CANDIDATE SERVICES

Resume Writing

Purpose of a Resume

A good resume is important to your campaign for a number of reasons.

• It organizes your own understanding of your objective and defines how your past experience supports the objective, This will enable you to express yourself more effectively when interviewing.
• It is something tangible that can be left behind after meetings or attached to follow-up notes. Used in this manner, the resume reinforces the impression you made during your personal meeting, and can be shown to others in the company.
• It provides executive recruiters or employment agencies or other third parties with a document that can be forwarded to prospective employers for review.

Note, however, that a resume is not always appropriate for gaining interviews with prospective employers, executive recruiters, or employment agencies. A resume can sometimes give a person the illusion that he or she has evaluated you without having met you - and you are likely to lose out to someone the person has met.

Your primary tool for gaining meetings and interviews is an approach letter that arouses interest in seeing you in person.

Designing a Resume

Think of a resume as an action document that defines your objective and provides evidence of action that supports the objective. Keep the resume short and to the point, never using more than two pages. Keep the resume simple, clear, neat and attractive.

Heading

For ease of identification and follow-up, your name, address, home and office phone contacts obviously come first in any layout.

The Objective

The objective comprises three ideas:

• A general term should be used to identify the general career area without giving a specific title. Titles vary from company to company, as do the duties encompassed by a particular title. Thus, instead of stating "Controller" or "Chief Financial Officer" one can state "Senior Financial Executive." Other examples of general terms are: "Investigative Research," "Marketing" and "Personnel Development."
• The second point deals with your major strength areas. Remember, a strength is an ability motivated by an interest. Generally, it is good to cite three areas of strength that fit you and the objective. A senior financial executive might cite strengths in systems development, negotiation, and cost reduction.
• The third point presents what you can do for the employer. Remember: the only reason employers will want to hire you is because you can do something for them. You should indicate your intended contribution, such as "increasing profitability" or "developing effective marketing organizations."

These three points need not be in the sequence stated above, provided that all three ideas are conveyed.

Qualifications Summary

The next section of the "action resume" is the "Qualifications Summary" (which may also be entitled "Background Summary"). This paragraph validates and supports your objective by highlighting the main points of your background and experience.

Example: "18 years managerial and P & L responsibility, including finance, sales and marketing."

Accomplishments/Results

The next part of the resume deals with "related accomplishments" or “professional accomplishments," The purpose of this section is to present results to further support the strengths cited in the objective.

The strengths may be restated, and one or two accomplishments are shown to support each one. The accomplishments should:

• Use action verbs that define what you did and what resulted.
• Illustrate the significance of the accomplishment in quantifiable terms, e.g. dollars, people, percentages.

Always make sure that the accomplishments strongly and directly support the objective.

Experience

The next part of the resume deals with employment history, but using the term "experience" makes it a more positive statement.

As in all things, at no time should you falsify any information on a resume - it just doesn't work, and seriously jeopardizes others' perception of your integrity.

The experience section should first state the highest title in your most recent position, followed by the name of the company, location by city and state only, and years employed: for instance 1978 - 1981. Do not give total number of months or years, or provide month-specific dates. Then give a brief job description, emphasizing the strengths mentioned in your objective.

Education

Educational background, where given, should be stated simply: highest degree first, followed by major, name of school, and date. Then list prior degrees, if any. High school should be shown only if there is no college-level training indicated, and only if it is relevant to the objective. Other training, certificates, or educational attainments should also be shown if they provide significant support to the objective.

Other Relevant Data

The sixth portion is optional, and can include memberships, language skills, and personal data that support the objective. One should usually leave out explicit indications of religious affiliation or political orientation, or controversial activities. These can be covered in the verbal presentation should you decide they can be used to your advantage and are not likely to be interpreted negatively. Age may also fall into this category.

Notice that this resume, commonly referred to as a “functional resume”, focuses attention on your objective and qualifications for that objective, and only secondarily refers to the dates and places where you have been in the past. Note: If you have had several job changes, or a few short tenures this might be a desirable format to choose.

In contrast a “chronological resume” focuses on the dates-and-places where you have been in the past as well as your other pertinent information. This style is used if you have had good tenure in all positions and want that highlighted to a future employer. Both styles are effective means of communicating your experience and achievements. Use the style that works best with your work history!