Resume Tips

In honor of the Game of Thrones Season 4 premier, I'll be tweeting resume tips all weekend - Game of Thrones style ;)  

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Resumes 101 - What to Include and What to Leave Out

Resumes are meant to give a brief overview of your experience and skills and to highlight your accomplishments.  Resumes have four basic sections: summary, skills, experience, and education.  Resume objectives are outdated and pointless, so leave them off and replace them with summary of what you bring to the table.  There are several thing that should be left off your resume, which I list in this post; and your resume experience should be in chronological order with you current or most recent job listed at the top of the page and your oldest experience listed last.

When you get into your experience you can do several things.  I recommend to list any awards you've received first, followed by your most important responsibilities like supervising other employees or growing the company's revenue. Then, you should list your other important responsibilities, BUT this should only be 5-10 bullet points at most.  Your resume is not meant to be a job description or list of every single thing you do at your job - just the highlights.  You can explain your other responsibilities in a phone screen or interview if needed.  If you're struggling to find things to include on your resume, view this post.

Resumes can feel strange to write because people aren't used to thinking about their strengths and how to market themselves to companies.  However, if you can get over this and be confident in your abilities, you can create a resume with really strong content.  Once you have the content done, it's about formatting and making the resume easy to read and visually appealing.  Bold font for companies and job titles is great, along with italics for awards or promotions, but the majority of your resume should be in plain text and all the same font.  It's important to stay away from long paragraphs which are difficult for recruiters to skim, and instead list skills and experience in bullet points, which are much easier to read.

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Profile Summary for Resumes

I am a strong believer that Objective Statements on resumes are pointless, so how should you start off your resume?  Well a "summary of qualifications" or "profile summary" is always a good idea and can highlight your main strengths as well as give your resume a focus.  If you're a student or recent grad, this is a great place to include what area or industry you want to go into.

The most important thing to remember for the summary section is to keep it brief, focused, and quantitative.  Do not use this section to say how much of a team player and goal oriented person you are (those are just buzzwords anyway).  Instead, use this section to say how many years experience you have, what industry or career path you are focused in, and any skills or experience that's relevant.

For example, if you have been working in retail or the food industry and are now going to school for nursing, not only should you focus on the customer service and human interaction in your jobs, but you should make sure your summary focuses on your schooling and the skills you've learned in your classes.  Any recruiter or manager looking at your resume will know that you are focused in healthcare and nursing roles.

Applying for a Job: How to Stand Out On Paper

You have your resume and cover letter written and free of spelling and grammar mistakes, now what?  There are many things you should do to ensure you stand out compared to other applicants.

First, make sure you are specific about your skills and experience, and don't just include buzzwords on your resume.  If the content is on your resume, you should really look at the tone of your writing.  Read your resume and cover letter out loud.  Does it sound like you?  Are those words and phrases you would normally say?  If not, make some changes; you want your personality to shine through.

I am NOT suggesting to be unprofessional or crack jokes, but you don't want to sound like you're a robot or used a thesaurus for 80% of your resume.  This is one of the many reasons why I don't like the Objective Statement of a resume, because it doesn't sound like something a person would ever say in a normal conversation.  The point of a resume is to get a recruiter to call you, so make sure your resume is professional and full of content, however it is also beneficial to ensure you are not exceedingly verbose (see what I did there?).

What do you do to stand out in your resume or cover letter?  Let me know in the comments! :)

Interview Fridays: Tell Me About Yourself - The Elevator Pitch

An Elevator Pitch is basically your brief summary about who you are and what you do and should be no longer than an elevator ride.  You can use an elevator pitch during an interview when asked "Tell Me About Yourself" or as an introduction when networking.

The key to an elevator pitch is to sell yourself and be confident without being smug or annoying.  Practice makes perfect, so rehearse your speech and ask people for feedback.  Does it sound sincere?  Is it to long? Does it make sense?

Hi, my name is Natasha and I'm a recruiter.  I've been in recruiting for over 3 years now and have worked in both corporate and agency environments.  I've hired for all types of positions including entry-level sales reps, Java Developers, and managers of health information departments.  I also work with people to help prepare them for their next job opportunity by editing resumes and conducting mock interviews.

Leveraging LinkedIn to Find a Job

More and more recruiters are using LinkedIn to find good candidates so if you're not on it already, I definitely recommend setting up a profile (I offer LinkedIn help on my Services tab).  You can see my LinkedIn profile here: http://www.linkedin.com/in/natashaaguirre.

LinkedIn is essentially an online version of your resume, so if you've followed my resume tips seen here and here, you should be able to copy and paste most of your fields.  Make sure you include something in the Summary section of your profile, this can be a shortened version of your Summary of Qualifications from your resume.

Profile Picture - This can be a selfie, but is not a Facebook duck face picture, it should be professional and just you (not kids or pets).  You don't need to spend money on professional glamour shots, but should have good lighting, be in focus, and not wearing anything to revealing.  Smile in your picture, it makes you look more approachable and confident.  It should also look like you, don't include a picture from years ago that doesn't look like you do today.

Custom URL - Great feature, should be some variation of your name (see my URL above)

Privacy Settings - Check out the privacy settings on LinkedIn, and please keep in mind that this isn't like other social media, this is for your career, so I would recommend making your profile public and accepting invitations to connect if they're relevant to you.

Skills & Expertise - List what you're good at, as you type options will pre-populate for you.

Recommendations - This is one of the most important sections of LinkedIn and you need to use it.  After you've added people you know and have worked with as connections, send requests asking them to write you a recommendation.  You should only ask people you've worked with and who can attest to how awesome you are at your job.  Don't worry, you get to preview this before it goes on your profile.  This is a great tool that companies look at and can use as references.

Groups & Companies - LinkedIn offers great ways to network with people in your industry through groups and companies.  Join groups that are relevant to you and can connect you with people in your industry who might know about job openings or can connect you with someone at the company you're applying to.  The company section is a great way to research the companies you're applying to and learn more about them.  You can also use it to follow your dream companies that you'd love to work for.

Delete This From Your Resume Right Now!

This is not for international job-seekers since I'm not quite sure what the norms are internationally.  But for everyone in the U.S. if you have any of the following items on your resume, delete them now and make sure all your job board resumes are updated.  There are a lot of things that are subjective on a resume, these are not.

Never ever ever ever ever EVER include these things on a resume:

Identification Info (Are you asking to get your identity stolen?  If the company needs this info, they'll ask you on an application or after an offer letter)
-Social Security Numbers, Date of Birth

Personal Info (Are you asking to be discriminated against?  At this point in the interview process, there's really no way you can prove discrimination, and I guarantee you employers don't need this info)
-Age, Race, Sexuality, Religion

Irrelevant Info (Unless you're interested in music and applying for a position that has to deal with music, I don't care.  I don't care that you scrapbook or play basketball or have 3 kids.  My job is to show the hiring manager why you're a great fit and this information does not help me) 
-Hobbies, Interests, Kids

Profile 
Let me be clear, a profile section on your resume is a good thing depending on the content.  If you use it as a summary of your skills and qualifications, then great, that's exactly what I need.  However, if you use this as a section to tell me about your childhood, how you grew up, and how married life is treating you, DON'T.  Again, your resume should only include relevant information about what qualifies you for a job.

Chronological Resumes - Mini Rant

I'm not going to get into the functional vs. chronological resume argument today other than saying that I, and most recruiters I know, don't like the functional resumes.  My advice is to stick to the chronological resume which lists each position, when you were working there, and what you did, in chronological order.

I see resumes from time to time with the first job listed being eons ago, and I don't understand the logic behind this.  Your resume should list your current job first.  I really don't care what you did 20 years ago, I want to know what you're doing now, and what you've done in the past 5 years.  Ok, I shouldn't say I don't care, but it's just not as relevant as your current responsibilities, so that's what should be included first.

While we're on the topic, please include the months that you worked, I'm going to have to ask for them anyway.  Listing 2010-2010 on your resume doesn't do me any good.  Does that mean you worked for a month? A year?  A day?  I have no context, and I need context in order to build a case for you, so please make my life a little easier.  If you listed January 2010 - November 2010, I can argue a case for you and say you have 11 solid months of experience, but if you listed 2010-2010 I can't.

Questions on the chronological resume, formatting, or what you should include?  Let me know.

The Resume Objective - All Fluff and No Content

The objective has been a staple in professional resumes for years, but has somehow devolved into the stock “A position in your company that allows me to utilize my skills and grow”.  BLARG!!!! This tells the recruiter absolutely nothing other than the fact that you’re either lazy or have been given horrible resume advice. So you want a job that uses your skills and helps you grow... well good for you, who doesn't?!  This is not where you get to make a list of demands, this is where you tell me why I should consider you.  What makes you qualified?  What makes you different from every other resume I've looked at today?  Make me want to talk to you about the job I'm hiring for.  Remember, everything you put on your resume should be meaningful and important.

Instead of a stock sentence that you copied somewhere off the internet, give a brief description of your experience and skills.  Call this section, Skills, Professional Summary, or About Me.

Example:

Customer service professional with over 6 years of experience including cash handling, answering phones, and managing inventory.  I've been trusted with the responsibility of opening the store in the morning and training new employees.  I am proficient in using the store’s proprietary software as well as Microsoft Office and QuickBooks.