Chapter 14
Creating a Winning Resume
A resume is usually the first thing that a typical employer will view about an employment candidate. Often, as few as ten seconds are spent scanning a resume before making an initial “keep or toss” decision, so it's vital that the appearance, structure, and words in your resume give it the best chance of landing in the “keep” list instead of in the trash.
The Basics of a Great Resume
Your resume is a written statement that describes your work experience, education, and short-term career goals. Your resume is your most important marketing tool. Often, recruiters and hiring managers form their first impression of you based on your resume.
Prospective employers are looking for skills, but they are focused on reading about your past accomplishments. How have you saved your employer money, improved security, solved serious issues, or improved efficiency? Tangible results are effective and capture a hiring manager's attention. You need to emphasize positive results in your work experience.
In this section, you look at the various elements of a great resume. The later section, “Different Types of Resumes,” describes variations in a resume's arrangement.
Heading
The top of the first page of your resume is the heading, and it contains your name and contact information. If you have prominent certifications, they may appear here as well. Figure 14-1 contains a few sample headings.
Figure 14-1: Sample aresume headings.
Summary
Many resumes include a sentence or a short paragraph describing the candidate's mission or goals, or a statement about a desired position. Typically, this statement is about your experience and the position you want right now, not a position you want in the future. Your summary should tie directly into the position you are applying for and include a powerful statement regarding your experience, abilities, and meaningful accomplishments.
Example summary statements follow:
The second example emphasizes accomplishments in this case, successful infrastructure upgrades.
Employment history
The employment history section describes each job that you've had, along with relevant details. If you're writing a chronological resume, each job will include a summary of responsibilities and accomplishments, as shown in Figure 14-2.
Figure 14-2: Sample employment history entry in a chronological resume.
If you're writing a functional resume, each entry will include the company, position, and timeframe; the details will appear elsewhere in the resume. Figure 14-3 depicts employment history entries in a functional resume.
Figure 14-3: Sample employment history entry in a functional resume.
Whether you are creating a chronological resume or a functional resume, make sure you list accomplishments and not merely responsibilities and skills.
For a description of chronological and functional resumes, see the “Different Types of Resumes” section, later in this chapter.
Education
The education section describes your formal education, such as the college, university, vocational school, or technical school you attended. Typically, this section is short and may appear before or after the employment history section.
If you have little higher education and work experience, you may need to include your high school education. However, professionals with a college degree probably don't need to list their high school. If you do not have a college degree, list certifications and professional training.
Figure 14-4 contains a sample education section for a professional with more than ten years' experience.
Figure 14-4: Sample education entries in a resume.
Training and certifications
Training and certifications may appear together in one section or separately. Or you might put training information in the education section. As you can see, no single right way to put this information together exists, as long as it is readable and accurate.
Someone with just a few training courses may want to list them individually. However, if you have 20-40 years of IT work experience, you'll likely have more training courses than can fit in several pages of text! In such a situation, a short narrative for training might appear as shown in Figure 14-5.
Figure 14-5: Training summary in a resume.
Skills
People in a technology field learn a lot on the job, often without formal training, so be sure to include relevant skills on your resume. If you have a lot of skills in technology, you may want to group them in categories. Figure 14-6 includes a good example.
If you have too many skills to list, include relevant and up-to-date skills and discard the rest. For example, if you are applying for a Java developer job and your past experience includes Cobol and RPG, listing those skills may not be relevant. Look at what the company is seeking and highlight your related skills.
Figure 14-6: Skills summary in a resume.
If you have a lot of skills but are light on employment history, you might place your skills section before your employment history section, so that someone reviewing your resume will see your skills first.
Other sections
Depending on your background, you might want to include additional sections on your resume. Whether to include each depends on several factors, such as the following:
Some of the sections you might include in your resume are described next.
Interests
Some professionals include an “interests” section to demonstrate that they are not all work and no play. Outside interests can show that you are gregarious, have varied interests, and have a life outside work. If you know that you have a connection to your hiring manager (or someone higher up in the company) through an outside interest, list it so that you become more familiar.
You could list interests in a short, bulleted list or in a few lines of text, such as “Interests include landscape photography, scuba diving, and RC airplanes.”
Industry associations
You can list your industry association memberships, including any positions beyond that of a general member. Figure 14-7 shows a typical industry associations section.
Figure 14-7: Industry associations section in a resume.
Volunteer work
Often, professionals like to include a short section on volunteer work. It's often not required, but it does demonstrate selflessness and a desire to help others. Employers usually appreciate someone who makes time for others, and volunteerism is a good indicator of someone who is comfortable in a variety of situations.
When filling in employment gaps, show that you kept busy.
References
Customarily, references are not included in a resume. In the past, including a general statement, such as “Professional and personal references available upon request,” was common. Now this statement is unnecessary; an employer is going to ask for references whether or not you include this statement.
What I look for in a networking resume
Whenever I am reviewing resumes for networking positions in my organization, I look for the following things:
- Certifications: Which ones, and how long the candidates have had them (the longer, the better)
- Technology skills: Which technologies, including products and how they were used
- Soft skills: How the candidate worked with people in their companies to solve problems and finish projects
A really long list of certifications might indicate too much emphasis on technology skills at the expense of vital people skills. I'd rather see three or four certifications than ten or more.
Problem solving, working on project teams, and completing complex projects mean more to me than a long list of technology skills. I find that you can train someone on new technologies but not on people skills. Those with people skill deficits usually remain in that state throughout their careers.
Peter H. Gregory, Seattle
Resumes For Dummies, 6th Edition is a valuable resource if you want to read more on the topic of resumes and how they can help you find your dream job.
Formatting Your Resume
The format of your resume is as important as its content. If it's cluttered and hard to read, a resume for the best candidate will be discarded as quickly as a well-written resume for an unqualified candidate.
A well-formatted resume has the following characteristics:
In short, a well-formatted resume is minimalist in its visual style.
Soft copy
When working with soft copy resumes that you're sending via email or uploading to an employer's website, a job search site, or a recruiter, it's best to send the resume in Word or PDF format. If you're working with an outside recruiter who will be presenting your resume to one or more employers, send your resume in Word format, with the document unlocked, because the recruiter might need to transform your resume into a particular format.
Although Acrobat's cool features include prohibiting printing or copying text from a document, it's better not to use these features in a resume you upload or email. An employer's screening process might include the need to extract text from your resume, and you don't want to do anything to interfere with that. Best to send your resume as a plain, unprotected PDF.
In most cases, RTF (Rich Text Format) is acceptable format for your resume. Based on the rules of simplicity, your resume probably wouldn't need anything other than RTF in the first place.
Hard copy
For organizations that want hard copy resumes, print them on good quality white copier paper. Printing on colored paper (even the slightest off-white), textured paper such as linen, or paper with a lot of flecks can be harmful. (However, you might consider recycled paper if the company is committed to recycling.) Yes, in many ways you need to stand out, but using a brightly colored or textured resume is risky.
You might consider printing your resume double-sided, to give your potential employer the impression that you know how to be a good steward of resources.
Cleaning up metadata
Before you send a soft copy resume, you need to be sure it's free of metadata and other extraneous data that could cast you in a bad light. Check for the following:
For more on hard copy resumes, see Chapter 13, which details the contents of a cover letter, and Chapter 14, which describes the interview process.
Tailoring Your Resume
You need to create a targeted resume for each position you seek. Word processing programs make this task fairly easy. However, be sure to develop a system to track each resume you send out.
Organizing your resumes
In this age of word processing programs, every resume should be customized for each particular job and company you're targeting. The method you use to create your customized versions is up to you. Some suggested techniques follow:
- Super-sized resume (remove the parts you don't need): Start with a master resume that includes lengthy descriptions of each job, education, and so on — perhaps even multiple separate descriptions. Make a copy of the resume, and then remove the parts you don't need. The result, those component parts that are just right for the position you are targeting.
- Franken-resume (build from different parts): From your collection of headings, summaries, employment positions, education, and more, pull together the pieces you want, in the order you want, to create that perfect, targeted resume.
- Modify the last resume you used: From the resume you most recently sent to another company, make all needed changes, so that your new resume is just right for the position you're targeting.
Content that you removed for a prior application may be relevant for a later one. Remember to restore content that you may need later.
Using keywords to grab attention
Innovations in automated job posting sites such as Monster.com and Indeed.com have resulted in companies getting hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of resumes for each advertised job. As a result, companies have invested in software that electronically evaluates resumes, based in part on the presence of certain keywords. Too few keywords, and your resume will be routed to the bit bucket.
But just including a lot of keywords in your resume is not enough. If your resume gets through the first layer of screening, someone will be reading your resume to see if you sound like a candidate worth a phone screen. At this point, not so much what you say but how you say it gets you to the next level. Remember, though, that you'll never get to that second level without the right keywords.
Whichever method you use is up to you. Perhaps you have a system different from these that works for you. As long as you can keep your records organized and know which resume you sent to which company (and still have copies of each), you should be all right.
You should also consider keeping a worksheet that lists the resumes you used for each job. You might create a little database that includes a lot of different details about each position you targeted, who you spoke with, which resume you sent and to whom, and so on.
Customizing resume content
Every prospective job is different from every other. Even two jobs with the same job title are different. Every company has its own style and way of doing things. These considerations should compel you to take the time to customize your resume for each job you apply for. Following are some pointers that will guide this work:
To make sure your resume stands out from others, you may want to read other position postings from the same company to get a broader view of the desired skills. Also, find out what you can about the company. Search for articles (good or bad) in local press and trade publications to get an even better idea of their recent history.
Plagiarizing
Although looking at other people's resumes is common, you should not borrow more than a phrase or two. Borrowing attractive styles and formats is okay. There is a tale of an employer who did an Internet search of a sentence in an applicant's resume, and found that exact text (and more) on a sample resume found online. If you have someone else's resume (or a sample) and you like the way something was said, seriously consider rewording it.
Types of Resumes
Every professional has a unique work history, education, skills, and career path, with different strengths and weaknesses. Because of this, no single resume structure will ideally highlight everyone's strengths. For some, showing a progression of employment is ideal. For others, the best approach is to showcase skills and experience. In this section, you look at the two primary types of resumes and a type that's a combination of the two.
Chronological
A chronological resume lists work experience, typically in reverse chronological order (with the most recent position first). A chronological resume is the most common resume type because it's the easiest to build and maintain and because potential employers like to see a candidate's recent positions, responsibilities, and accomplishments first.
You'll want to use a chronological resume if you have continuous work experience and your most recent positions are relevant to the company and position you're targeting.
The typical order of sections in a chronological resume is
Finding and using good examples
A good way to figure out how to structure your own resume is to view many other resumes and borrow what you like from each. Because resumes typically don't contain overly sensitive information such as compensation, it's usually appropriate to ask others for a copy of their resume. As long as you have a reputation of being trustworthy, most other professionals will consider your resume request a compliment. As you progress in your career, you might consider returning the favor to those who ask you for a copy of yours.
Functional
A functional resume highlights your skills and work experience as your resume's primary theme. You'll use this type of resume if your recent work history doesn't adequately show that you have recent, relevant work experience. For instance, if you're seeking a programming job but your last position was something different, a functional resume can emphasize your programming skills even if they aren't as current as you'd like.
Following are some reasons why you might want to use a functional resume include:
Following is the typical order of sections in a functional resume:
Is a CV (curriculum vitae) just a fancy term for resume, or is there a difference?
In some countries, a CV is a complete listing of all employment positions, education, and other relevant information, such as publications, whereas a resume is a summary of employment and education. Sometimes, however, the two are nearly identical.
A CV can be considered a long-form resume that may consist of many pages, whereas a resume is usually limited to two pages — the front and back of A4 or letter-sized paper.
Note that in a functional resume, like a chronological resume, you put your best material early in the resume. In a functional resume, you emphasize your accomplishments, skills, and experience, whereas in a chronological resume you emphasize your employment positions.
Combination
A hybrid resume is a combination of chronological and functional resumes. A hybrid resume depicts skills, education, and employment history, and these may appear in any sequence.
If you have a professional background that requires you to get creative with your resume structure, try different layouts and ask your peers and mentors for their opinion.
No one perfect resume format exists. The types of resumes discussed in this chapter should serve as a starting point for you to build the resume that perfectly and succinctly describes your skills and work experience.
What Not to Put in Your Resume
Although various countries have local practices on resume structure and content, in most locations you would never include certain items in a resume, such as the following:
Examples of Winning Resumes
This section provides a complete chronological resume, shown in Figure 14-8, and a complete functional resume, shown in Figure 14-9. Both resumes describe the same fictitious individual whose background makes each type of resume ideal for that person.
The chronological resume shows a typical progression of work experience and accomplishments, whereas the functional resume portrays skills, accomplishments, and experience unrelated to the positions in which they occurred.
Padding your resume
It's a popular notion that everyone embellishes his or her resume to some extent. Yes, that statement probably contains some truth. Now and then we hear news stories about people padding their resumes and having to resign.
Your resume should be truthful. In the information technology business, the nature of our responsibilities and our codes of ethics require a high standard of professional integrity. We should not stretch the truth in our resume or in any other written statements about ourselves. Not even a little bit.
Figure 14-8: Chronological resume example.
Figure 14-9: Functional resume example.