Introduction to Resumes

This is the 1st in our 8 part series. Like us at http://www.facebook.com/fulltimeGiGS for other recommendations that get your resume seen by the hiring manager.

Write and format your resume so it grabs the attention of the decision makers in the hiring process. Securing a great career opportunity can be a long journey. There are many steps in the process.

One critical step is the job interview. Most new opportunities involve multiple interviews including phone interviews and in-person interviews. You can consider the presentation of your resume as a first step in the interview process, the written interview.

The purpose of your resume is to get past the written interview stage and win a telephone or in-person interview for a great job. It is a sales brochure, custom tailored to fit a job opportunity using your objectives, skills and educational background. Knowing who will be reading it and what they will be screening for can make the difference between success and failure. Prepare your resume to successfully navigate the different audiences it will encounter on its path through the employment process.

There are several stops in a resume’s journey. At each stop it is subjected to reviewers with differing agendas. This is true regardless of your industry of choice. In each industry, resume reviewers are searching for information that is unique to the specific job opening. However, the formula for the format used to present that information is common to all industries. The goal of your resume is to get an interview and ultimately to be interviewed by the hiring manager. Structure your resume so the reviewers are satisfied. You want them to send it on its way to the next stop in the employment channel. You want them to recommend an interview with the hiring manager.

What are the typical stops in the employment process? First, your resume gets screened. This is often done by a “recruiter.” The “recruiter” may be a direct employee of a hiring company, a contract employee or a independent agency or headhunter. Typically these screeners are not the subject matter experts. All of these “recruiters” are looking for similar types of information to effectively screen you in or out. They generally work from a list of selection criteria developed through meetings and phone calls with the hiring manager.

Next comes the screen by the hiring manager, the subject matter expert. He has his own agenda and is looking for different information. During this process you may be selected for a phone interview and ultimately, an in-person interview. Your resume has specific uses in each of these interviews as well. After you have secured the job, your resume may become a part of your permanent file with your new employer. Any information included in it can be important for as long as you are employed there.

Pam and I routinely counsel candidates about the ins and outs of writing an effective resume. Over the years, we have looked at hundreds of thousands of them. We routinely offer recommendations to our candidates on making their resumes more effective. It is a rare instance for the resume we ultimately submit to our client employers to be the same one originally provided by a candidate.

By now it should be apparent the content and format of your resume are not to be taken lightly. It is important to think about how it will be used before giving it to a perspective employer. In the next few blog posts, we will cover each of the sections of the resume in enough detail to help you to understand how to write it for success!

Following is a list of seven (7) points we will cover.

Point 1 – Styles
Point 2 – Identification
Point 3 – Introduction
Point 4 – Employment History
Point 5 – Education
Point 6 – Professional Recognition
Point 7 – Other/Personal Interests

(This is the 1st in our 8 part series. Like us at http://www.facebook.com/fulltimeGiGS for other recommendations that get your resume seen by the hiring manager.)

Sources & Related Articles:

1. “Tips and Advice on How to Write a Resume” (multiple articles)
By Alison Doyle, About.com Guide
http://jobsearch.about.com/od/resumewriting/qt/writeresume.htm

2. “Customized Resume Objective Gets Better Results”
From Laura Schneider
http://jobsearchtech.about.com/od/gettingthejob/qt/resobj.htm

3. “Should You Use a Chronological or Functional …?”
By Roberta Chinsky Matuson, Monster Contributing Writer
http://career-advice.monster.com/resumes-cover-letters/resume-writing-tips/chronological-resume-or-functional-resume/article.aspx

4. “How to Target a Resume for a Specific Job”
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-target-a-resume-for-a-specific-job0.html

5. “10 Steps: How to Write a …”
by Susan Ireland
http://susanireland.com/resume/how-to-write/

6. Put Your Education to Work on Your …”
By Kim Isaacs, Monster Resume Expert
http://career-advice.monster.com/resumes-cover-letters/resume-writing-tips/put-your-education-to-work/article.aspx