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Step Three:

Preparing Your Own Resume

Nothing is as frightening as doing something new for the first time. Frightening, sure -- but in the case of resumes, important, since it's the first thing most employers see that tells them anything about who you are and what you're about.

Resumes have half a dozen parts, give or take. The parts are "standard" -- that is, all resumes have them (all good ones, anyway). We'll show you what they are and how to put them together.

A brief note is in order to people qualified to do more than one thing. If you're qualified for and decide to seek different types of jobs in one simultaneous search, it's in your interest to create multiple resumes -- each focused on the needs of one particular type of employer. We'll talk about this as we go through each step of the resume-building process.

Here goes:

1. Name and address. Easy enough. Your resume should be typed (if you can't type, find someone who can) ... just type your full name (first, middle initial, last), address, city/state/zip, and last line, your phone. (Name and address are customarily centered on the top of the page.) Use a phone number that will be answered during the day, since that's when most of your calls will come. If you don't have an answering machine, buy one -- some sell for as little as $29. Worth much more. Leave an adult message. Kids talking on answering machines may be "cute" but you'd be surprised to learn how many people don't understand what they're saying.

2. Job Objective. What do you want? Be specific, simple, and clear. As mentioned earlier, and not repeated often enough: orient your words to the specific needs of a potential employer. For example, the objective for someone wanting to enter some part of the fashion merchandising business might be, Use my training and experience in Fashion Merchandising to help my employer achieve key objectives. Get it? This objective is focused exactly where it ought to be!

This kind of objective accomplishes three important things:

1. it specifies the field in which you seek employment, which will enable personnel types to send it to the right hiring manager(s);
2. it sets down right at the start that you are experienced, which will lead recipients to continue reading to see just what your experience is, and how your experience applies to their needs (now and in the future, as the position and the person in it "develop"); and
3. it makes very clear the point that you are focused on helping your employer meet its goals. All of these are important.

To achieve clarity and simplicity when writing your job objective, follow two hints:

1. write it so your aging grandmother would understand it (no offense, grandma!); and
2. act as if every word you write personally costs you five bucks. Wordiness and complicated editorializing are BIG sins on resumes. Keep it simple!

As noted earlier, if you are going after different types of jobs from a variety of companies, this is the first place where you want to differentiate your multiple resumes to meet the needs of different employers. Again, be sure you know exactly what your objectives are before committing pen to paper.

[Finally, it's best to write one resume first, if you're doing multiples, then do the other. In that way, you stay focused on one set of employer needs at a time. Do one thing at a time and you'll always do it better. You'll likely be able to borrow liberally from your first resume to do a second aimed at companies looking for a different set of skills, even if there's a slight difference in the skill sets.]

3. Experience (or Education). If you are a recent college graduate or are about to graduate (and have little experience), put your education next. Write the information in order of importance, like this: Bachelor of Arts, University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, New Jersey, June 1997. Winner, New York Globe Fellowship, Spring 1996. Dean's List, Fall 1996. Major, Journalism/Mass Media.

In short: give all the significant information and DON'T WASTE WORDS (keep it clear and keep it simple). Remember, each word costs you five bucks!

If you are returning to the job market after an absence, describe your experience as explained below and leave it to your cover letter to account for the break between times of employment.

Employers want people who know the ropes -- people who will not take long to get up to speed. The better you know the ins and outs of the type of job you seek, the more effectively you'll be able to describe your experience and the more likely you'll be to get attention (and maybe even an interview) from potential employers. If you know key buzzwords of your business -- "Shepardizing" for legal researchers, "morgue" for journalists (NOT a place where bodies are stored), Torr for users of high vacuum -- use them, if you can do it and meet the needs of your target companies in the process. Just don’t say a word purely for the sake of saying it -- focus on the needs of your target!

As another example, let’s assume our fashion merchandising candidate had wide-ranging (though brief) relevant experience. She might list it this way:

EXPERIENCE: Cook Pharmacy, Long Branch, RI, September 1992 - Present: Rapidly promoted from cashier to shift supervisor. Direct employees in their day-to-day duties and responsibilities. Set up store displays for product merchandising. Responsible for daily store opening or closing. Have become totally familiar with many aspects of retail management.

T. K. Company, Cucamonga, IL, February 1989 - January 1990: General sales with off-price apparel retailer, with cash office responsibilities. Floor key holder. Became thoroughly familiar with merchandising promotions and procedures and set up of fashion, jewelry, and other displays. Thoroughly familiar with all aspects of store operation.

The whole point is to sell your capabilities for the job that the potential employer wants to fill. Listing things which you're proud of but which the employer doesn't give a hoot about is a complete waste of time, energy, and money, and it may also torpedo any chance of an interview. Here again you can understand the motives of increasing numbers of job-seekers who develop and use more than one resume -- like people who fish using different lures, depending on what the sought-after fish likes to eat!

If you've been working for 10 years or more, remember that no resume -- with the possible but unlikely exception of one for a CEO -- should be more than a page long, MAXIMUM two pages if you're an independent consultant with 20 years or more of highly diversified but RELEVANT experience. Crystallize your experience so your resume relates key accomplishments which are relevant to the employer you're after.

More advice in a second . . . but first, learn about our new MAILING LIST:

If your experience is light (in terms of duration) and your qualifications are heavy, you might want to add a "Qualifications" line or two AFTER your job objective but BEFORE your experience and/or education. Taking for example our hypothetical fashion merchandising candidate, she or he, fresh out of school, might list these:

QUALIFICATIONS: Significant experience in fashion sales and product merchandising. Work exceptionally well both with business associates and customers. Assertive, energetic, imaginative, and reliable.

Again, everything here relates to qualities the employer is after -- in terms of job experience, the ability to work well with others, and the kind of personality that leads to success in selling, the field sought in this example.

As you write of your experience, we remind you of two critical points made earlier which are well worth repeating: 1) write it so your aging grandmother would understand it; and 2) act as if every word you write personally costs you five bucks. Keep it clear and keep it simple. One other point: list jobs in reverse chronological order -- that is, most recent job first. And again, include only what matters to target employers.

Note: If you are an experienced worker, be sure to list experience before you list education. How to write up your educational background was described earlier in this section.

4. What did you leave out? Experienced workers (10 years +) will no doubt leave out some significant early work experience. Because you want to respect the fact that the recipient of your resume has little time to read it, don't succumb to the temptation to over-write and include a lot of early work experience in your resume; it's ancient history. As implied earlier, many personnel people throw out resumes longer than a page, assuming the writer doesn't know how to be brief and to-the-point.

On the other hand, there may be some abilities and experiences in your early job history which can be key to getting a new job. You can highlight such experience in this way (taken from the resume of an advertising executive):

Additional experience in broadcast sports, graphic design, photography, and political campaigning.

Although the nature of the experience isn't listed, its existence may interest or entice a potential employer looking for someone with certain capabilities. This approach can be quite valuable to senior-level people.

5. References. It is always wise to supply references to potential employers, but it is neither necessary nor desirable to include them on your resume. There are two important reasons for leaving them off:

First, different references may be appropriate for different positions. If you're a sales engineer, for example, someone who knows your capabilities is sales might be appropriate for sales openings, while someone who knows your pure engineering capabilities might be far more appropriate to use for positions that don't involve selling. The point here is one you've read before in this Guide: Always use the most effective tools for the job.

Second, times change. References who are appropriate today may not be quite right for you a few months down the road. It's best, therefore, to use this line on your resume: References available upon request.

At the end of a positive first or second interview, your interviewer may ask for references. Sometimes the interviewer or a designee will call them, sometimes not. Be prepared. Think well ahead of time about who you want potential employers to talk to about you, and get the references' approvals beforehand. Most companies ask for three people who have known you for several years in a way which would familiarize them with your work habits. They don't want relatives for whom you might have worked.

Why they call, why they don't. These days most employers seem to actually call references. A few years ago some did not, figuring that people given as references would always report favorably on the job candidate in question. But experience proved that some less wise job-hunters gave references which were wrong -- either they didn't exist at all, or they didn't know anything about the candidate, or worse yet, they knew the candidate and had negative feelings about him or her. Pick people who know, trust, respect, and who are willing to help you as references. Good references can score big for you, but bad references can kill you.

Be honest in your resume. We're now on top of the millennium, and more and more companies check every detail, or hire experienced outside organizations to do it for them. Don't say or claim anything you can't prove.

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