PREPARING YOUR RESUME

Your resume is an essential part of your marketing campaign that not only details your background and experience, but reflects your career accomplishments in a manner that will persuade the reader to contact you. Your professional background should be presented in reverse chronological order, starting with your current or most recent position.

Contact Information

     Make it easy to contact you by phone or e-mail. The more difficult you are to reach, the less likely someone is to try. Be sure that home answering machine and voicemail messages are professional.

Objective or Summary

     Including a Summary or Objective is a frequently debated topic. If you are currently employed, and your objective states a logical progression to the "next step" in your career, then consider placing it on the resume. If not, consider replacing the Objective with a two or three sentence Summary of your experience.

 

Objective: An objective should be one sentence

• Example: To secure a position as Regional Manager with a food manufacturer selling to major grocery, drug and mass merchant chains.

Summary: The first sentence should include your title and years of experience, the second should indicate special skills or achievements. A third sentence could include something about your work style.

• Example: International Sales Manager with over 15 years experience in three Fortune 100 companies. Experience includes P&L, Marketing, Product Placement, Sales Management, International Trade Shows. Trilingual -- French, German and English, seasoned traveler with extensive contacts in major European markets.

Professional Experience

     List each position in reverse chronological order, going back at least ten years. Include the location and dates of employment with each company, as well as a one sentence profile of the company. If you have held multiple positions in the same company, be sure to list all of them. If your career extends beyond ten years, evaluate the relevance of those early positions to your current position or career aspirations.

Divide the body of the position description in two parts -- a description of your responsibilities, and your accomplishments for each of those positions.


Example:

ABC Company, Anytown, USA. Regional Sales Manager, 1994 - present.

ABC Company is a $100M manufacturer of industrial, commercial and industrial glass products.

Regional Sales Manager, 1994 - present

Hire, train and manage a team of 12 District Managers, 3 Key Account Managers and the internal support staff of 5. Prepare and monitor sales budgets, interface with marketing and engineering groups.

• Introduced new consumer product line that exceeded projections by 25%.
• Increased consumer sales volume by 29% in 1999 from $16M to $19.2M by initiating personnel changes, and bringing on two new major accounts.
• Decreased personnel costs via territory consolidation, and implementing electronic communication.

When compiling a list of achievements, consider the following:

Increasing Revenue	Successful Advertising Campaign
Saved Money	Increased Efficiencies
Cut Overhead	Improved Workplace Safety
Effective Budgeting	Improved Record Keeping Process
Increased Productivity	Purchasing Accomplishments
Increased Sales	New Products/New Lines


Education

List your education in reverse chronological order, starting with the institution, its location and dates you attended. Be sure to indicate the type of degree, if earned. List your GPA if above 3.0 or B, and indicate if you graduated with honors.

Language

If you are fluent in more than one language, include it on your resume. The criteria for evaluating your skill level as fluent should be your ability to negotiate a contract in that language. If you are not fluent, identify your skill as a "working knowledge." If you are multi-lingual, identify your mother tongue.

Other

In some industries and positions, publications, patents, professional training programs, appointments, licenses and technical skills may be important. If these items are important from the viewpoint of the employer or recruiter, and these skills will benefit your next employer, then you should list them on your resume.

Additional Hints For Resume Preparation

     Do make sure you select a standard font that is easy to read, in a size that is neither too large nor too small (12 point is most acceptable) using both upper and lower case letters.

     Do include your permanent street address, even though you may not wish to be contacted at that address. The use of a P.O Box on a resume leaves room for speculation.

     Do print your resume on a medium grade, white 8 1/2" x 11" paper. This will fax, scan and copy the best.

     Do place your name at the top of the first page of the resume. Cover sheets may separate themselves from the remainder of the document.

     Do be aware of the kind of format you send your email resume. MS Word Attachment is requested to communicate with our office.

     Do remember the protected EEOC areas regarding race, religion, sex, marital status, ethnic origin when writing your resume, and eliminate mentioning them in the body of your resume.

     Do be sure that you include dates for all employment, military service and academic degrees.