Quick and Easy Tips on Resume
Categories
By Ann Baehr, Best
Resumes of New York
There are several factors that are
essential to a strong resume. This tutorial will explain
the importance of each category in a resume.
VISUAL APPEAL
Make it attractive and organized by being consistent! Be
sure to use tabs instead of spacing. Each element should
be presented the identical way from section to section.
For example:
* If you center and bold a heading, center
and bold all of your headings.
* If you indent your
experience under an employer, do the same for the rest.
* If you use just the years for a position held, do not
use months for the other positions.
* If you skip one line
between two sections, skip only one line between all
sections. When you are done, examine the format. Does it
look uniformed?
Many job seekers make the mistake of creating a simple,
hard-to-read heading or “Resume Letterhead.” To start
your resume off right, bold and capitalize your name and
make it at least a 16-point font size.
Format
your
address in an interesting way. For example. break the
address up on either side of the name, place it in the
center, and add a line to separate the name and address
from the body of the resume.
FOCUS
Indicate your objective so the reader doesn’t have to
guess. Instead of using an objective statement that
really doesn’t say anything specific, place an objective
title in its place, all caps and bold. Or:
Boring/cliche:
OBJECTIVE: Seeking to secure a growth oriented position
utilizing my experience and education.
Focused:
OBJECTIVE: Customer service representative with five
years of experience in automotive manufacturing seeking
a sales position with a major auto dealership.
QUALIFICATIONS
List several key qualifications (hard skills) that match
the requirements of a position. This could include
length of experience, type of experience (e.g. sales,
customer service, technical expertise, licenses,
certifications, and degree).
PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES
Sparingly list soft skills and personality traits well
suited for the position. This should not be confused
with qualifications. This could include strong
communication skills used as a group presenter,
excellent time management skills, people-oriented,
project-oriented, team leadership, problem solving
skills, mathematical aptitude, confidentiality, patient
advocate, etc.
EXPERIENCE
Provide a presentation of where you worked, in what
positions, and for how long. Convey what the positions
were about and what your main responsibilities were.
Take into consideration who you reported to, if you
supervised and trained anyone, who your customers were,
how you interacted with them, what type of projects you
worked on, if you handled monies or managed budgets, if
you utilized the computer to retrieve and update
information, etc.
SKILLS
If you possess certain technical skills such as patient
care, computer systems, automotive repair, scientific
R&D, etc., be sure to emphasize it in a situational way
to show the reader how you used these skills. If you
have extensive computer skills, be sure to create a
separate category called Technical Expertise.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
List accomplishments to show you make a difference in
the workplace. This could include process improvements,
streamlining workflow efficiencies, training others when
a new computer system was implemented, starting up a new
department, etc. You can include your accomplishments
directly under each position or in a separate category
called Accomplishments, Achievements, or Contributions.
TECHNICAL EXPERTISE
This is an important category for an information
technology professional to itemize their expertise in
hardware, software, operating systems, protocols,
programming languages, website development, etc.
LICENSES & CERTIFICATIONS
This is mandatory for many positions requiring state
licensure. For example, a teacher (teaching
certificate), nurse (registered nurse), hairstylist
(state licensed cosmetologist). Some occupations offer
certifications that demonstrate a level of proficiency,
but is not state mandated to work in that capacity. This
is true in the case of information technology. For
example, it helps to maintain certain certifications to
advance professionally and demand higher pay, but it is
not mandatory to get a job.
EDUCATION
As with licenses and certifications, many occupations
require a degree. Some certifications and licenses are
not offered without appropriate academic training.
Again, these include teaching, nursing, and cosmetology.
These occupations require a certain level of training
defined by hours or semesters, such as student teaching,
clinical training, and hands-on classroom training.
If
you have experience and are not transitioning, list your
education at the bottom. If you are just starting out or
are transitioning, include your relevant education at
the top. The main idea is to place your strongest
selling points first. If you are in higher education
such as a school principal, list your education at the top
because that is your field.
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
List only the current organizations that you are
affiliated with. If you were with an organization for a
very long time and feel it would help to include it, then
list it with the years of membership. If you are
involved in doing things for the organization, include
“active” in your “membership” title.
For example, Active
Member, ABC Organization, 1998 – Present. If you are
actively involved in many unrelated organizations, use
your discretion when deciding to include it. You do not
need to list experience when listing your affiliations.
Just your position, e.g. Chairperson, The Organization, XXXX. You do not need to list locations.
The exception
with the verbiage is if you are a college student or
just graduated. You would then want to include how
involved you were in fundraisers and special projects.
That will show your character and leadership potential.
Once you have gained experience, be sure to remove the
verbiage so you don’t look “green.” By then you should
have more impressive information to include.
COMPUTER SKILLS
If you are in information technology, use a Technical
Expertise category. If not, list your software without
proficiency level. You do not need to list email,
faxing, and calculators. Those are expected.
REFERENCES AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST
This category is not necessary. You should bring copies
of your references to the interview to leave with the
hiring manager if you feel you are still interest in the
company after the interview. The only time it is a good
idea to include this optional category is if you are starting out in your career.
If you are very seasoned
and have many letters of recommendation, you can
always indicate that you have a "Letters of
Recommendation and Exceptional Professional References
Presented At Time of Meeting."
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Ann Baehr, Best Resumes of New
York
