Laura DeCarlo

Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-14-2022

Your resume is you in paper (or electronic) form. It’s the first glimpse employers get of the value you can bring to their company. Your resume should tell a compelling story of who you are and what you can do, especially in a tough economic environment or when you’re moving from one career to another. Show your skills by creating a focused resume that shows point for point how you fit into the company’s big picture.

Article / Updated 07-28-2019

How much are you worth to employers? Your resume inspires an employer's first best guess, so you want to ensure that it’s a compelling portrait of how your strengths and skills benefit the enterprise that you’re hoping will write your next paycheck. One key element that comes into play is how you present information in your resume. You don't have to limit yourself to presenting your experience using the traditional reverse-chronological resume. In fact, unless you’ve had a traditional career history of rising through the ranks, this standard resume could hurt your chances of getting an interview. Formats for resumes make a difference Resume format refers not to the design or look of your resume but to how you organize and emphasize your information. Different format styles flatter different histories. At root, formats come in three styles: The reverse-chronological format (or traditional format), which lists employment beginning with the most recent and working backward The chrono-functional format, which most frequently emphasizes skills and accomplishments first and chronology timeline second The hybrid format, which lets you customize how you emphasize both the functional skills and the chronology depending on your unique needs Yes, there is such a thing as a functional resume that focuses primarily on skills and leaves out company names and dates where the work was performed. However, this format presents a big red flag for prospective employers, so don’t be tempted to use it under any circumstances. This table gives you a breakdown of which of the three formats enhances your personal curb appeal. Your Best Resume Formats at a Glance Your Situation Suggested Formats Perfect career progression Reverse chronological New graduate Chrono-functional Seasoned ace Reverse chronological; hybrid when old jobs are most relevant Military transition Reverse chronological or chrono-functional Job history gaps Chrono-functional or hybrid Career change Hybrid; sometimes reverse chronological Special issues Hybrid or chrono-functional Multitrack job history Chrono-functional Demotions Any The big question to ask yourself when you’re considering different formats is: “Does this format maximize my qualifications for the job I want?” The format you choose should promote your top qualifications, so make sure to select a format that helps you present your top-pick value. Reverse-chronological resume format The reverse-chronological (RC) format, shown in the following figure, is straightforward: It cites your employment history from the most recent back, showing dates as well as employers. You accent a steady work history with a clear pattern of upward or lateral mobility. The RC format's strengths and weaknesses Check to see whether the reverse-chronological resume’s strengths work for you: This upfront format is by far the most popular with employers and recruiters because it puts the emphasis on what you’ve been doing most recently in your career and lets your career progression easily be seen. RC links employment dates, underscoring continuity. The weight of your experience confirms that you’re a specialist in a specific career field. RC positions you for the next upward career step. As the most traditional of formats, RC is a good fit for traditional industries but is the resume of choice for all industries when you can demonstrate solid progression in your career. Take the weaknesses of the reverse-chronological format into account: When your previous job titles are substantially different from your target position, this format doesn’t support your objective. Without careful management, the RC reveals everything, including inconsequential jobs and negative factors. RC can spotlight periods of unemployment or brief job tenure. Without careful management, RC reveals your age. If you aren’t careful, RC may suggest that you hit a plateau and stayed in a job too long. Should you use the RC resume format? Use the reverse-chronological if you fall into any of these categories: You have a steady work record reflecting constant growth or lateral movement. Your most recent employer is a respected name in the industry, and the name may ease your entry into a new position. Your most recent job titles are impressive stepping-stones. You’re a savvy writer who knows how to manage potential negative factors, such as inconsequential jobs, too few jobs, too many temporary jobs, too many years at the same job, or too many years of age. Think twice about using the RC under these circumstances: You're a new graduate with limited experience in your target profession. You have work history or employability problems such as gaps, demotions, stagnation in a single position, job hopping (four jobs in three years, for example), or re-entering the workforce after a break to raise a family. You're trying to change careers. You're trying to re-enter a profession you worked in many years ago that isn’t showing up front and center with an RC. How to create a reverse-chronological resume To create an RC resume, remember to focus on areas of specific relevance to your target position. For your work history section, you typically want to concentrate on your last four jobs or your last 10 to 15 years of employment. Be sure to include for each the name of the employer and the city in which you worked, the years you were there, your title, your key responsibilities, and your measurable accomplishments. To handle problems such as unrelated experience or early experience that could date you but is too relevant to leave off, you can group unrelated jobs in a second work history section under a heading of Additional Experience, Previous Experience, or Related Experience. When it comes to including dates on your resume, you have multiple options: If your jobs were extremely fluid, meaning you left one company and immediately started with the next, you can use months and years. However, if you had gaps of several months between one job stopping and one starting, it is perfectly acceptable to just list the years employed. When you have held multiple progressive positions with an employer, you don’t have to list the employer all over again. Instead, create an umbrella for the positions, listing the employer only once and the total dates, and then show your reverse chronology below. This figure shows how to present multiple progressive positions with the same employer. If your positions were similar and varied little, or you had the same job with a different title, it’s okay to group them versus describing them twice. The following figure shows an individual who had progressive positions with the same employer, but some of the jobs were similar enough to group instead of listing redundant information in two places. Chrono-functional resume format The chrono-functional (CF) format, shown in the following figure, is a resume of ability-focused topics — portable skills or functional areas that position you best for your new job target (or to overcome some challenge in your timeline). It ignores chronological order or even whether a particular skill came from employment. However, the chrono-functional format backs up all listed skills with a chronology that might come from employment, courses or education, volunteer work, and paid or unpaid internships. The CF format's strengths and weaknesses The following are the strengths of the chrono-functional format: A CF resume directs a reader’s eyes to what you want him or her to notice. It helps a reader visualize what you can do instead of locking you into when and where you learned to do it. CF resumes salute the future rather than embalm the past. The CF format — written after researching the target company — serves up the precise functions or skills that the employer wants. It’s like saying, “You want budget control and turnaround skills —– here’s where I offer budget control and turnaround skills.” The skills sell is a magnet to reader eyes! It uses unpaid and nonwork experience to your best advantage. The CF format allows you to eliminate or subordinate work history that doesn’t support your current objective. The weaknesses of the chrono-functional format include the following: Recruiters and employers are more accustomed to reverse-chronological formats than other types. Departing from the norm may raise suspicion that you’re not the cream of the crop of applicants. Readers may assume that you’re trying to hide inadequate experience, educational deficits, or who knows what. Functional styles may leave unclear which skills grew from which jobs or experiences. This format doesn’t clearly describe your career progression. Should you use the CF resume format? The chrono-functional resume is heaven-sent for career changers, contract workers, new graduates, ex-military personnel, and individuals with multitrack job histories, work history gaps, or special issues. Job seekers with perfect backgrounds (no gaps, career changes, or the like) and managers and professionals who are often tapped by executive recruiters should avoid this format. How to create a chrono-functional resume Choose areas of expertise acquired during the course of your career, including education and unpaid activities. These areas become skill, competency, and functional headings, which vary by the target position or career field. Note accomplishments below each heading. A few examples of headings are: Operations Management, Sales, Budget Control, Cost Cutting, Project Implementation, Growth, and Turnaround Successes. List the headings in the order of importance and follow each heading with a series of short statements of your skills. Turn your statements into power hitters with measurable achievements. The easiest way to do this is to always write CAR statements — the challenge you faced, actions you took, and results you obtained. It’s important to note two key elements that allow a chrono-functional resume to work: Your resume has a work history listed either above or below the experience and accomplishments section. Each top skill lists the role in which it was attained. If you do not make these key connections in your resume, prospective employers will question the validity of your skills and become confused about where or when they were used. By providing this small bit of connective data, you make a chrono-functional a safe choice when navigating career challenges on your resume. Hybrid resume format The hybrid resume format may likely be something you haven’t encountered before. While it has been in use by a handful of professional resume writers for over a decade with great success and employer acceptance, it has rarely been shared with job seekers before now. A hybrid resume format takes elements from different resume types so you can maintain an employment chronology as well as use creative functional characteristics to overcome your career challenge without raising any red flags. This strategy works great if You want to highlight jobs from earlier in your career that might otherwise not be seen. Your most recent job was not as strong or as close a fit to your target. You have a gap in employment. Essentially, with the hybrid format, you’re addressing employment circumstances in which there are challenges but a full chrono-functional adaptation would be overkill. Such challenges might include You held the target experience or industry experience previously in your career. The position experience or industry experience most relevant to your target is earlier in your career and will be hidden on page 2 of the resume. You were demoted with your current employer and wish to make that less obvious. Your recent employment is lower level, irrelevant, or covering a gap but your prior history is right on target. The hybrid format's strengths and weaknesses Check out some of the strengths of the hybrid format to decide whether it’s for you: It quickly points prospective employers to early experience you have that matches your target, and it makes it seem more relevant. It can cleverly mask a gap in your employment history. It allows you the flexibility to put your best foot forward even if your most recent employment was not in line with your current target. When crafted correctly for job seekers with these kinds of challenges, there aren’t any weaknesses to using a hybrid format. Should you use the hybrid resume format? A hybrid resume helps you position your relevant experience and work history more effectively when you have gaps, demotions, career changes, career back-tracking, or haven’t worked in the target industry for many years. Although the hybrid resume looks neat and is highly efficient at what it does, those with strong career progressions in their chosen industry should steer clear. You don’t need to get fancy when you’re already on track. How to create a hybrid resume Some employment challenges require the lightest of tweaking to make them blend in, and others require more of a major renovation. You can decide on a case-by-case basis how much work your resume needs when you look at the job target and compare it to your work history. If your career progression is all lined up for the job you want but the industry experience is hiding on page 2, all you need is a light tweak to help draw the eyes of prospective employer to relevant career information. You can stick with your reverse chronology and all the other elements that make an RC successful, but add a little summary line at the top of your professional experience section that connects your prior positions or industries with the target, as shown here. But what if you’re facing one of those challenges that make it more crucial for you to play up a job from earlier in your career but going to a chrono-functional resume would be overkill? That’s when you go heavy with the hybrid! You have room to be creative here as long as you adhere to two simple rules: Always include a timeline, either before the professional experience section or after it. List jobs in the order they best serve you, but without the dates (since those appear elsewhere in the chronology). Feel free to leave out descriptions that don’t serve you. The following figure shows you how you might present the timeline and job list on a resume. After you decide on which resume format you're going to use, see "Why Creative Resume Designs Are Game Changers," for ways to make your resume pop.

Article / Updated 07-28-2019

Today's employers are inundated by resume submissions in a world where multitasking and information overload are already the norm. If you try to use a Core, one-size-fits-all, resume, your resume will end up in a black hole. Even though the computer age is upon us, fully customizing a resume remains a time-suck in busy lives — like preparing a five-course meal from scratch. That’s why you want to check out the OnTarget approach to customization described here. Here’s how you can get started transforming your one-size-fits-all resume into a targeted resume: Read the job description to determine exactly what the employer needs. Mirror back what you find in each section of the OnTarget resume. Specifically, tweak your objective header statement and the contents of your summary, keywords, and employment history sections. Cut out irrelevant content from each section of your Core resume. Keeping this content won’t make you look better; instead it makes you look like you’re overqualified and not likely to stay — or uncommitted and likely to leave. Tweak wording to speak directly to the targeted position. This step may require crossover language if you are going from working with physicians and surgeons as your clients in the healthcare industry to executives in the IT industry. Look at the language used in the job description and use it in your OnTarget resume. Staying OnTarget with your resume is a very simple process as long as you aren’t making a major life change such as returning to work after a gap or entering the workplace for the first time as a new graduate. Draw words from job descriptions for your targeted resume In order to spoon-feed a prospective employer directly what he is seeking in a position, take a look at the job description. If you find the description to be vague, perform an Internet search for that job title and look at other descriptions to get a deeper sense of what is desired. For example, if you have a background in retail sales, retail management, and customer service, the Core one-size-fits-all resume you have developed positions you to use all these skills. But now you are targeting a job in outside sales. When you review the job description, you’ll see no emphasis on retail or on management. From the description you can typically surmise: The objective header statement you need to use to show you are applying for this position. What the employer values in a candidate, which you can play up in your summary section and in your results-focused job descriptions. The key skills that you need to list and emphasize in your keyword section and then later connect with responsibilities and CAR stories in your professional experience section (job descriptions). The wording you need to adopt to make your experience feel as relevant as possible. This is crossover language where you speak in the new profession’s language and not in your old profession’s language. This figure shows a Core one-size-fits-all resume for a job seeker who is overqualified for her target position. In the following figure, the same job seeker appears perfectly qualified for this job. Use crossover language to be OnTarget Imagine you need to cross a bridge to reach your prospective employer, have him open the door, and welcome you in. When you reach that door and he speaks the language of healthcare and you speak that of engineering, your interaction will be as if you are from two different countries. He’ll close the door, unsure of why you came knocking, and you will go away feeling frustrated. But it never has to be that way if you discover how to use crossover language when writing your OnTarget resume. Luckily, crossover language is easy to apply when you have looked at the job description for your target position. Does the employer refer to clients as “patients”? Are their customers called “members” or “key decision-makers”? Do they “sell” or “consult”? Are their products “cardiothoracic medical devices” or “high-tech equipment”? After you have a feel for this language, you can begin changing the wording in your Core resume to reflect the target for your new OnTarget resume. When choosing crossover language for your OnTarget resume, don’t use words that you don’t have the knowledge to support in an interview. You must truly understand the language you’re using in your resume. Be sure to dig deep, do your homework, and be able to talk in the language of your target industry. Otherwise, you may find yourself embarrassed in an interview. The following figure shows a great example of using crossover language to target a new type of position. The job seeker’s before language pigeonholed him to home cabinet projects; after he targeted his resume, the specific crossover language demonstrated his match for project management. Job descriptions aren’t the only place you can learn about language when targeting a position that may represent a change in industry or responsibility. Look at the Occupational Outlook Handbook, perform general searches by job title, and visit the professional association for that industry. You can uncover a lot of key language, core responsibilities, and strengths a particular type of position and industry require to help you make your resume a strong OnTarget match. Going OnTarget with your resume can seem time-consuming. However, you will rapidly find that if you are targeting the same type of position over and over again, you only have to change a few words after the first customization. So be sure to save a copy of each new target you create. That way, when the next sales position or operations manager position comes along that you want to target, you can open that file, perform any needed customization, and be ready to go in a matter of moments.

Article / Updated 07-28-2019

The formatting, content, and presentation of a creative resume can give you an edge during a job search. Desktop publishing and design software, first made widespread in the 1980s, has enabled some people to elevate the marketing and advertising strategy in their resumes. Anyone can use some creativity in a resume to help it stand out in a stack of plain resumes. Here, you'll see examples of when to go all-out with design and when to be more restrained. It’s important to recognize that the fancier your resume, the less chance it has of being scannable. If resume content appears on a colored background or pertinent data is in a chart or box, computers can't read it. But don’t discount these creative resumes — they don’t replace your regular OnTarget resume. Instead, use your creative resume for targeted mailings, networking, job fairs, and any time you can put a resume directly into the hands of a decision maker. Submit both formats and include the following in your cover letter: “For your convenience, I have also included a plain, scannable copy of my resume.” This approach solves the problem and gets your resume seen. What is a creative resume? A creative resume can be as simple as a resume with a logo of your initials at the top or pops of color. It can also be a full-out design project. Here are some more extreme examples of creative resumes: A chef looking to land a position on a private yacht used a resume set up to look like an elegant, full-color, folding menu. He used fancy script fonts for headers and creative titles for sections, such as The Experience instead of Professional Experience. The chef currently sails the Mediterranean on a gorgeous sailing yacht. A fine artist looking to break into advertising painted an original work, scanned it into the computer, overlaid it with sections of her resume, and then cut them into puzzle pieces. Those were placed in a paint can with a custom marketing wrap branded to advertise her. The cans were delivered to agencies following a four-week postcard teaser campaign about solving your company’s advertising puzzle. After interviews with many companies, she became a creative director with the then WB television network. A tugboat captain wanted to land a position as a captain of a casino cruise ship. His resume used a line drawing of a cruise ship down one side of the page. He also positioned his qualifications for the change. Despite his lack of direct experience, he applied for one job and landed it. The yes and no of creative resumes It’s critical to match your creative resume to the situation and make sure it is appropriate for the industry. Don't be creative just to be creative. Give the creativity a purpose. Think about the example resumes described previously. Lower-level, blue collar, or technical jobs can be appropriate for a creative resume. For example, gear-shaped text boxes can run across the top of an engineer's resume to highlight his strengths. Not a lot of design, but a thoughtful, applicable design. There really are no absolutes regarding the use of creative resume techniques as long as you pause and make sure that they won’t oversell you for the position or industry or be seen as inappropriate. However, do consider the following few no-no’s: Neon or bright colors that burn the corneas: Instead, opt for soothing, professional shades or ones specific to the industry. Company logos: You must have permission before using a former employer’s company or product logo. Irrelevant, tasteless, or vulgar graphics or images: Your graphics should be relevant, such as a custom logo of your name or initials, representative design elements (images, icons, or text boxes) for the industry, or charts and tables. Fancy, illegible fonts: Creative resumes don’t provide an excuse for using unreadable fonts. Choose an appropriate shape for non-relevant content such as headers; be elegant, bold, edgy, or fun. But make sure the font is readable and use a recommended font for the body text of your experience, skills, and accomplishments. Busy layout: It’s fun to add creative elements to your resume, but don't make it crowded and overwhelming. Less is more, so plan carefully. Don’t be afraid to experiment and play. Remember, blank page syndrome is the biggest enemy in creating your resume. Just jump in and get started with ideas. Professional resume writer Cheryl Lynch Simpson of Executive Resume Rescue is a pioneer of creative resumes. She advises that you look at print marketing for ideas. Keep your eye out for mailers you receive, brochures at companies, and magazine ads. Keep the ones that appeal to you and use them to drive your ideas when creating your resume. Creative resume designs strategies that pop When approaching your creative resume, don’t be afraid to play with layout, colors, and MS Office tools. With an open mind, and the Insert and Design menus, just about anything is possible when creating a visually distinctive resume. The process requires thought, practice, and play. Special thanks to resume writers Posey Salem of Radiant Resume Career Services and Marie Plett of Aspirations Career Services, Inc., for their ideas, strategies, and contributions, which are highlighted in the following examples and ideas. When you want to perform a task, such as insert text shading or insert page border, perform an online search, and include your version of MS Word. You'll find step-by-step instructions with screen shots and even videos. Lines and shading on a resume One of the easiest design techniques is to apply lines and shading to offset content in your resume. You can use lines and shading around or over section headings, your name, or other body text to make it stand out. Or do something as simple as changing your bullets from black to a color. For an elegant look, use the page border function in MS Word to create a border around the entire resume. Experiment with single and double lines of different weights (widths) to create a custom look. Check out the following figure for some examples of lines and shading. Text boxes draw the eye on your resume Text boxes are an easy way to draw the eye to content and make it stand out. You can add a text box in several ways. A favorite method is to choose the Insert menu, click Shapes, select the one shape you like, and insert it into the document. Hover your cursor over the shape and then right-click to display a menu with the option of adding text. After you add text, experiment with adding color, shadows, and shading and changing the color of your font, as shown in the following figure. A black font on a light background or a white font on a dark background can make a nice contrast and increase legibility. Be careful when selecting the content you include in a text box or other closed image, such as charts and graphs. This data can be rendered invisible by computer resume-scanning systems. Always choose data that would help the reader but would not count specifically toward meeting the requirements of the position. A great choice for a text box is a testimonial from a former employer. Also, you can highlight top content in a text box as long as it is repeated in text elsewhere in the resume. You can add charts and graphs to your resume Charts and graphs make great additions to your resume when you have numerical data to display. By including the data visually, you draw the eye to the return on investment you can offer by demonstrating your ability to make money, save money, maximize resources, or maintain satisfied customers. Graphs and charts are a power-packed way to demonstrate this growth or savings over time, as shown here. The most commonly used charts and graphs are pie charts, column charts and graphs, and bar graphs and charts. But as you can see, many others are available. Which one you use in your resume depends on the type of data you want to convey. Experiment with MS Word’s offerings by choosing the Insert menu and looking at the SmartArt and Chart options. If you don’t have concrete numbers, you may still be able to use a chart or graph in your resume. Explore the SmartArt and Charts options and you will uncover a variety of formats that can lead to unique data visuals. Monograms and logos on your resume If you want to spiff up your resume without worrying about content scanability, consider creating a monogram or logo for your resume. The easiest way to do this is in a header at the top of your resume. Every logo example in the following figure was created in MS Word using the Insert Shape menu along with some tweaking. Creating your own logo for your resume can be a fun way to get creative without detracting from your content. Resume writer Marie Plett designed the header (at the top of the figure) by using multiple overlapping shapes, shading, and background art. You're unlikely to create something like this on your first try, but with some patience and willingness to play with MS Word tools, you too can create dynamic monograms and logos. Graphics and icons can make a resume pop Have you earned an industry certification and been given permission by the granting organization to use the logo in your self-marketing? If so, including that logo would make a great addition to the header of your resume, as shown. Likewise, you might use icons in place of your bullets to represent an industry profession or a functional responsibility. These would be great in a key word list or the summary section at the top of a resume. Although you can insert images in MS Word, you probably won’t have to take that step. When you go to insert a new bullet into your resume, select Define New Bullet. Then look at the Symbols menu for various webdings and wingdings. Yes, those are funny names, but that's how MS Word refers to its symbol bullets. You have many choices that may be an appropriate match for your profession. For instance, pilots might select an airplane to represent bullets in the summary section of their resume. Or customer service representatives might select a phone for the bullets in their summary section. Whatever you do with graphics and icons in your resume, keep it simple and choose to include strategies only if they further your positioning for the target job.

Article / Updated 07-28-2019

When you’ve just walked the cap-and-gown line, you can sidestep “no experience” potholes by impressing employers with your vim and vigor, accomplishments, and up-to-date knowledge. Here’s a primer on putting together a resume for a recent graduate that can help you break into your desired field. Check out award-winning new graduate resumes created by professional resume writers at CareerDirectors under the Find a Career Pro navigation button. Here you can find a number of great examples for overcoming new graduate challenges. Promote your strengths As a recent graduate, you have four key selling points and various minor ones: You’re energetic and fired up to tackle assigned tasks and conquer the world. Your job skills and knowledge are up-to-date, and you’ve likely gained a lot of hands-on experience you may take for granted. You’re available for the right price. You cost much less than an older, experienced person. Maybe half as much. You belong to a global, networked era and aren’t afraid of technology. Throw in assertions that you’re a fast learner, are untarnished by earlier workplace habits, and as a rookie, you are prime material to be developed in concert with a prospective employer’s viewpoints. With these selling points, hiring managers will want to take a second look at how you may fit into their organization. Recognize your rookie soft spots Your key weaknesses are internal and external, but, luckily, they can all be overcome with resume strategy. As a new professional, you risk Being stereotyped by prospective employers as having book smarts but lacking practical experience. Taking for granted the relevant value you have to offer and not selling all the knowledge and skills gained from projects, papers, class learning, volunteerism, internships, and seemingly unrelated employment. These shortcomings are easy enough to put a positive spin on when you’re putting together your resume. Keep reading for ways to turn these negatives into positives. Demonstrate how recent graduates add value Just as the times change, so do the strategies for putting together resumes. Your professors may recommend that you simply list your jobs and skills, but these days, that’s not enough. You need to recognize that your resume isn’t a list of everything you’ve done. It’s about selling yourself for jobs in the field you’re targeting. What is most important is including content on your resume that shows you’re ready for that type of position. Use the following key strategies to make your resume sell. Data-mine your college experience Need a job? Get experience! Need experience? Get a job! This predicament has frustrated new graduates since the Industrial Revolution. It might seem like you have a difficult resume challenge when you have nothing but education to work with. But that’s just not the case! Every core course you took and every volunteer role you held may offer juicy nuggets of value to your resume. Consider the following factors to identify the experience and skills you garnered in college and match your information with the job you hope to land: Work: Internships, summer jobs, part-time jobs, campus jobs, entrepreneurial jobs, temporary work, and volunteer work. Sports: Proven ability to achieve goals in a team environment; strength in competition, which looks good for many types of positions such as sales. Awards and honors Research papers and projects Knowledge: Skills and abilities gained from completing core courses. Campus leadership Grade Point Average (GPA): If it’s 3.0 or above; otherwise, omit it (some advisers set the GPA floor at 3.5). Technical skills and software facility Clarify your aim Always start by very briefly clarifying your job target with your objective header. Ditch the wordy (and lofty) job objectives because that’s considered old school. Cut to the chase, like this: Research position in urban planning field in Chicago area. or Qualified for positions in: Sales ~ Marketing ~ Public Relations Summarize what makes you stand out Include a summary to point out your strong points (I walk you through this process in Chapter 7). As a new grad, think about what professors told you were your strengths or what they wrote on your papers. Reread the recommendation letters you received from internships. Think about any recognitions or awards you were given for clubs, academics, or volunteer work. Your goal is to state in two or three sentences what makes you stand out. For example: Visionary and high-energy young professional recognized for savvy in targeting marketing projects and PR campaigns. Experience: worked on campaigns for the XYZ Company and the ABC Company. Creative: campaign selected out of 24 presented by fellow competitors. Quick-to-learn: attained 3.75 GPA in BS in Marketing. And it’s all true. Consider how it breaks down: Statement: Visionary and high-energy young professional recognized for savvy in targeting marketing projects and PR campaigns. Translation: I have been told by my professors, bosses, and internship managers that I have a lot of energy and vision for marketing and PR. Statement: Experience: worked on campaigns for the XYZ Company and the ABC Company. Translation: I completed case study projects in my marketing classes on these companies that led to mock campaigns being developed. Statement: Creative: campaign selected out of 24 presented by fellow competitors. Translation: One of my case studies was overseen by a real marketing agency. Of my 24 classmates, my campaign proposal was selected as the one they would pitch to the client. Statement: Quick-to-learn: attained a 3.75 GPA in BS in Marketing. Translation: It is always a good idea to showcase your GPA in your resume if you have attained at least a 3.0. Otherwise, leave it off. Sell your skills, knowledge, and training You may feel compelled to follow the direction of your professors and friends, and limit what you have learned to the names of classes written under your new degree in the resume’s education section. Don’t do it! This is how employers get the idea you just have book smarts, and your resume fails to provide the necessary keywords for computer scans. Instead, this is where you turn your classroom learning, school papers, projects, transferrable work, and volunteer skills into resume gold. Under your summary, all you need to do is add a two- or three-column list with the title: Knowledge, Skills, and Training Fill this section with the key skills, knowledge, and training you have for your target job. A marketing grad might include: Advertising, Marketing, Public Relations, Budgeting, Pricing, Graphic Design, Client Relations, Project Planning, Market Research, Branding, Writing & Editing, Social Media Check out the following figure for an example of how this can look. Now your resume leads with some keyword meat that you will support later in the experience section. Most new grads make the mistake of skipping the keyword section because they feel they have little to offer. But that’s just wrong and a disservice to all the knowledge and hands-on skills you gained while attaining your degree. Dig deep into course descriptions, course syllabi, and textbook tables of contents to find the keywords relevant to your job target. If you aren’t sure what to play up in the keyword section, take a look at descriptions of jobs you are targeting. This will give you a good indication of the skills employers are seeking and should help you shape what you include. Experience isn’t just about paid jobs Thicken your work experience by including all unpaid positions, internships, special projects, and volunteer jobs/leadership roles (such as campus club president). List them just like you would employment in reverse chronological order under your experience section. For example: Marketing Studies, FT – ABC University, Orlando, FL Marketing Campaigns: Completed campaign design for XYZ company course project that was selected by Stark Advertising Agency as the best out of 24 entries. Met with customer and Stark staff on mock pitch. Marketing Collateral: Designed numerous collateral pieces from press releases to emails, websites, and brochures using Photoshop, AI, and WordPress in design class. President (Marketing Responsibility) – 123 Sorority, Orlando, FL Recruiting & Marketing Campaigns: Collaborated with volunteers to develop effective on-campus and off-campus recruiting campaigns that led to 30 percent increase in pledges over prior three years. Communications & Promotions: Represented sorority to key influencers such as university administrative staff. Attained permission for unique on-campus fundraiser that led to raising $12,000 in one semester. Highlight the experience most relevant to your intended future. If you have at least one year of full-time professional experience, place your education section after your experience section — unless your education is changing your career path. Dump unhelpful information Don’t fatten your resume with irrelevant data such as hobbies, unless they are directly relevant to your job target or the employer. Include an activity only if it reveals skills, competencies, accomplishments, results, or other qualification to support your intended job. Omit high school data unless it adds a unique fact to the total impression that you’re creating. Also, if you’re mailing your resume via the U.S. Postal Service, don’t enclose it in a report cover or bulky package; just slip it and your cover letter in a standard envelope. And forget about including school transcripts or letters of recommendation. Those belong in a nice three-ring binder portfolio you carry with you to the interview. Make unrelated work history relatable It can feel easy to just write down what you did in your unrelated jobs and leave it at that. But what if your job was as a cashier and you’re targeting marketing coordinator? Words just aren’t going to mesh and sell you to the prospective employer. This is where you have to do a little analysis of how what you have to offer can cross the bridge to what the employer needs. First, break your job down into fragments and explain them. For example, with the cashier description, don’t just say that your responsibility was “scanning products, making money transactions, and dealing with customers.” Instead do this: Look at job descriptions that match what you are targeting. Consider how your skills can best be explained to fit those requirements. Describe each function in terms of your accomplishments and their outcomes. Avoid gaffes common to new graduates New graduates are more likely than experienced job seekers to make the following mistakes. Falling short of image standards: If you present an online resume blemished with the type of shorthand used for tweets and texting, or a paper resume flawed with typos, or a persona degraded with party pictures or a goofy profile on a social media site, you flunk. Omitting heavy-hitter points: You fail to distinguish yourself by creating an opening summary that calls to mind an image of your brand, as I describe earlier in this chapter. Keep your summary brief — three to four accomplishments is plenty. Overcompensating with gimmicky language: Don’t get cutesy in your resume to compensate for a lack of qualifications. Avoid using exotically original language, such as “eyelinered genius,” a term used by a business graduate applying for an entry-level marketing position in the cosmetics industry. The term may be colorful, but charm communicates better in the interview. Making employers guess: Employers hate being asked to decipher your intent. Merely presenting your declared major and transcript excerpts isn’t enough to kick off a productive job search. Add a targeted objective header statement, summary, and keyword section directed at a specific career field and type of position. Leveling the experience field: Your resume is no place to give every job equal billing. Do what you can to make each one relevant for the prospective employer, but don’t be afraid to limit one to just a single line of job title, company name, location, and date in your reverse chronology for positions that just don’t seem to offer any relevant value. Stopping with bare bones: Some rookies look at a sheet of paper and then at their embarrassing, bedraggled collection of jobs in their paid-experience stew. Desperate to get anything written, they settle for employer, job title, and dates of employment. The solution is to pull together all experience, including volunteer and part-time gigs. Sit, think, think some more, and add all your relevant competencies and skills pointing in the direction in which you wish to work. You can use Chapter 8 as a good guide for avoiding what I call this issue of blank page syndrome. Hiding hot information: Data buried is data forgotten. Employers remember best the information you give first in a resume, not the data folded into the middle. The first one-third to one-half of the first page of your resume is prime real estate; determine your selling points and pack that punch up front. Ignoring employers’ needs: Even the smartest new graduates make this mistake: They forget to find out what employers want from new hires. At this moment in time, no one cares what you want — the only thing that matters is the value-pack you bring to the employer. Rigorously study numerous job descriptions for your targeted positions so you can gain gems of wisdom for where to put your focus. Writing boastfully: Appearing too arrogant about your talents can cause employers to question your ability to learn and function as a junior team member. Even when you’re just trying to compensate for your inexperience, avoid terminology that comes across as unnatural or blatantly self-important. When you’re not sure whether you sound too full of yourself, ask those who know you to read your resume and share feedback about what kind of person they think your resume represents. Then, go back and tweak wording if it needs to be toned down (or built up). An online thesaurus or crossword dictionary can be a great tool in coming up with similar words. Click here to view a resume for a recent graduate.

Article / Updated 07-26-2019

Only the luckiest job seekers have a straight-line career path upward. The rest of us have steps back (whether by choice or by force), and some of us change jobs like the British royals change hats. Employers can detect demotions or backward job steps with just a glance, and they often frown on them — or at the very least, wonder what happened. You know you’re going to be asked about it, so there’s no better time than when you’re putting together your resume to decide how to put a positive face on the situation. As for job hopping these days, the notion is as far out of a reality circle as the concepts of job security, company loyalty, and a guaranteed company pension. Adding insult to injury, some employers cling to a double standard — hiring and firing employees like commodities, then looking with disfavor on applicants who have had a glut of jobs by circumstance, not by choice. Demotion at work on your resume You’ve been demoted. There are myriad reasons that could range from the employer no longer thinks you are a fit and wants you out to the employer wants to keep you but budgets are an issue. But in either case, if you have to show a progression that shows a chronology with the company of a lower-level position, it can raise red flags with the prospective employer. The basic way to handle demotions throughout the job-hunting process is akin to how you handle being fired: by accentuating the positive contributions and results for which you are responsible. But being demoted is trickier to handle than being fired. Being let go no longer automatically suggests personal failure — but being demoted does. Unless you are still with the company or left on bad terms, now is the time to speak with your former employer about your resume and her reference. If the situation wasn’t your fault, your employer may work with you to develop what she will say and what title you can put on the resume. Your employer may agree that you can list the higher-level title for the full-time frame or agree to let you group your roles under a broader title. You won’t know if you don’t ask. But what if you can’t do that? Don’t worry because you still have options. Option one: Use the big umbrella Group all jobs under one big time umbrella and don’t include dates on any of them. This approach lets you sell what you’ve done but takes the emphasis off exactly when you did it. Of course, you still need to be prepared to present it in a positive light when they ask you about it in the interview. Check out the following figure for how this looks. Option two: Group like with like While not all that different from option one, grouping like with like means that you put the two management jobs together with one set of dates to cover the entire time, and then you list the prior positions with that company by their correct dates. It has a similar effect, but now with some dates connecting it, it makes it feel more factual. The following is an example of grouping like with like. Option three: Explain it away Proceed with caution here! Perhaps you have this demotion as a favor to you (yes, it happens) or a major change happened internally in the company that had nothing to do with your performance. You went back to school to get your MBA and needed less responsibility, you had an aging parent in hospice three hours from home, or you landed a book contract and needed breathing room but not so much you would leave your job. On the other end, your company was bought out or taken over, and it didn’t need you in that role but saw the value of keeping you. When the demotion lets you function and perform, go ahead and play it up carefully. This can be as simple as adding the statement, “Assumed role with lesser accountability in order to complete company-required MBA.” See the following figure to get an idea of how you can explain away a demotion. No matter how well you handle your resume entry, the reference of the demoting employer may ultimately end your chances of landing a new job that you want. In trying to mend fences, you may appeal to the demoting employer’s fairness or go for guilt. Point out how hard you worked and how loyal you’ve been. Find reasons why your performance record was flawed. Ask for the commitment of a favorable reference and a downplaying of the demotion. If fairness or guilt appeals are denied, see an employment lawyer about sending the demoting employer, on law-firm letterhead, a warning against libel or slander. Job-hopping on your resume Even when it wasn’t at your initiative, holding five or more jobs in ten years can brand you as a job hopper. The fact that you’re out of work now underscores that impression. Even employers who are guilty of round after round of employee dismissals instinctively flinch at candidates they perceive to be hopping around. Take pains to reverse that disapproval. When you draft your resume, post a list of negative perceptions on your desk; when you’re finished writing, compare your resume with the list. Offer information that changes negative perceptions of you as a job hopper. The following list identifies perceptions employers often have of a job hopper and ways to counter them. Perception Counter Is disloyal and self-focused Perfect attendance, volunteer office gift collector Will split in a blink for a better offer and take company secrets along Competition of projects Doesn’t know what he/she wants and is never satisfied Diverse background that promoted impressive results After checking for damage control, go back and review your resume for accomplishments that enhance your image, such as the following: A fast learner: Give examples of how your skills aren’t company-specific and you rapidly adjust to new environments. A high achiever: Show favored skills much courted by headhunters. When true, emphasize, “Recruited for advanced position.” A quick adapter: Mention examples of agreeable flexibility in adjusting to new ideas, technology, and position requirements. A relationship builder: List praise from coworkers or bosses for commitment to team success. Quotes are a great way to do this. A determined worker: Use examples of accomplishments and contributions that show your commitment to meeting standards of superior workplace performance despite the tough job market of recent years. When your current joblessness comes after a background that a quick-change artist would admire, use your resume to prepare the way to acceptance. Emphasize project completion and career progression, using years not months. If you still have trouble landing interviews, include more positive statements in your cover letter to tackle your history. For ideas, read Joyce Lain Kennedy’s book, Job Search Letters For Dummies (Wiley). Concurrent positions on your resume Sometimes you find that you’re doing work for a specific company (or companies — such as with temporary work) but are being paid through a staffing firm or other intermediary. Putting this on your resume can feel sticky and overwhelming. Do you list all companies and months you worked for them individually? No! That can make you look like an inconsistent, noncommittal job hopper. Luckily, reporting this information on your resume is easy. You can group them all together under one date umbrella with the agency and then separate out each company below it with descriptions and accomplishments. For example: XYZ Agency [date] to present Marketing Representative Stepped into challenging marketing assignments with Company A, Company B, and Company C with the goal of raising consumer awareness and profits. For Company A, Name of Department/Division As job title, performed: accomplishment accomplishment accomplishment In the same format as I show for Company A, offer the company, department/division, job title, and accomplishment information for Companies B and C. If your job assignments were virtually the same, you can just list the bullets about the assignments together. Just be sure to clarify the particular company where any results took place. Self-employed or family-employed positions on your resume You likely didn’t even realize a potential time bomb in this one, but there is! When your resume shares that you worked for a family business, it can send up red flags to prospective employers that you had it easy. While the reality is that you probably put in long hours, you need to make sure this negative perception doesn’t get in the way of your chances at the interview. Conversely, if you were self-employed, chances are you wore many hats and gave yourself the title of director, president, or even CEO. Unless you have a professional track record in those roles and the responsibilities they encompass, using them to land your next job as technical writer, marketing manager, or production manager won’t work. You’ll be labeled overqualified and ignored. Luckily, it only takes little wording tweaks to overcome these challenges. Worked for the family: Abolish any mention of family-owned, inherited, next-generation, parents, or siblings. Instead talk about it like any company you joined (or built) and the challenges, action, and results that it took to do so. If you are concerned you are assuming too much about the position, get on the Internet and look at job descriptions for similar jobs (such as chef, operations manager, bookkeeper, general manager, front-of-house manager, and so on). Had your own business and it was a multi-million dollar success: Yes, you can call yourself CEO and go on to manage another multi-million dollar operation for another company. Had your own business and now it’s time for a 9-to-5 position: Whether you were successful or not, you realize you need to go back to your profession. If that isn’t as an executive, then don’t label yourself as one with your job title. Aim for something as parallel to your target as possible by looking at your areas of accountability. For instance, if you are trying to go back to Marketing Manager, your title may be Marketing Manager, and those skills are what you play up first and foremost in having run your own business.

Article / Updated 05-09-2019

Resumes are the gateway of getting the job you want, so you want to make sure you have a resume that will impress prospective employers. New graduates are more likely than experienced job seekers to make the following mistakes: Falling short of image standards: If you present an online resume blemished with the type of shorthand used for tweets and texting, or a paper resume flawed with typos, or a persona degraded with whoopee pictures or a goofy profile on a social media site, you flunk. Omitting heavy-hitter points: You fail to distinguish yourself by creating an opening summary that calls to mind an image of your brand. Keep your summary brief — three to four accomplishments is plenty. Overcompensating with gimmicky language: Don’t get cutesy in your resume to compensate for a lack of qualifications. Avoid using exotically original language, such as “eyelinered genius,” a term used by a business graduate applying for an entry-level marketing position in the cosmetics industry. The term may be colorful, but charm communicates better in the interview. Making employers guess: Employers hate being asked to decipher your intent. Merely presenting your declared major and transcript excerpts isn’t enough to kick off a productive job search. Add both a targeted objective header statement and a summary section directed at a specific career field and type of position. Leveling the experience field: Your resume is no place to give every job equal billing. Do what you can to make each one relevant for the prospective employer, but don’t be afraid to limit one to just a single line of job title, company name, location, and date in your reverse chronology for positions that just don’t seem to offer any relevant value. Stopping with bare bones: Some rookies look at a sheet of paper and then at their embarrassing, bedraggled collection of jobs in their paid-experience stew. Desperate to get anything written, they settle for employer, job title, and dates of employment. The solution is to pull together all experience, including volunteer and part-time gigs. Sit, think, think some more, and add all your relevant competencies and skills pointing in the direction in which you wish to work. Hiding hot information: Data entombed is data forgotten. Employers remember best the information you give first in a resume, not the data folded into the middle. The first one-third to one-half of the first page of your resume is prime real estate; determine your selling points and pack that punch up front. Ignoring employers’ needs: Even the smartest new graduates, who may have survived research challenges as rigorous as uncovering the body language of ancient French cave dwellers, make this mistake: They forget to find out what employers want from new hires. At this moment in time, no one cares what you want — the only thing that matters is the value-pack you bring to the employer. Rigorously study numerous job descriptions for your targeted positions so you can gain gems of wisdom for where to put your focus. Writing boastfully: Appearing too arrogant about your talents can cause employers to question your ability to learn and function as a junior team member. Even when you’re just trying to compensate for your inexperience, avoid terminology that comes across as contrived or blatantly self-important. When you’re not sure whether you sound too full of yourself, ask those who know you to read your resume and share feedback about what kind of person they think your resume represents. Then, go back and tweak wording if it needs to be toned down (or built up). An online thesaurus can be a great tool in coming up with similar words.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Write a strong resume that gets you noticed. The following tips help you work up a great resume that sells your skills instead of ending up in the reject bin. Make keywords count. Keywords help employers find out whether you’re a player for the job they’re filling. Industry-specific jargon counts for keywords. For example, “Series 7 licensing for brokers” and “triage” for nurses. Noun phrases indicate qualifications for requirements, such as “word processing,” “supply chain management,” and “product launches.” And every match of your qualifications and experience with a job’s requirements becomes a keyword. Get your bearings. Use the web to research an employer before you apply for a job. Start with visiting the company’s website. Move on to sites like Hoover’s and BusinessWire.com. Until you know whom and what you are dealing with, you aren’t prepared to make a compelling case for yourself. Use an uncluttered, eye-catching design. If your resume is busy and packed with content, it will cause employers to stop reading and move on to the next candidate. Pay attention to layout and typeface choice, as well as the openness effect of white space. Good type choices include Times New Roman, Arial, Calibri or Helvetica, but there are others as well. If you can use an 11-point font, do so — it’s easier on the eyes. For mobile resumes presented on small screens, consider 11-point to 14-point type. Answer the “So what?” question. This question is hidden and lying in ambush in every employer’s mind. Forget about sticking to the old name-your-previous-responsibilities routine. Every single time you mention a duty or accomplishment, pretend someone fires back: So what? Who cares? What does it all mean? Imagining these questions isn’t really pretending — these are employer responses. If you can answer these by describing the challenge you faced, the actions you took, and the results you attained, you’ll have a recipe for success. Discuss an upward track record. Without mentioning dollar amounts, style yourself as a winner by mentioning that you received promotions, awards, and bonuses. Showcase anything that you did in the top 5 percent of company performance ratings or that received recognition and praise. Employers are impressed with the cream of the crop. Don’t apologize on your resume for any weakness that you may observe in your professional self. Until you can do something about it, like get additional education or experience, don’t even think about shortcomings, and they certainly don’t belong on your resume. Discuss teamwork in job descriptions, giving specific examples and results. Employers love the word teamwork. They like team building, too. Talk about participating in tough tasks that help focus teams. Speak of trust as being essential to teamwork. Say that you were part of a team that succeeded in reaching a unified goal. The difficulty comes in making clear for which portion of the team’s production you can take a bow. You must separate your contribution from the group’s. If you don’t, you chance being looked upon as one who falsely claims credit for work you didn’t do. Give examples of leadership. Even as organizational structures flatten, every team needs a leader — unless you’re headed for a support job where leadership is a liability. In the same vein, vision and drive are desirable characteristics. What did you originate, initiate, spearhead, or propose? What have coworkers praised about you? What suggestions have employers accepted from you?

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

A well-crafted resume contains only the information that proves you’re a qualified candidate. Eliminate resume clutter by removing useless information that potential employers often view as filler and a waste of their time. Here’s a short list of the worst offenders: “References available on request.” Listing the actual references on your resume is even worse. Your Social Security number or driver’s license number. The date your resume was prepared. Your company’s telephone number. Your high school or grammar school if you’re a college graduate. Dates you spent involved in college extracurricular activities. Dates you were involved with professional or civic organizations unless using them to fill in gaps or add heft to your claims. Names of (human) past employers; put these on your reference sheet with contact information.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Resumes can seem overwhelming to caregivers returning to the world of work. Whether you were taking care of your children or your aging parents, if you have taken time off and are now ready to return to work, you need to effectively cover that gap. After taking a career break to care for your family, trying to re-enter the workforce — whether by choice or economic necessity — may make you feel as though you’ve been living on another planet. A reader writes: Employers don’t want to hire men or women who’ve been out of the market for more than a year or two. But for the last ten years, I’ve worked my tail off! Don’t they understand that? Doesn’t intelligence, willingness to work hard, creativity, attention to detail, drive, efficiency, grace under pressure, initiative, leadership, persistence, resourcefulness, responsibility, teamwork, and a sense of humor mean anything these days? Every characteristic that this reader mentions is still a hot ticket in the job market, but the burden is on you to interpret these virtues as marketable skills: Grace under pressure, for example, translates to crisis manager, a valuable person when the electricity fails in a computer-driven office. Resourcefulness translates to office manager, who is able to ward off crank calls from credit collection agencies. A sense of humor translates to data communications manager, who joshes a sleepy technical whiz into reporting for work at 2 a.m. for emergency repair of a busted satellite hovering over Europe. You can’t, of course, claim those job titles on your resume, but you can make equivalency statements: Like a crisis manager, I’ve had front-lines experience handling such problems as electrical failures, including computer crashes. Fill the home-management period with crossover (transferable) skills relevant to the targeted position. Examples range from time management (developing the ability to do more with less time) and negotiation skills (creating compromises with difficult people and in challenging situations) to budgeting experience (developing a sophisticated understanding of priority allocation of financial resources). Other examples include using a cellphone in drumming up support for a favorite charity (developing confidence, improving sales skills, and cultivating a businesslike telephone technique) and leadership positions in the PTA (developing a sense of authority, attaining management strengths, and establishing the ability to guide others). Don’t overlook skills that you may have acquired inside the home. Here are a few examples of occupations in which they can be used. This illustration assumes that you lack formal credentials for professional-level work. If you do have the credentials, upgrade the following examples to the appropriate job level: Juggling schedules: Paraprofessional assistant to business executives or physicians, small service business operator, dispatching staff of technicians Peer counseling: Human resources department employee benefits assistant, substance abuse program manager Arranging social events: Party shop manager, nonprofit organization fundraiser, art gallery employee Conflict resolution: Administrative assistant, customer service representative, school secretary Problem-solving: Any job Decorating: Interior decorator, fabric shop salesperson Nursing: Medical or dental office assistant Solid purchasing judgment: Purchasing agent, merchandiser Planning trips, relocations: Travel agent, corporate employee relocation coordinator Communicating: Any job Shaping budgets: Office manager, department head, accounting clerk Maximizing interior spaces: Commercial-office real estate agent, business furniture store operator Omit all information that the employer isn’t entitled to, including your age, marital status, physical condition, number and ages of children, and husband’s name. Even though the law is on your side, why drag in facts on your resume that can stir up bias? Your resume’s job is to open interview doors. To help in your quest, seek out seminars, workshops, and services offered to on-ramping individuals. Women will want to discover such websites as Ladies Who Launch, which covers creating your own job, and the forum, Dad Stays Home, which includes a section on working from home.