Is your resume a success story? Have you included job information in a way that makes your job history shine?
Even employers who do not know what they are looking for are going to get more excited when they read a resume that reads like a success story. Most people use bullet points in their resume. A way to make the bullet points count is to list the things that you did to make things better, not simply list the things you did. For example, instead of saying things like managed seven-person sales team, you might consider saying things like lead a seven-person sales team to double-digit growth in a declining market.
A staffing executive from a major CPG beverage company once said to me that his company is looking for people who are going to make the castle larger and not someone who just wants to hold the keys. When you are writing your resume or in an interview or on any other occasion that requires self-reference, list facts of your success.
The resume is summary of a person’s skills and accomplishments. Your name goes at the top. However, people do not use their own name in the body of resume. As a grammarian might say, one does not refer to oneself in the third person.
Stating an objective or a giving a summary at the beginning of the resume is common practice. However, if a person is trying to keep the resume from getting too long, the objective and summary are frequently left off the resume. Generally speaking, your resume has the objective of getting you interviews with an employer who sees a match between your skills and the employer’s needs and is simply a summary of your skills and experience. Therefore, this part of the resume is kind of redundant.
The following information is based on the feedback I have received from hiring managers, staffing managers, other recruiters, about that they look for in a resume and from talking with thousands of applicants about their resumes. These are suggestions only, but the layout is a working format, so if you replace the information below with your information, you will have written a resume.
Resumes
Resume Suggestions That Can Get You a Job
Is a List of Core Responsibilities a Resume?
Resume – Management Level
CONTACT INFORMATION
Your name
Street address
City, State Zip
Phone number(s)
Email address
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY (Most recent job first)
Company Name, Location of Headquarters, Period of Employment (From -To)
Your most recent title and your location when you held the position and period in that position (From – To)
Use a bullet format.
- List things you have accomplished. Do not waste space on your just giving a job description. List things that showed that you were effective in the positions you held.
- Use facts—for example, exceeded assigned sales goal by 30%, reduced costs, promoted people, saved time, increased productivity.
- Employers and recruiters search their databases for specific words, so list successes with specific industry words or functions. Include the actual name of your product categories, product names, sales accounts, functions (e.g., Profit & Loss, Market Research or Software Names, New Product Development, Market Insights, Innovation).
Next List Previous Titles at this company and again list successes and accomplishments in bullet format.
Then include Previous Companies going back in time from most recent.
EDUCATION
Education is the last information on a resume. Do not list part-time or vacation jobs held while in college except when that experience job description