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Friday, May 1, 2009

How Do I Write My Resume?


Do It To Your Strengths


After that self-assessment, it is time to go into action – that is, to plunk yourself before the computer and compose a power resume. Any job hunter worth his salt knows a good resume is the key to an interview invitation and ultimately, to employment. Aside from a summary of your abilities, work experience and education, a resume should reveal your unique selling point to entice a potential employer to “buy” you.

The secret to an irresistible resume is to address the specific needs of a specific job. A tailored resume has infinitely more impact than a one-size-fits-all. To craft such a resume, you need to firstly organize information under specific headings such as education, academic achievement, work experience (if any), skills and activities. When you have them all paper, decide on the proper format to play up outstanding qualities that fit into the job’s requirements. Here are several kinds of resume for your proposal.

CHRONOLOGICAL RESUME is the most conventional as it emphasizes on an itemized employment history. Career milestones are presented in reverse chronological order, starting with the current position held. Each position contains a description of relevant responsibilities and accomplishment. Ideal for candidates with solid experience and progressive job history in a field or industry, and want to continue along a similar career path. Most employers prefer this style as it is based on fact and easily digestible.

FUNCTIONAL RESUME organizes work history into sections that highlight skills and accomplishments deemed most appropriate for the position. Job hoppers, career changers and fresh graduates may use this type to make sense of seemingly disconnected experiences and display transferable skills and related achievements. It could raise concerns that it is being used to cover information gaps and a spotty employment record. Employers might also encounter difficulties matching skills and accomplishments to actual job titles, dates and responsibilities. To avoid this, include the company name in the bulleted description of your accomplishment. Do not omit at least a brief chronological listing of your work experience.

COMBINATION RESUME tries to merge the best features of the chronological and functional types – incorporating both a chronological work history and a skills and achievements section. In this format, skills and accomplishments get top billing followed by employment history. The combination resume may not sit well with some employers who may find these longer resumes particularly repetitious and confusing. This format can be good tool, however, for someone with strong edition skills.

CURRICULUM VITAE is sometimes used interchangeably with resume but by formal definition, a curriculum vitae refers to a detailed, lengthy and structured outline of educational background, publications, awards and work history. It can run up to 20 pages and usually employed by educators and scientists boasting extensive academic and professional credentials and a seeking positions in education or research.

ELECTRONIC RESUME is one that can be sent by email or viewed on the internet and specially formatted for scanning and searching by optical scanning systems. This format is frequently used when sending resume to electronic resume banks and job sites. It is becoming an increasingly popular choice as it is fast, effective and convenient. It is can come in different file formats but experts recommend using ASCII text file formats as they are universally recognized by computer systems.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Resume Tips - Resume Keywords

The keywords that you use in your resume will determine how the employer finds your resume.

Most of us know keywords as the terms we use in a web search. For our purposes, they are specific terms used in your job and industry. Keywords also include other terms employers and recruiters search for, such as those that describe education and experience. Examples:

  • Job Titles: Software Engineer, Project Manager, Quality Assurance Analyst, Programmer,

  • Developer Skills and Responsibilities: system administration, application programming, web development, budget planning, technical support, technical writing, drafting, team lead, manager, architect

  • Acronyms, buzzwords, computer languages: HTML, XML, C#, LAN, TCP/IP, UNIX, Microsoft Project, C++, Java

  • Education and Certifications: BS Engineering, MSCS, MBA, Microsoft Certified Professional, MCSD, Masters Degree, PhD

In the tech industry, many of the keywords will come from your technical skills summary. It is important that you make this an accurate representation of your skills. Because this section can end up resembling a "laundry" list of techie terms, it should also be well organized.

http://jobsearchtech.about.com/od/gettingthejob/a/HowToMakeResume_2.htm

Resume Format

Here are some practical tips for formatting your resume:
  1. Use a simple font. Do not use a decorate font. Times New Roman and Arial parse most accurately and are the "standard" fonts for business communication, which your resume is.

  2. Use a standard font size. For business communications, fonts of 10 and 12 points are the norm.

  3. Avoid using charts, pictures, tables or graphs in your resume. These rarely make it through. If you have information that needs to be in that format, consider an addendum to your resume or, perhaps, a web page that you have created that stores the information, with a link to the web page from your resume.

  4. If you are applying for a job where it's important to show off your formatting or creative skills to land a job, such as a Web Designer or Graphic Artist position, distribute copies of your fancy paper resume at interviews. Better yet, send both a fancy and plain resume format, or create a fancy Web resume and portfolio, and include the URL in your emailed resume or cover letter.

How To Make A Resume

Because of the volume of resumes employers receive, most of them now use some kind of resume tracking or applicant tracking system. This automates many of the tasks necessary for tracking candidates, and also makes it possible for an employer to find a resume they received months or years later. As a result of the technologies used, its important to keep your resume in a certain format that will be correctly read and interpreted by the systems. This used to be referred to as a “scannable” resume because of the hardware that used to scan paper resumes into the computer. Now, career websites and resumes received via email are "parsed" and stored in a database.

Once your resume is stored electronically, employers use keywords to match the stored resumes with their open positions. In order to find the resumes, employers (and recruiters) use keyword searches, usually a boolean search.

Because of the technologies involved in parsing the resume, it is important to keep the format of your resume very simple and somewhat plain. This means that you should generally avoid fancy fonts, graphics and and other "special effects" that don’t always make it through the technologies correctly, at least for your electronic resume (you might want a more elaborate version to hand out at job fairs, but it really isn't necessary). A resume that is not formatted correctly won’t appear in a search for matching keywords, which greatly reduces your chances of landing interviews. I have seen some resumes come through with "gibberish" as a result of the writer trying to use charts or pictures on their resume.

Resume Templates - Tips For Using Resume Templates to Write a Fabulous Resume


Resume templates can be found online, in resume writing books, and even in resume writing software programs. They are great tools to help you write a professional resume. Here are some tips to help you make the most of resume templates to produce an outstanding resume.

Find a Template that Works for You
When looking for a resume template, you might many variations of templates that highlight different areas. One template might emphasize education, while another highlights employment experience. Do not settle on the first resume template you find. Search for the one that enhances your strengths and disguises your weaknesses. You might even be able to find a resume template designed for the specific job you are seeking.
Do Not Fear Editing
Have you found a resume template that is almost fits your needs? Do not be afraid to move a section, delete graphic, or change a font to make it perfect for your job search. You do not need to keep the resume template completely in tact. Think of it as a starting point that you can add to or alter to feature your most marketable skills and experience.
Look at Several Examples

Do not rely solely on your resume template to write a fabulous resume. The best way to get a feel for what your resume should look like is to look at example resumes. If available, look at resume examples created using your resume template. Looking at example resumes will give you ideas to help you best use your resume template.


Janet Payne wants to help you write a professional resume that gets you the job of your choice.

Click Here to learn more about how to write a great resume.
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