Focus your resume precisely on the type of job you have decided to apply for.

Gather your job information including your old résumé with past job details and dates, published job descriptions of your new job target, education and credentials, volunteer work and community activities, awards and honors, and a list of your unique skills and abilities. Bring everything pertinent you can think of to the table including your past accomplishments on and off your job. You can sort through them later to decide their relevance to your current job search and whether to include them in your résumé. Keep in mind, your goal is to tell the employer how you are different from other applicants and to prove you are the best potential candidate. The result is they will want to talk with you and schedule an interview immediately. Voilà!  Desired result!

Divide your assembled information into 6 major categories:

1. Work Experience and Accomplishments
2. Education and Certifications
3. Skills and Abilities
4. Honors and Awards
5. Volunteer and Community Activities
6. Other Interests

Work Experience and Accomplishments:

• List your job experiences, paid and unpaid.
• Describe what you did on each job, your responsibilities, and the skills required.
• Note your successes, accomplishments, or any recognition you received.
• Write about your achievements and quantify them in percentages, dollars, and results.

(Employers are looking for proof and numbers are important.)

Education and Certifications:

• If you are a student, or have returned to school to get an MBA, list education information at the top of your résumé.
• Professionals, place education at the end of your résumé unless you have a new relevant degree or the degree major is more important than the job experience.
• Include your graduation year unless there is a concern of age discrimination. Prestigious awards and a GPA over 3.0 can be included in the first years after graduation.
• Include related certifications, credentials, licenses and other items that qualify you for your job target.

Skills and Abilities:

• This could be the section where you list computer skills, especially if you are in a field like IT or graphic design.
• List networks, equipment, software and other applicable skills the employer is looking for.
• Save valuable résumé space and eliminate listing basic computer skills an employer assumes you, and just about everyone else, has.

Honors and Awards:

• If your career encompasses awards, distinctions, grants and other professional recognitions you may list those in a separate section of your résumé.

Volunteer, Community Activities:

• Assemble a list of volunteer work, community activities, clubs, and associations that demonstrate to the employer you are a well-rounded candidate.
• Consider these items carefully to make sure there is nothing that will come across as too “unusual” to the employer. Do not include anything religious, political, or personal.
• List only the organization, your role, and the year.

Other Interests:

• If you have interests that will add to your professional brand you can include them under a section at the end of your résumé as “other interests.”

Assemble the above information about your career life before beginning your résumé project. Don’t wait until you are in a job crisis to create or update your résumé. You should have a résumé that illustrates your personal brand ready to “deliver” at all times. With adequate research, you may want to write your own résumé or, if writing isn’t one of your best skills, leave this to a professional résumé writer. Think of the ramifications of having a poor résumé represent you and the negative impact it will have on your job, earning power, and life over the long term.

The six categories of information you have assembled will form your résumé’s foundation and give you an overview of what to include. In an upcoming post I will note more specifics and post samples of the three major resume types, chronological, functional, and combination of both. Many times I favor the combination type. There is no “one way” to write a résumé and you may be creative in presentation as long as it is concise, formatted correctly, without errors, and based totally on truth. Truth can never be compromised.

Checklist:  21 Points to Remember When Writing a Resume

1. Decide on the target job for your résumé and demonstrate your use of key skills in position requirements. Use those that describe your experience accurately. Demonstrate how.
2. Place your name prominently at the top of page one, bolded and in larger print, 18-20 font size. Use a font size of 11 points for the body of your résumé, depending on the specific font’s characteristics. Use only up to two fonts or two sizes.  Put your name and the page number on following pages.
3.  Decide if you want to include only your email address as contact information or include your phone or physical address.  Consider security and who will view it. Open a free email account expressly for your job search to protect your identity.
4.  Keep your résumé short, one to two pages, three for some professionals.
5.  Make it easy to read with ample white space, clear headings, concise descriptions, and bulleted points to emphasize accomplishments. Maintain consistent formatting throughout.
6.  Craft a résumé free of complicated jargon or industry buzz words. Remember, it may need to pass muster with an HR generalist first. State accomplishments clearly.
7.  Limit design elements, sticking with no more than two fonts at most and considering fonts such as New Times Roman in a serif font or, Arial, Helvetica, or Verdana in a sans-serif font.  Choose a font that an ATS (employer’s Applicant Tracking System) will readily accept or it will not be selected. Limit bold and underlining. Your paper choice should be 22 or 24 lb., white with black type.
8.  Always, always know which format each employer requires for a résumé submission. Will it be presentation paper and print, or ASCII (plain text), PDF, MS Word? Is it snail mail, email attachment, download, or cut and paste to their website? Find out!
9.  Target every résumé you write for a specific position. One “general” résumé will not do. This means, start with a specific job title headline.
10.  Find out what problem the employer has and make sure you “solve it”! Do your research, what do they need? What will you do for them?
11.  Strengthen your résumé. Quantify your accomplishments in numbers:  dollars, percentages, scope.
12.  Salary information does not belong in your résumé or, for that matter, in initial contacts either.
13.  Exclude personal information of all kinds including family or hobbies.
14.  Check spelling and formatting carefully so your résumé is completely error-free.
15.  Eliminate personal pronouns and begin each descriptive sentence with an action verb. Use present tense in your first job description, and past tense in subsequent ones.
16.  Avoid overused résumé phrases and create a refreshing but compelling résumé that gets attention.
17.  In your Experience section, after a brief statement to describe the company and scope of your position, write 2-6 bullet statements underneath with projects, achievements and results (numbers).
18.  Organize your résumé with relevant major headings. These may be bolded. Include experience, education, and skills.
19.  Make sure your descriptions show major accomplishments and are not a list of duties and tasks.
20.  Your education should consist of the school, city and state, degree, and graduation date.  You may include a GPA of 3.0 or above or honors. If there is no college, consider courses, seminars or industry education you have acquired. You may include those.
21.  Use spell check and proof your résumé at least twice.  Ask at least two others to check it.

What are “red flags” when I should start a job search?

Today, people commonly change jobs several times over the course of their careers. They are simply unable to predict the future of a changing job market or industry.

Be proactive and prepare for the unforeseen by keeping your resumé up to date. If you don’t currently have a resumé, make creating one a priority.

If writing this important career document is beyond your interest or scope, consider hiring a qualified resumé writer. Define your career goal, know your worth in the job market, and refine your resumé to best reflect you. You will then be ready to jump on an unexpected opportunity or counteract an unwanted job loss.

Possible reasons for a job search:

• You want to make more money.
• You are bored with your job.
• You want to change careers.
• You are getting passed over for promotion.
• The job outlook in your field is bleak.
• You are experiencing job burnout.
• The stress level in your job is too great.
• You lost your job through downsizing or were let go.
• You were laid off or are afraid you will be.

How do I write a great resumé targeted to the job I want?

Research companies and job descriptions:

• You will find career information and a skills-matching service at O*NET Online from the U.S. Department of Labor and basic job information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Outlook Occupational Handbook  http://www.bls.gov/oco/ Links to both are on this website’s “Resources” page along with other helpful job search tools.
• To identify hot industries and occupations search America’s Job Bank and America’s Career InfoNet. You can go directly to company websites that interest you and research your target job descriptions. While there, get names, mailing addresses, emails, and phone numbers of company hiring managers to contact directly (not human resources). You may also call and get this information from a receptionist if it’s not on the web site.
• Write out your chosen job target in a clear, brief statement describing your job objective. You may not want to use this statement on your resumé but it will be a working statement for you to focus on. You can add the objective statement to your cover letter that you will tailor for each job opening.

Read Inspiring and Helpful Books:

• What Color is Your Parachute, by Richard Bolles, Ten Speed Press, 2010 Edition
• 48 Days to the Work You Love, Preparing for The New Normal, by Dan Miller, B&H Publishing, 2010 Edition
• The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale, Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1996 Edition
• Swim With the Sharks Without Getting Eaten Alive, by Harvey Mackay, Ballantine Books, 1988

Upcoming post describes details you need for an effective resumé.

Not everyone is aware a resumé has other functions nearly as important as achieving an interview. Not only does it get you the interview, it structures the interview process, reminds the interviewer about you after you are gone, and justifies the hiring decision. There are others but the four that follow are most common.

It Gets You the Interview: First, your resumé must hold up to tough competition. Everything matters, your resume’s format, spelling, organization, and highlighting your strengths and accomplishments. Today’s results-driven resumés are entirely different from those of a year or two ago. Employers are picky and you need to know what they want. Research shows they will screen a resumé in 20 seconds or less. Marketing yourself effectively in a concise way with particular attention to the top ten lines of your resumé is essential to your success. With only one chance to get the hiring manager’s attention and the job you want, you need to capture immediate interest and stand out ahead of other candidates.

It Structures The Interview: Your resumé will give the framework the interviewer follows in forming questions about your employment history. This is an advantage for you since you are already familiar with the information. Your resumé tells enough to create interest and curiosity, yet does not tell the entire story, leaving you room for clarification in your own words. In essence, you will be in control of the interview with the ability to reinforce key accomplishments.

It Reminds the Interviewer of You After You Are Gone: The interviewer will remember a candidate who has a carefully crafted resumé as intelligent and articulate. If the resumé is poor quality, that memory becomes negative and recalls someone ill prepared and inarticulate.

It Justifies the Hiring Decision to Others:  With a long hiring process and many people involved in the hiring decision, your resumé forms the basis for discussion and decision-making. In this, it is an important document. People higher in the chain of command may not meet you personally but will need to be comfortable with your written resumé. Your resumé must hold up to such scrutiny. Submitting a winning resumé is critical or you could lose out at this higher level from someone who has never met you.

Note: Create your resumé from the perspective of the employer/hiring manager and always keep in mind what you want it to accomplish. Be certain to target your resumé for each job you apply for and you will better achieve your career goals.

Thank you for visiting My Essential Resume website/blog. Your questions and comments are welcome. I will gladly address your resume needs or point you in an appropriate direction. I hope your job search endeavors are successful wherever you are in your journey toward a fulfilling career and life.