(no subject)
Now we’ll run down the resume by components.
Header - This is the section of the resume where your personal information goes. It’s also the largest amount of wasted space on the resume. Remember the “Above the Fold” rule. If you take up that space just declaring who you are, there won’t be any room left to answer the “Hair on Fire” question. At the same time, you want to stand out. Make your header stylized but always keep space in mind. Here are some tips to help minimize.
· Fit as much on one line as possible
o Name
Address
Address 2
Telephone
Email
Website
o The above takes up a lot of room doesn’t it? How about this?
Name
Address
Address 2
Telephone
Email/Website
· Address is Optional - Unless it’s pertinent, for instance, you’re relocating and all of your employment has been in a different state
· If your resume spills into two pages, make sure your name is at the top of each.
· Include any designations you have to your name. MD, RN, etc.
Desired Job Position - You should put the job title you’re applying for on the resume. Computers have revolutionized our lives but most people, including HR managers, will still prefer to print out your resume rather than leave it on the system. Wouldn’t it be terrible if that printout got mixed into the wrong job pile? Make sure it doesn’t happen.
Objective - If you have an Objective on your resume, delete it, NOW. Objectives are terrible things. Why? It goes back to who a resume is for. An employer doesn’t give a hoot why you’re on the job market or what you’re looking for. Remember, “Hair on Fire” question. What can you do for them? Objectives are generally self centered, non informative dribble that don’t help sell you at all. To make it worse, they’re placed at the top of the resume or “Above the Fold”.
Instead, replace your objective with a Value Proposition. This is similar to an objective but switches the focus back to the employer. “How can I help you?”
· The “I … To … By” Principle
o “I …” - Who do you help achieve their goals?
“I help organizations”
“I assist clients”
o “To …” - What do you help People do?
“To solve IT issues”
“To increase efficiency”
o “By …” - How do you Do it?
“By identifying and troubleshooting problems in an efficient way.”
“By eliminating redundant procedures and slack.”
o Example - “I assist clients to solve IT issues by identifying and troubleshooting problems in an efficient way.”
· Your Value Proposition should focus on what you can do for the reader, give a general idea of what function you’d like to play in their organization, and be less than four lines. It can be as general or specific as you like within those guidelines.
Accomplishments - This section actually comprises of three different sections: “Education”, “Certifications” and “Awards & Recognition.” The layout of these conforms to traditional theories and they don’t have to be mashed together. It’s where you put them that is different. You have a decision to make. Do I highlight my education or my experience? This will determine if you will use a Chronological or Functional resume. These are common formats so I’m not going to go into them. The other important question is: Above or below the fold? Are you accomplishments important enough that they will catch the eye of the reader? Or should they be pushed down the page?
Keywords - I’m torn on this subject. The instructors in the class talked down on adding a keywords section. But it is commonplace for employers to use HR systems that allow searching resumes by keyword. So not having said keyword may keep your resume from popping up. The compromise seems to be to either add a section but focus on the keywords that are included in the job description or make sure those keywords are included in your C.A.R.’s.
C.A.R.’s - Remember when I said we’d get back to customizing your resume? Here it is; the ultimate snap-in resume concept. A C.A.R. is a snippet of information about you framed inside the “How can I help you?” question. It stands for Challenge - Action - Results.
· Challenge - Come up with an organizational issue that would be pertinent to the reader
o “The company was looking to increase market share”
o “The company needed to decrease turnover”
· Action - What did you do to resolve the Challenge?
o “I focused on community relations to increase company awareness”
o “I implemented employee centric programs to increase job satisfaction”
· Results - What was the quantifiable outcome?
o “I increased sales by 1.5 million over 2 years.”
o “Turnover decreased by 5%.”
With that in mind, turn it into a cohesive snippet.
· One of the companies’ long term goals was to increase market share in all of their markets. To do so, I focused on community relations to increase company awareness. I accomplished this by sponsoring local events, such as event name. This increased community awareness led to an increase of sales by 1.5 million over 2 years.
The theory behind C.A.R.’s is that you should have a word document on your computer with just C.A.R.’s in it. Each should be 4 - 5 lines and concise. Every time you do something notable at work, write a C.A.R. for it. Keep adding to your C.A.R. file as you go along.
Once you have this file established, customizing your resume is easy. Develop a Skeleton Resume including information that will always be included. These would be the Header, Value Proposition, Keywords, Accomplishments and Employment History sections. Within this Skeleton Resume, the only sections you would need to tweek on a job by job basis are your Value Proposition and Keywords Section. Now, based on what the employer is looking for you can snap in appropriate C.A.R.’s that will demonstrate how you fit that description.
C.A.R.’s can be applied to either functional or chronological resumes. They would fit under either your functional headings or under each employment you’ve had. For example:
Technical
Or,
Ctrl Z For Your PC, 2009 - Current, Owner
It should be noted that your C.A.R.’s are your meat and potatoes and as such should be “Above the Fold” as much as possible. They will demonstrate to the reader “How you can help them. Also, C.A.R.’s translate well into cover letters as well, making Rule #4 much easier to swallow.
And that’s it. It’s going to be a bitch to reformat your resume to comply with these new rules but once you do, it should take a lot of the pain out of resume writing.
Header - This is the section of the resume where your personal information goes. It’s also the largest amount of wasted space on the resume. Remember the “Above the Fold” rule. If you take up that space just declaring who you are, there won’t be any room left to answer the “Hair on Fire” question. At the same time, you want to stand out. Make your header stylized but always keep space in mind. Here are some tips to help minimize.
· Fit as much on one line as possible
o Name
Address
Address 2
Telephone
Website
o The above takes up a lot of room doesn’t it? How about this?
Name
Address
Address 2
Telephone
Email/Website
· Address is Optional - Unless it’s pertinent, for instance, you’re relocating and all of your employment has been in a different state
· If your resume spills into two pages, make sure your name is at the top of each.
· Include any designations you have to your name. MD, RN, etc.
Desired Job Position - You should put the job title you’re applying for on the resume. Computers have revolutionized our lives but most people, including HR managers, will still prefer to print out your resume rather than leave it on the system. Wouldn’t it be terrible if that printout got mixed into the wrong job pile? Make sure it doesn’t happen.
Objective - If you have an Objective on your resume, delete it, NOW. Objectives are terrible things. Why? It goes back to who a resume is for. An employer doesn’t give a hoot why you’re on the job market or what you’re looking for. Remember, “Hair on Fire” question. What can you do for them? Objectives are generally self centered, non informative dribble that don’t help sell you at all. To make it worse, they’re placed at the top of the resume or “Above the Fold”.
Instead, replace your objective with a Value Proposition. This is similar to an objective but switches the focus back to the employer. “How can I help you?”
· The “I … To … By” Principle
o “I …” - Who do you help achieve their goals?
“I help organizations”
“I assist clients”
o “To …” - What do you help People do?
“To solve IT issues”
“To increase efficiency”
o “By …” - How do you Do it?
“By identifying and troubleshooting problems in an efficient way.”
“By eliminating redundant procedures and slack.”
o Example - “I assist clients to solve IT issues by identifying and troubleshooting problems in an efficient way.”
· Your Value Proposition should focus on what you can do for the reader, give a general idea of what function you’d like to play in their organization, and be less than four lines. It can be as general or specific as you like within those guidelines.
Accomplishments - This section actually comprises of three different sections: “Education”, “Certifications” and “Awards & Recognition.” The layout of these conforms to traditional theories and they don’t have to be mashed together. It’s where you put them that is different. You have a decision to make. Do I highlight my education or my experience? This will determine if you will use a Chronological or Functional resume. These are common formats so I’m not going to go into them. The other important question is: Above or below the fold? Are you accomplishments important enough that they will catch the eye of the reader? Or should they be pushed down the page?
Keywords - I’m torn on this subject. The instructors in the class talked down on adding a keywords section. But it is commonplace for employers to use HR systems that allow searching resumes by keyword. So not having said keyword may keep your resume from popping up. The compromise seems to be to either add a section but focus on the keywords that are included in the job description or make sure those keywords are included in your C.A.R.’s.
C.A.R.’s - Remember when I said we’d get back to customizing your resume? Here it is; the ultimate snap-in resume concept. A C.A.R. is a snippet of information about you framed inside the “How can I help you?” question. It stands for Challenge - Action - Results.
· Challenge - Come up with an organizational issue that would be pertinent to the reader
o “The company was looking to increase market share”
o “The company needed to decrease turnover”
· Action - What did you do to resolve the Challenge?
o “I focused on community relations to increase company awareness”
o “I implemented employee centric programs to increase job satisfaction”
· Results - What was the quantifiable outcome?
o “I increased sales by 1.5 million over 2 years.”
o “Turnover decreased by 5%.”
With that in mind, turn it into a cohesive snippet.
· One of the companies’ long term goals was to increase market share in all of their markets. To do so, I focused on community relations to increase company awareness. I accomplished this by sponsoring local events, such as event name. This increased community awareness led to an increase of sales by 1.5 million over 2 years.
The theory behind C.A.R.’s is that you should have a word document on your computer with just C.A.R.’s in it. Each should be 4 - 5 lines and concise. Every time you do something notable at work, write a C.A.R. for it. Keep adding to your C.A.R. file as you go along.
Once you have this file established, customizing your resume is easy. Develop a Skeleton Resume including information that will always be included. These would be the Header, Value Proposition, Keywords, Accomplishments and Employment History sections. Within this Skeleton Resume, the only sections you would need to tweek on a job by job basis are your Value Proposition and Keywords Section. Now, based on what the employer is looking for you can snap in appropriate C.A.R.’s that will demonstrate how you fit that description.
C.A.R.’s can be applied to either functional or chronological resumes. They would fit under either your functional headings or under each employment you’ve had. For example:
Technical
- Through communications with fellow students, I recognized that people needed assistance in using computers. I met this need by providing easy to understand technical services and communicated knowledge in a manner that resolved clients computer issues and put them at ease. This allowed me to build a thriving referral business, all while I was still in college.
Or,
Ctrl Z For Your PC, 2009 - Current, Owner
- Through communications with fellow students, I recognized that people needed assistance in using computers. I met this need by providing easy to understand technical services and communicated knowledge in a manner that resolved clients computer issues and put them at ease. This allowed me to build a thriving referral business, all while I was still in college.
It should be noted that your C.A.R.’s are your meat and potatoes and as such should be “Above the Fold” as much as possible. They will demonstrate to the reader “How you can help them. Also, C.A.R.’s translate well into cover letters as well, making Rule #4 much easier to swallow.
And that’s it. It’s going to be a bitch to reformat your resume to comply with these new rules but once you do, it should take a lot of the pain out of resume writing.