Resume Blunders

These quotes were taken from actual resumes!

"I demand a salary commiserate with my extensive experience."

"I have lurnt Word Perfect 6.0 computor and spreadsheet progroms."

"Received a plague for Salesperson of the Year."

"Reason for leaving last job: maturity leave."

"Wholly responsible for two (2) failed financial institutions."

"Failed bar exam with relatively high grades."

What is a Resume that Works?

A RESUME THAT WORKS is, above all else, a resume that will be read. The purpose of a resume is to help you get an interview. If, as the result of submitting your resume, you get an interview with a prospective employer, you have a resume that worked!

Resumes are mostly used to screen people out of consideration! A resume that works screens you in! A resume that works stands out from all the others. It will get you the attention you deserve.

Employers don't spend much time reading each resume. Thirty seconds is a fair estimate. Maybe as little as 15 seconds, unless you get their attention immediately, in that first glance-through.

Think of your resume as an advertisement about yourself. Your resume must be built with the same techniques that advertisers use, to give you the edge over your competition. The resume must have a strong impact on your prospective employer.

The Story of Job, The Seeker

There once was a very fine craftsman named Job, who had fashioned many beautiful, fine quality jewels in the land. He had worked hard all his life, learned from skilled masters, knew how to use the tools of his trade, and was committed to creating splendid, eye-catching designs. Job, The Seeker his friends called him, for he was well known for his dedication to seeking personal happiness and satisfaction in his work.

Employees are a Risky Investment

Let’s say I am the Projects Manager for systems development with a medium sized corporation. Our work has been expanding and I need several more programmer analysts in the next couple of months.

I am very apprehensive about this. If I make the wrong decisions about whom I hire, it could be a very costly proposition.

Employees are my most costly and complex assets. Why?

So What Does a Really Effective Resume Look Like?

Your resume must capture the attention of a prospective employer in the first 15 to 30 seconds of reading. And then it must hold the attention until the end... and the end result must be an interview! That is, after all, the intent of submitting your resume - it is to get the interview.

Read this resume critically. You will see that it contains all the key ingredients. You can do the same, with effort and dedication to the task.

An Effective Resume

Today I’m posting the essence (somewhat abridged) of an email to a friend who asked for a review of her resume. It just may be helpful to you. I’ll soon post a resume sample that illustrates these points.

“I had a little time today to take a look at both the job description at XYZ Company and your resume.  Here are some observations – your resume will need to reflect your own way of expressing yourself, so I won’t actually make the changes, but only suggest.  We can dialog back and forth as you go, if you wish:

Challenging Times

Nationwide unemployment is around 10%. That does not include those who have in effect given up and stopped searching. Which makes finding a good job, the right job for you, all the more difficult. For every job that opens up, there are potentially dozens, if not hundreds, of applicants. It's tough to compete in such an environment.

So, what to do? Let's start with a few things NOT to do: