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Resume Suggestions
Resumes - Your Marketing Challenge

What is the purpose of a resume?  Is it to get a job or offer?  No.  The purpose of a resume is to represent your talents well enough to attract a manager's or contract recruiter's attention to set up an interview.

Since 1981, we have easily read over 300,000 resumes.  Our business is to recruit the top candidates for our clients.  We also understand that every college and university has a suggested resume writing format.  Additionally, it seems for every foot between New York and San Diego there has been a book written on resume writing.  Therefore, this is our prejudice on the correct format. There is no "right way".

The first rule is to tell the truth on your resume.  For instance, never say that you have a degree if you do not have a degree - even if you are only one PE credit away.  It is the easiest information on your resume to check.  Once your veracity is challenged, you will not be pursued. On the other hand don't lie by omission. If you have made some major impacts, mention them in your resume. That is not bragging. It is being honest. You are measured by your accomplishments.

So you sweat all day writing the "perfect" resume.  How much time will an experienced contract recruiter spend on it?  When I was on my contract recruitment assignment with MCI, a Jr. Recruiter timed me as I went through a stack of about 100 resumes.  When I was done, Andrea informed me that I had spent as little as 2 seconds on a resume and as much as 12 seconds on a resume.  She said that I averaged 6 seconds on a resume. They went into three piles: interest, no interest, will take another look.

You have 6 seconds to attract the attention of an experienced contract recruiter.  What are we looking for?

ACCOMPLISHMENTS and IMPACTS

Always put your contact information at the top of the resume in easy to read format.  Don't force the contract recruiter to look for it.  It's nice to use bold here. Remember not to get too fancy here. Many resumes today go into an applicant tracking system. If spaces are between the letter of your name or lines between your name and contact information, the applicant tracking system may not be able to read it. Then your resume leaves the automated world and enters the manual world where it will sit - outside of the database.

What's next?  Many people suggest that you put an "Objective".  We have read so many "Objectives" that they all end up saying, "I want a good job in a good company."  In other words, it might not be a good use of your 6 seconds.  

We suggest that below your contact information you put "Summary" in bold type.  In your summary, list some of your accomplishments, particularly where your contribution had a direct effect on the corporate bottom line.  For instance a successful sales person could write, "Consistently sold at 120% of quota for four years".

Below "Summary" list your "Education" (if you have at least a college degree) in bold.  Try to keep each degree on one or two lines.

Next comes "Professional Experience" in bold.  The convention in resume writing is to list your most recent experience first and work backward.  Another convention is to write your resume in the third person (as if someone else was writing about you) and drop the pronouns.  You may want to put the name of your employer, dates of employment, and title in bold.

You want to include your accomplishments from your summary in the appropriate areas of your experience.

Do not begin a sentence with words like "have" ("Have led a team...). Begin them with action verbs (Led team tasked to...). Some candidates are now extensively using bullet points in their resumes. Develop your resume by discussing your responsibilities in paragraph format. Then add a couple of bullet points for your impacts. Otherwise, your impacts are camouflaged by your responsibilities and they don't stand out. Make it easy for a contract recruiter to see your impacts!

At the bottom of the resume, you may list community organizations where you have leadership responsibilities.

Try to limit your resume to one or two pages.

Never, Never, Never (When?), Never put personal information (marital status, children, health, ethnic information, hobbies, religious affiliation, etc.) on your resume.  Hiring managers are not allowed to ask those questions unless you bring them up.

Always print your resume on paper that copies well, if you are either dropping it off or mailing it.  Avoid dark or brightly colored paper or oatmeal paper because it copies poorly.

Always bring extra copies of your resume (unfolded) to interviews.

Always use "spell check" and have a disinterested party read your resume.  "Form" and "From" will make it through "spell check".  "Manager" and "Manger" will also sail through spell check without mention. So if you are a "Manager" and do not want to be stuffed with hay like a "Manger", double and triple check your spelling. As a matter of fact, do a "Find and Replace" on the word "Manger". If it pops up, make the change. Only one will convey your meaning correctly.

When you write a resume for the Internet job boards (Monster.com, Dice, Yahoo!, etc.), at the bottom of your resume write "Keywords" and then list all appropriate keywords as they apply either to your experience or search. As a contract recruitment firm, when we utilize the Internet for searches, we search for key words. It is better to list all that may apply. Otherwise, you may be over-looked. The search function of these databases measures the number of times a key word is picked up in a resume. The more times it sees that word, the more confident it is that you have the skills the contract recruiter is looking for and the higher up the list your resume will go.

Quick Resume Checklist

    • Is your name and contact information on your resume?
    • Did you drop your pronouns?
    • Did you have a disinterested third party read it for grammar and spelling errors?
    • Did you remove all "personal" information?
    • On resumes to be posted to Internet job boards, did you include "keywords"?
    • Did you tell the truth?

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