Critical Resume Tips: Key Resume Writing Advice -- #2

Q-Tips: Critical Resume Tips
Key Resume Writing Advice -- #2

These resume writing related tips -- choosing the best resume style, tips for highlighting career accomplishments, and more -- have been gathered from numerous sources throughout Quintessential Careers and organized here for your convenience.

Keywords are nouns and phrases that employers use to search internal and external resume databases when searching for job candidates. While this practice started in the technology industry, it has spread to many other industries, and more and more job-seekers are placing keyword sections on their resumes (both traditional and text) to strengthen their chances of being selected. (See our article, Text Resume Fundamentals, for more details.)

The best way to develop a list of keywords for your resume is to first examine your accomplishments and skills areas. Second, examine the type of job you are seeking to move into. Third, conduct some job searches at some of the other major job sites and make a list of the keywords from the job postings (using, for example, job title, job description, qualifications, skills, software, industry jargon, etc.). You might also consider searching the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook for keywords.

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We've heard from job-seekers who are worried about listing their unlisted phone numbers on resumes and cover letters. Some are even concerned that employers have sold phone numbers to telemarketers. We have a hard time believing that any company would sell this information to telemarketers, but even if they did, most experts would agree that when you are job-hunting, you cannot place any obstacles in your path. If you leave off your phone number, you risk missing out on some opportunities. If you are concerned about unwanted phone calls, you may want to get a screening device, such as an answering machine, voicemail, or Caller ID.

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Graduated from college but lack experience? Look at what you have you been doing recently. Take a hard look at what you did in college. Part-time jobs and internships are obvious sources valuable work experience, but also examine your college career. Focus on any kind of extracurricular activities you may have participated in as well as the specific assignments and work you completed in your classes. Perhaps you were a member of one or more groups in college. Did you hold any offices or perform any duties as a member? As for your classes, did you complete any large projects and analyses?

Read Quintessential Careers: Fundamentals of a Good Resume, along with a related article on transferable skills. From these two articles, you should be able to build a fairly strong resume, even without a lot of "real-world" experience.

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Resumes have not changed all that much over the last few years, with the exception of scannable (or text-based) resumes and the move toward using keywords or skills summaries in resumes. Make sure your resume includes strong action verbs to describe your accomplishments (not your duties). Read up on transferable skills. More resume information can be found at Quintessential Careers: Resume Resources.

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It wasn't too long ago that action verbs meant everything in resume development. Action verbs are still important, but nouns and noun phrases are the buzz with resume development -- mainly because of the increased use of scannable (also called text-only) resumes. Because a growing number of employers are using resume databases -- either their own or a job site's -- to select candidates to interview, it becomes increasingly important for the job-seeker to know the most effective nouns and noun phrases (keywords) that employers will use to search the databases to pull applicants. Where do you find the nouns? Look at job descriptions and job profiles for the requirements. Look at the industry's use of jargon. Look at the skills that are in demand.

Good sources for more information about keywords and some keyword examples include Rebecca Smith's eR�sum�s & Resources Web site and the keyword section of Canada's Web Access Employment Network. Use this knowledge -- assuming you have the necessary skills and experience -- to enhance your resume.

You can get a more in-depth discussion of this topic by visiting Quintessential Careers: Scannable Resume Fundamentals.

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Applying to jobs online? When you are looking for a job, make everything you do easy for the employer. If the employer has to spend more time on your application than on others, guess what? He or she won't; he or she will simply move on to the next applicant. Make cover letters and resumes sent over the Internet as easy as possible for employers so they'll consider your application. Always send your cover letter and resume as unformatted text within the email message as well as formatted as attachments. If you don't provide both options, you risk not being considered. Why? Because some employers only want text, while others request formatted attachments. Still others don't open attachments for fear of viruses or other security reasons, and some may not be able to open your attachments because of software incompatibilities. For guidelines to follow on text-based resumes, read our article, Scannable Resume Fundamentals.

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Is a resume in ASCII format the same thing as a resume in text only? Yes. "ASCII," "text only," and "scannable resume" all basically mean the same thing -- a resume that is stripped of all formatting, making it easier to scan and store in databases. But there is a little more to it because some fundamental content differences exist between a regular formatted resume and a scannable resume. To learn all about these differences, read Quintessential Careers: Scannable Resume Fundamentals.

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Want three best pieces of advice for someone fresh out of college starting a resume? First, get a hold of as many resumes of recent college graduates as you can get your hands on. Looking at these resumes will help you decide what you want to do with your resume. Your college's career services office should be able to show you samples. Second, get some expert advice. Again, you can start with your college's career services office, which probably has handouts and books on resumes. Visit some resume Web sites. Quintessential Careers has a list of the best resume sites. Consider buying a book on resumes or borrowing one from the library. A good one for recent grads is Resumes for College Students and Recent Graduates (VGM), but there are plenty of others. Third, remember the purpose of your resume as you are writing it. A resume is a document that describes your work experience, your education (and any special training you have), and your skills. What makes an excellent resume, however, is marketing. You have to consider yourself a product, with the employer as the buyer. Why should the employer buy (hire) you?

Your resume is a key marketing tool in your employment search. You can learn more about resumes -- as well as the keys to a successful job search -- by reading The Domino Effect.

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Strong verbs, also known as action verbs, are a vital part of a good resume. For your current position, verbs should be present tense (negotiate, resolve, conduct, provide, etc.). For all your past positions, the verbs should be past tense (monitored, researched, collected, etc.). Another key is that you should list achievements or outcomes of your positions, rather than simply duties. You "achieved a $100,000 increase in sales" rather than "managed client relations and sales." For a good list of action verbs, visit Quintessential Careers: Action Verbs.

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Just what is a curriculum vitae anyway? A curriculum vitae (Latin for "the course of one's life") or CVs or vitaes for short, are basically resumes, used most often by academicians, physicians, and scientists. They are also often required when applying to graduate or professional programs, and when applying for international employment. CVs contain all the basic information that resumes contain -- name, address, work experience, education, certifications, awards and honors -- but usually also contain other pertinent information, such as scholarly activities (such as papers published in academic journals, presentations and workshops, creative projects, etc.), professional development, patents, teaching/course evaluations, service to the profession. Vitaes also do not have the short (1-2 page) requirement of resumes.

See our article, Preparing a Curriculum Vitae (CV), which also contains links to some helpful Web sites and lists other resources.

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Looking for information about blue-collar resumes? The best bet is the late Yana Parker's book, Blue Collar & Beyond: Resumes for Skilled Trades & Service, or visit the Web site about her book.

A couple of examples of blue-collar resumes appear at the site, and you can also go to your local library or bookstore and get the book. For more general information about resume formats, see our article, Fundamentals of a Good Resume.

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If you have an employment gap on your resume, try a two-pronged approach -- one for your resume and one for your interviews. On your resume: consider converting your chronological resume to a functional format. Functional resumes focus on your accomplishments in key skills areas; your employment history is summarized at the end of your resume - and gaps become less apparent. You can read more about functional resumes in Should You Consider a Functional Resume? In the interview: It's best to position this employment gap as time well-spent on improving or challenging yourself. If you took some educational courses (or even just read a lot), you should focus on the attainment of new skills and knowledge; if you volunteered your services, you should focus on your accomplishments; and if you did some consulting, you should focus on the gap as a time to spread your wings and try to make it on your own. As you can tell from these examples, you need to position the gap as having some redeeming value.

Finally, remember that while you may be self-conscious about the gap, some interviewers may never even notice it, so don't volunteer potentially negative information; wait for the employer to raise the issue before offering an explanation.

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Most corporate career centers give job-seekers explicit instructions for how they want to receive cover letters and resumes. Some request that you email the material, some request that you submit it via a form from the company's Web site, some request that you fax it, and a very small few ask you to mail it. Some will include the name of the hiring manager, while others will simply ask you to respond with a job number. Email cover letters are a bit different from regular cover letters, though most of the same rules apply. While the 3rd edition of Dynamic Cover Letters (available in our Cover Letters Books Bookstore) provides some good information and sample email cover letters, we also have an article, titled Tips for a Dynamic Email Cover Letter.

Finally, go directly to the corporate career centers by visiting The Quintessential Directory of Company Career Centers.

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If you're looking for a way to spotlight your skills and knowledge on your resume, consider a very trendy "Summary of Qualifications" section. (Sometimes also called "Key Skills," "Qualifications," "Professional Profile," or "Key Accomplishments.") In this section you can showcase your knowledge from all your education and work experiences. You can think of this section as an executive summary of your entire resume.

For more information, go to our Fundamentals of a Good Chronological Resume.

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A scannable, or text-based resume is designed specifically for databases. Scannable resumes follow all the rules of regular resumes, but the design and format are much different, focusing on keywords and jargon that may be used when an employer searches its resume database. These searches are done using keywords and phrases that describe the skills and education required for the position. Thus, when writing a scannable resume, it is extremely important for you to use familiar industry terms acronyms (jargon) that describe your skills and experience.

Read our article, Scannable Resume Fundamentals.

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If you have some sort of negative issue in your job history (such as getting fired), don't raise it -- ever -- but especially not in your cover letter or resume. Even in the interview, let the employer bring it up. Once the issue has been raised, the best answer is always the truth. Admit that you made a mistake -- and, more importantly, show how you have learned from that mistake.

Read our article, Getting Fired: An Opportunity for Change and Growth.

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If you've received an honorary doctorate, should you list it on your resume? There are two groups of people who generally have the right to use "Dr." before their names -- and they have all spent about 20 years or so getting educated. The first are those with an earned professional degree, such as in medicine (MD), optometry (OD), osteopathic medicine (DO), pharmacy (Pharm.D), podiatry (PodD, DP, DPM); divinity/ministry (BD, MDiv), law (LLB, JD), and others. The second are those with an earned doctoral degree, the highest degree you can earn for graduate study. The doctoral degree classification includes such degrees as Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), Doctor of Public Health, Doctor of Nursing Science (D.NSc.), Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.), and the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.).

Many universities (and now colleges) grant a degree called an honorary doctorate to persons they want to honor or recognize (usually a dignitary, benefactor, or notable alumni). However, neither the university or the honoree were naive enough to believe the honor actually conferred a full doctorate, thus most people with honorary degrees are discouraged from using them in public, though certainly many do. In the end, of course, it's the job-seeker's decision.

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Focusing on job duties is one of the classic job-seeker mistakes. Don't focus on your duties -- focus on your accomplishments! Accomplishments are so much more meaningful to prospective employers than run-of-the-mill litanies of job duties or responsibilities. Spend some time brainstorming about your skills and accomplishments -- in all your jobs and education -- with an eye toward the type of job you want next. Eliminate any skills that you no longer want to perform; otherwise, you will be stuck in another job doing things you no longer enjoy. Once you have compiled this list of accomplishments and skills, it's time to work on your resume.

One article in particular that you should find useful is: Ten Easy Ways to Improve Your Resume. If you need more help with your resume, go to the Resume Resources section of Quintessential Careers.

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Functional resumes focus on experience and accomplishments in a small number of skills clusters. If you are changing careers, focus on showcasing skills clusters that help support your new career direction. These skills clusters should signal potential employers as to the types of jobs you feel you are best qualified to hold. Read this article: Should You Consider a Functional Resume?.

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If you've had one or more short job stints, de-emphasize the job(s) in your resume by taking advantage of a functional resume format, in which you stress your key skill sets, placing your employment history at the end of your resume. You can read more about constructing functional resumes in this article: Should You Consider a Functional Resume?.

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In all situations, from your cover letter to the interview, you must be able to showcase your accomplishments and achievements in your previous experiences -- and build a platform for showing how you'll be able to do these same things (and more!) for a new employer. For help with focusing on your achievements, read: For Job-Hunting Success: Track and Leverage Your Accomplishments.

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If you are changing careers and believe that a chronological resume is not having good results, you may want to check out Susan Britton Whitcomb's Resume Magic: Trade Secrets of a Professional Resume Writer (available in our Resume Books Bookstore), which comes highly recommended by many career experts. The book is a comprehensive (almost 600 pages!) review of all types of resumes, and as you might guess given its size, spends a good deal of time on functional resumes. Also check out our article, Should You Consider a Functional Resume?, which discusses the merits and problems with functional resumes.

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Resume writer Deb Dib notes that "the best use of the Web from a jobseeker's point of view will be to research companies for networking and interview purposes." In the Q&A interview Dib did with Quintessential Careers, she observed, "With the proliferation of company Web sites, it will become increasingly easy to become acquainted with companies' power structures, corporate cultures, directions, and challenges. Interviewees who want to out-compete the competition have only to do their homework and interview armed with suggested strategies to help meet corporate challenges."

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Increasingly, employers are demanding experience from all job-seekers, including those "entry-level" positions that college grads fill. Why the trend? Because these so-called entry-level jobs are no longer training positions; employers want employees who can make an impact from day one. What can you do about it? Position yourself as having the key skills that employers seek in job candidates. Identify those key skills you gained from your educational experience as well as from those odd jobs while in college. And don't put down those odd jobs; while they may not have been in your field, you still gained valuable business skills and experience while working them. Read about these transferable skills -- and how college grads especially can take advantage of them -- in our growing section on transferable skills at Quintessential Careers. Once you've identified those transferable skill sets that you have mastered, you can then go about developing a new resume. Then read our article, Should You Consider a Functional Resume?

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What if a previous employer has changed its name? Should you use the new name on your resume or the old one? Both. A very simple protocol for handling company name changes on your resume is to simply list the current name of the company, and then, in parentheses and in smaller type, list the name of the company when you worked there. So, for example: Bank of America (formerly NationsBank). Make sure you follow all the other rules of resume-writing. See a quick overview at Quintessential Careers: Resumes Do's and Don'ts, or go for a more detailed review by using Quintessential Careers: Resume Tutorial.

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Be sure you are totally truthful about the accomplishments you list on your resume. Have you really accomplished all the things you say you did on your resume? Remember that a resume is a statement of facts. While you can put a spin on your accomplishments, the bottom line is that they all must be truthful statements.

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Because of the massive downsizing and rightsizing that began in the 1980s and continues today -- and the current dotcom fallout -- employers are less likely to use job-hopping (or what appears as job-hopping) as a reason not to interview someone. On the other hand, keep in the back of your mind that the purpose of your resume is to get you an interview -- and you want to remove as many roadblocks as possible. Thus, if you've had short stints in your jobs, you may want to consider a functional resume. Functional resumes focus on your key skill sets and accomplishments, de-emphasizing your actual employment history. You can read more in our article, Should You Consider a Functional Resume?. Be prepared, however, to explain the short job stints in your interviews - and how you are now in a position to settle down and make a long-term commitment to your next job.

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If you've had jobs that were of short duration, focus on highlighting and leveraging your accomplishments from your previous work experience. Consider reading: For Job-Hunting Success: Track and Leverage Your Accomplishments.

Remember that no matter how good a job you do with your resume, the question about your last few experiences will likely be asked -- and you need to be prepared with a good answer. Talk about how there were circumstances out of your control that have since been resolved -- that you are ready to make a longer-term commitment to your next employer - to stay for as long as there are challenges to conquer and results to deliver to help the company's bottom line.

You can find more interviewing resources at Quintessential Careers: Guide to Job Interviewing Resources.

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Some designers create a graphic element and use that graphic on their resume, writes Jennifer Klein in her article for QuintCareers, Creative Professionals: Does Your Resume Reflect Your Design Skills?. This graphic could be a small design used in a corner of the resume or on the header; or, it could be a larger graphic located somewhere on the resume that does not distract the reader from the content. Using a graphical element can be a great opportunity to showcase your skills, as long as it does not overwhelm the resume. (Note that if you choose to use a graphic design on your resume you will also want to incorporate this same design in your cover letter, teaser sheet, and portfolio. This design also needs to look great both on an electronic resume and on a print version, so be sure to print your resume before sending it out to ensure that the design works.)

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There is no shame in hiring a professional resume writer. You hire doctors, lawyers, financial advisers, and tax consultants when you lack the expertise in those areas, so why should resume-writing be different? Many employers and even more recruiters actually encourage the idea of professionally written resumes because hiring managers want to obtain your information in a reader-friendly form that clearly tells how you can benefit the organization. Read more in our article Why Hire a Professional Resume Writer?

Find even more resume tips in Critical Resume Tips: Key Resume Writing Advice -- #3.

Check out all of our Quick and Quintessential Strategic Resume Tips.

Review all our Quick and Quintessential Tips to Guide Your Job Search and Work Life.

Maximize your career and job-search knowledge and skills! Take advantage of The Quintessential Careers Content Index, which enables site visitors to locate articles, tutorials, quizzes, and worksheets in 35 career, college, job-search topic areas.

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Q-Tips: Critical Resume Tips Key Resume Writing Advice -- #2

These resume writing related tips -- choosing the best resume style, tips for highlighting career accomplishments, and more -- have been gathered from numerous sources throughout Quintessential Careers and organized here for your convenience.

Check out all of our Quick and Quintessential Strategic Resume Tips.

Review all our Quick and Quintessential Tips to Guide Your Job Search and Work Life.

Maximize your career and job-search knowledge and skills! Take advantage of The Quintessential Careers Content Index, which enables site visitors to locate articles, tutorials, quizzes, and worksheets in 35 career, college, job-search topic areas.

Q-Tips: Critical Resume Tips
Key Resume Writing Advice -- #2