesn't reflect your actual level of responsibility?
When you list it on the resume, either replace it with a more appropriate
job title (say "Office Manager" instead of "Administrative Assistant" if
that's more realistic) OR use their job title AND your fairer one together,
i.e. "Administrative Assistant (Office Manager)"
13. How can you avoid age discrimination?
If you're over fifty or sixty, remember that you don't have to present your
entire work history! You can simply label THAT part of your resume
"Recent Work History" or "Relevant Work History" and then
describe only the last 10 or 15 years of your experience. Below your 10-15
year work history, you could add a paragraph headed "Prior relevant
experience" and simply refer to any additional important (but ancient) jobs
without mentioning dates.
14. What if you never had any "real" paid
jobs -- just self-employment or odd jobs?
Give yourself credit, and create an accurate,
fair job-title for yourself. For example:
-
A&F Hauling
& Cleaning (Self-employed) -- or
-
Household
Repair man, Self-employed -- or
-
Child-care,
Self-employed
Be sure to
add "Customer references available upon request" and then be prepared to
provide some very good references of people you worked for.
15. How far back should you go in your Work
History?
Far enough; and not too far! About 10 or 15
years is usually enough - unless your "juiciest" work experience is from
farther back.
16. How can a student list summer jobs?
Students can make their resume look neater by
listing seasonal jobs very simply, such as "Spring 1997" or "Summer 1998"
rather than 6/97 to 9/98. (The word "Spring" can be in very tiny letters,
say 8-point in size.)
17. What if you don't quite have your degree
or credentials yet?
You can say something like:
-
Eligible
for U.S. credentials -- or
-
Graduate
studies in Instructional Design, in progress -- or
-
Master's
Degree anticipated December 1997
18. What
if you worked for only one employer for 20 or 30 years?
Then list separately each different position
you held there, so your job progression within the company is more obvious.
19. What about listing hobbies and
interests?
Don't include hobbies on a resume unless the
activity is somehow relevant to your job objective, or clearly reveals a
characteristic that supports your job objective. For example, a hobby of Sky
Diving (adventure, courage) might seem relevant to some job objectives
(Security Guard?) but not to others.
20. What about revealing race, or religion?
Don't include ethnic or religious
affiliations (inviting pre-interview discrimination) UNLESS you can see that
including them will support your job objective. Get an opinion from a
respected friend or colleague about when to reveal, and when to conceal,
your affiliations.
21. What
if your name is Robin Williams?
Don't mystify the reader about your gender; they'll go nuts until they know
whether you're male or female. So if your name is Lee or Robin or Pat or
anything else not clearly male or female, use a Mr. or Ms. prefix.
22. What if you got your degree from a
different country?
You can say "Degree equivalent to U.S. Bachelor's Degree in
Economics-Bombay, India."
23. What about fancy-schmancy paper?
Employers tell me they HATE parchment paper and pretentious brochure-folded
resume "presentations." They think they're phony, and toss them right out.
Use plain white or ivory, in a quality appropriate for your job objective.
Never use colored paper unless there's a very good reason for it (like,
you're an artist) because if it gets photo-copied the results will likely be
murky.
24. Should you fold your resume?
Don't fold a laser-printed resume right along a line of text. The "ink"
could flake off along the fold.
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