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Preparing Your Resume
Preparing
Your Resume
/ The
Successful Interview
/
The Professional Way to Resign
It takes time to build
a good 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.
COMPONENTS
OF A PROFESSIONAL RESUME
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 a objective 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:
| Incresing
Revenue |
Successful
Advertising Campaign |
| Saved
Money |
Increased
Efficencies |
| Cutt
Overhead |
Improved Workplace
Safety |
| Effective
Budgeting |
Improved Record
Keeping |
| 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.
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