Job Chronology and Accomplishments - The Meat and Potatoes
Be aware that many recruiters and employers are suspicious of functional formats because they too often get used to hide issues such as career gaps or job hopping. Many recruiters that I spoke to had a clear preference for reverse chronological formats, because it requires the least amount of time and effort on their part to see what a candidate has done with their lives.
Sharon Rich is seeing much more savvy on the part of jobseekers in terms of résumés that quantify accomplishments and focus on transferable skills. HR Consultant and author Sharon Armstrong agrees. “Executives, senior managers and professionals are really spending time highlighting their major achievements on their resumes. Not everything they ever did…just a few targeted ones…which they can quantify.“
However, there are still too many job seekers who haven’t gotten the message. “Uncertain of what will catch someone’s eye or what to include, they are trying to cover all bases,” observed Sharon Blaivas, a former recruiter with Goldman Sachs. “I think that people who have been successful in their field and are now looking for work, feel that all they need to do is document what they do (at length and in any format!) and people will be knocking their door down.”
“The chronology needs to be fact based and focused on results,” says Paula Marks. David Lewis advises that each responsibility be accompanied by a correlating accomplishment. “Don’t say ‘I sold advertising.’ Instead, tell me how much you sold and how good you were!” For senior-level executives, Paula suggests taking it one step further. “Eliminate all ‘responsible for’ kinds of statements unless it isn’t obvious from your job title what you do. Concentrate instead on what you delivered.”
Be strategic in what you include. Ask yourself why the next employer would even care about each statement in your chronology - stay focused on the achievements that are relevant for your next job. If you’ve had the same job title over a number of different companies, don’t repeat yourself. Instead, show how your knowledge and skills have progressed over those years.
Don’t Waste Valuable Résumé Real Estate
“If the top half of the first page is the most critical section, do you really think its wise to waste an inch and a half of space with your name in really BIG letters?” Keep your identification bar concise, and limit your identifying information to your name, address, telephone number and email address, recruiters advise. Keep in mind that if you are going to be using a recruiter, they will be submitting your résumé under their letterhead. Make their job easier and leave enough margin room for them to do so without having to completely reformat your document.
You don’t need to include your LinkedIn address on your résumé. “It’s the equivalent of a high schooler listing their MySpace page on a job application - somewhat tasteless and unprofessional,” according to career advisor and columnist Megan Pittsley. “If someone wants to find you online, they will.” Likewise, you don’t need to include References are available upon request. Of course they are! Who other than Mary Poppins is going to tell a potential employer that they will not be providing references?
There has been an oft-repeated rule among professional résumé writers that your interests and hobbies have no place on a résumé, but recruiters are split on this. If your pastimes are reading and walking on the beach, then save it for your Personals Ad.
However, if you have “interesting” pastimes and non-work accomplishments, these can help to distinguish you from other candidates. If you have travelled extensively in other countries and are comfortable in cross-cultural environments, this can be an important “plus” to an employer who is looking to develop global business relationships. A candidate who has participated in Ironman competitions has obviously got the tenacity and self-discipline needed to set and achieve ambitious goals. Somebody who is extensively involved in the arts, charitable organizations or philanthropic activities will have a diverse network of contacts beyond work, which can be of great value to a company that relies on relationship selling to build their client base. It’s all about understanding the requirements of the target company.
Résumé Format & Structure
Give careful thought to layout. The most important information should be frontpage news, and there is no “one size fits all” solution here. Approach your résumé design in terms of what the recruiter / employer really wants and needs to know. If you legitimately have a lot of information that is frontpage newsworthy, consider using side panels where data like credentials or production credits can be listed without distracting the reader from your chronology (thank you to Mitch Drew for sharing his successes with this format).
Be aware, however, that too much innovation in design can work against you. “I saw something that was supposed to be a résumé recently but it looked like a seismic graph - all colours and lines”, one recruiter told me. “I don’t have time to interpret something like that - all it says to me is, this guy has too much time on his hands.” Paula Marks agrees, and recommends sticking to conventional formats. “Our brains have been trained to read résumés in a certain way. It’s a visual tool, it needs to be laid out that way.”
Keep in mind that your résumé may be viewed in print, on a desktop, a laptop, a Blackberry. It may also be scanned using Optical Character Recognition software, although this is increasingly unlikely (when was the last time you were asked to submit a written copy of your resume?) . Neverthless, it is still advisable to steer clear of fancy fonts in favour of those that are easy on the eye. The easier it is to read (by both humans and computers), the more likely it is that your résumé will be read and remembered. And be aware of the typesetter’s conundrum - sans serif fonts, which are easy to ready on the computer, can look boring on the written page, while serif fonts, which are common in books and magazines, can be extremely hard on the eye if looked at on a computer screen.
Great Résumé - Great Start. Now What?
Go back and look at it again. Make sure that every single word, sentence and structure is relevant and adds to the picture of who you are. Think short and sweet. “I don’t have time to read long paragraphs, so cut out the fluff.” But unless you are a new graduate, a one-pager probably won’t do. “One page résumés have gone the way of the dinosaur. If you are experienced, there is no way you are going to be able to cover everything I need to know about you in a single page.”
Customize your résumé for each target job, is Paula Mark’s recommendation, but don’t reinvent the wheel. You may need to create a list of 10 or 12 different summary bullets, so that you can pull out the six or seven that are most relevant for the specific job.
Finally, Caroline Ceniza-Levine, who has recruited for corporations such as Accenture, Citibank and Disney ABC, notes that “too many candidates are still dropping off hundreds of résumés and thinking this is a comprehensive search.” It isn’t even close. The job market is saturated with highly accomplished and highly qualified candidates, and the people who are succeeding in this environment are the ones who know how to network strategically.
Not sure how to network for a new job without feeling like a snake oil salesman? Have a look at Sharon Graham’s case study of what executive-level networking looks like in today’s job market. It’s all about harnessing information, building connections, and taking advantage of available resources to “position yourself above the competition and remain at the top.”
About the Author:Karen Siwak is a Certified Resume Strategist and the Executive Director of Resume Confidential.
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Anatomy of a Good Executive Resume - Advice from Recruiters (Part 2)