Category: Resume Examples

Implementing Company Strategy

The key to an effective resume is demonstrating the value you will provide a company. On a resume I reviewed recently, the job seeker failed in this basic goal.

Below is an outline of the content of the resume:

Education

Bachelor’s Degree (the degree was in a field unrelated to the career of the job seeker)

 

Work Experience

Job Title, Company, Dates (low level management position)

  • Implemented company strategy as a

  • Coordinated client service with <list of industries>

  • Ensure <industry specific regulation> compliance

  • Manage claims resolution

The resume went on to list several additional positions with similar bullets. This resume does nothing to differentiate the job seeker from others in their field.

The one thing that really stood out for me on the resume was first bullet. Remember that a hiring manager will scan a resume the first time they look at it. In that first scan, only the most important content is read. The reader will typically focus on the top half of the first page and the first line or two of each section. This makes the first bullet of the first job one of the most likely elements to be read.

This bullet says that the job seeker implemented the company strategy for their position. This is essentially saying they followed the guidelines for their position. It certainly doesn’t indicate something exceptional. I’ve actually read similar statements on a number of resumes in the past. My best guess as to why someone would put this on their resume is they can’t think of anything specific.

The rest of the bullets are equally unimpressive. The second lists their basic job function. The third lists a standard government regulation everyone in their industry must follow. The last bullet lists another basic responsibility. The overall effect of the four bullets is to emphasize how unexceptional the candidate is.

In a competitive job market, it is very important to show the value you will provide and why you are better than your competition. If you don’t indicate give a reason why you should be hired, the hiring manager won’t try to think of one for you.

Provide the Scope of Your Experience

I read a resume today that started with a section titled “Highlights of Experience.”  This can be a good way to start a resume because it focuses on the key elements of the job seeker's background. 

The resume I read listed a number of vague bullet points.  One in particular that I see on a lot of resumes was:

  • P & L Management

Having profit and loss responsibility for a department or company is a great experience.  Many positions require this background and it is good to list it.

The problem with the bullet the job seeker listed is it gives no measure of the scope of the responsibility.  I can't tell if the guy managed a bake sale with a $20 budget over a weekend or had a billion dollar budget he managed for a decade. 

Adding just a little detail – number of years and the size of the budget – gives sufficient detail to understand the scope of responsibility.  For example:

  • Full P&L management of budgets ranging from $2 million to $5 million over eight years.

This bullet provides sufficient background on the P&L experience to help differentiate the job seeker.  Without providing detail, the hiring manager will do one of two things.  They may discount the experience as insignificant and forget it or they will ask for details of the experience in an interview.  If you want the your P&L experience to be a selling point, provide the details up front.  Otherwise, you need something else in your resume to sell your potential and get you the opportunity to interview.

Accomplishments

If you have read a number of my posts on resumes, you probably know that I'm a strong proponent of providing accomplishments and not just responsibilities.  Listing “P&L Management” is a responsibility.  The rewritten bullet above adds details of the scope but is still just listing a responsibility.  Having a lot of responsibility is good, but it's what you do with it.  For example, the US Congress is responsible for passing the budget of the federal government.  If we were looking at a Representative or Senator, there is no bigger budget in the world to manage.  Despite this, the size of the budget deficits we have had is not a selling point for P&L Management. 

Even better than providing the scope of the responsibility is providing a specific accomplishment.  Something like this would be great:

  • P&L Management:  Full P&L management of budgets ranging from $2 million to $5 million over eight years.  At ABC Company, took over a department with a $4 million budget that had missed budget by $250k the prior year.  Implemented new cost control procedures and replaced numerous suppliers, leading to a $125k positive variance the first year.

If you were a hiring manager looking for a manager that could manage a budget effectively, this example would make a significant impression. 

Compare this to the original bullet that is typical of so many resumes.  The original bullet does nothing to differentiate the job seeker from their competition.  The second bullet provides some good information that may separate the job seeker from some of their competition.  Only the 3rd bullet sells the candidate's background.  If we were looking at three candidates, I know which one I would want to interview first.

Too Much Tech Speak

One of the resumes I reviewed today went overboard with the technology terminology.  The job seeker worked in the aircraft industry.  In their most recent job, they listed the models numbers of 19 separate components.  These models weren't airplane models like 747.  They were the model of valves, servos and electronic controls. 

It should be obvious that this level of detail should be avoided.  The type of equipment that this individual has experience with can be summarized very effectively in a few words.  Instead, the job description is nearly 500 words.  I'm a strong proponent of short, concise resumes, and recommend 250-500 words.  That's for the entire resume – not just one job.  Then entire resume was over 900 words long. 

This is far too long.  The level of detail is too high and it's a very tough read.  Few hiring managers are going to read much of this resume.  Most will discard it.

The resume is made even worse by a major omission.  The job seeker failed to include his job title. I can guess what job this person was doing, but it's only a guess.  Without a job title, it makes it very difficult to assess the job seeker. 

I think I know what happened that led to a resume this bad.  The job seeker started writing about their current position.  He is proud of the range of technical expertise and wrote in great detail, including specific information intended to impress a hiring manager.  Once written, it was absolutely clear to the job seeker what their employment entailed and they forgot to include a job title.  They may also feel that a job title pigeon holes them in a way that misses some of their capability.

A hiring manager looks at a resume from a different perspective.  It's likely the hiring manager is not a technical expert.  They may not understand the significance of many of the terms used, and will disregard this information.  Terms that help categorize the job seeker are very helpful and the job title is at the top of the list. 

We're moving into a tougher economy.  Think about how this resume will be reviewed. 

An ad is posted for a technical position by a large aircraft component's manufacturer.  This job seeker sends in their resume.  In a strong economy, the company usually gets a couple hundred resumes.  With unemployment rising they could get more than a thousand. 

The first step in the screening process is for a human resources representative to review the resumes, and cut get the total down.  A good goal might be to cut the 1,000 resumes down to less than 100.  This means that 90% of the resumes get eliminated by someone that is not a technical expert. 

There is a very good chance that this job seeker will get rejected at this stage.  The screener just doesn't have the time to figure out what the job seeker did.  They have a thousand resumes – they're going to find some good people. 

Example of a Terrible Resume

I received a resume that does a terrible of job of selling the job seeker.  The candidate is an experienced sales manager, with over 20 years in his field.  Despite a long career in sales, this individual didn't sell their potential.

The first problem with the resume was the length.  It is one page and 190 words.  In 20 years, this job seeker should have more to write about than this.  A good rule of thumb for an experienced professional is two pages and 400 words – double the length of this resume.

The length of the resume is made even worse when the content is considered.  Of the 190 words, 77 are devoted to the candidate's hobbies.  Details such as an interest in "travel and camping" and the fact that the candidate is a "healthy eater and non-smoker" don't need to be on the resume.  The hobbies section is full of information that has nothing to do with the candidate's career. 

The presentation gets even worse in the work experience section.  The listing of experience is very short and gives little detail of what the individual did.  There is one bullet on the resume that indicates a pattern of success.  The individual lists that he was salesman of the year for his company eight separate times.  This is a great detail to list but the information isn't sufficient.  There's nothing that indicates how large the organization was or how many other sales people worked in sales at the company. 

Another problem with the resume is the listing of the employer's information.  The job seeker provides the phone number for the company and then in bold writes "please do not contact at this time."  I don't understand why they job seeker decided to put the phone number if he didn't want a hiring manager to call it. 

Overall, this resume fails to sell the potential of the candidate.  It has little substance about the career of the job seeker and provides a lot of detail on hobbies unrelated to the job.  

Highlight Your Skills

I was asked to help a job seeker under a really tight deadline.  The job seeker wanted to apply for a job that appeared to be an ideal match to their goals and needed to get their resume submitted that same day.

Because of the deadline, we focused on the quick and easy changes that would make a huge difference.  I wanted to share some of the changes we made. 

Background

The job seeker is a freelance graphic designer with a specialty in digital photo editing.  The job seeker is pursuing a full time digital photo editing position.  The position is a close match to the individual's background and skills.  The key is getting the resume to reflect this match.

Original Resume

Below is the original text of the job seeker's most recent position.

FREELANCE PHOTO EDITING  2003 – present
•   Create logos, business cards, brochures and a wide range of literature pieces for various businesses.
•   Photo editing for websites, books, special occasions, sales; each for both public and private clients.
•   Specializes in combing photos, replacing backgrounds, and improving overall appearance of photos.

This employment listing has a lot of problems, starting with being too brief and not specific enough. The first bullet is ok.  It's descriptive and gives a list of commercial work the individual has done, but none of it relates to photo editing and seems a little out of place. 

The second bullet has a different sentence structure – there isn't a verb in this bullet.  The bullet relates to photo editing but doesn't say anything about what the job seeker did.  It only lists the applications where the edited photos have been used.

The third bullet is the meat of the description.  It lists specific photo editing skills – combing, replacing backgrounds and improving appearance.  This is very general and will not impress a hiring manager.  Every job seeker that applies for this position will say something about their ability to "improve the overall appearance of photos."  If everyone says the same thing, it will not differentiate you to say it also.  It is essential to be specific and show how you are different.

Revised Resume

We revised the job description to be much more specific.  Below is the new description:

    FREELANCE PHOTO EDITOR/GRAPHIC DESIGNER 2003 – present

  • Creates logos, business cards, brochures and a wide range of marketing materials for various businesses.
  • Provides photo editing for websites, books, special occasions and sales materials.  Clients include both individuals and commercial businesses.
  • Photo editing specialties include:
    • Replacing backgrounds  
    • Cropping photos 
    • Removing wrinkles, background objects/people and reflections 
    • Compilation photos: merging people from different photos for holiday cards, switching people from group photos so everyone is smiling and with their eyes open 
    • Adjusting tint, color and lighting 
    • Creating video slideshows from still photos including text, menus, transitions, and music 
    • Stylizing photos with a wide variety of techniques 

We changed the job title to show the greater scope of experience, making the first bullet fit better with the job.  We added a verb to the second bullet and reworded the description of the clients.  The big change was made to the third bullet.  We scrap the text and replaced it with a skills list.  This is still a general listing of skills but we added extra detail in a few places.  In particular, we added a clear description of the compilation photos. 

If we had listed just “compilation photos,” this would not have been as effective.  By describing clearing a couple of the project types in this category, we demonstrated the job seeker's skill with photo editing.  These are more advanced skills.  By just listing that the job seeker has completed projects requiring these skills, they establish credibility with these skills and with all of the photo editing skills.

Another advantage of listing all of these skills related to the hiring manager's goals.  It is likely that a few of these skills are a higher priority than the others.  If they have one significant priority, they will screen resumes by looking for this skill.  Listing all of the job seekers' photo editing skills increases the likelihood that the job seeker has mentioned the exact skill the hiring manager wants.

Other Changes

To make room on the resume for the added information, we deleted information from past positions.  There were some bullets that demonstrated skills and experiences that do nothing to support the graphic design and photo editing skills.  Since these didn't add value, we deleted them.  If the job seeker decided to apply for a position focused in these areas, they would need to add them back and deleted some of the detail from the photo editing. 

We made a lot of other changes to the resume.  One of the most important additions was to add a link to the job seeker's online portfolio.  It is important to show your past performance.  Most people can do this by describing accomplishments.  In design fields, it is often much easier to show what the job seeker has designed.  An online portfolio does this very well.

The Designated Backup

I reviewed a resume this week that had a statement in the middle of the resume that was almost hidden. The statement appeared in a job description at the end of a long paragraph. When I read a resume, like most hiring managers, I scan the resume quickly to get a feel for the person and to decide how much time I want to spend on the resume. Sometimes, I make my decision in the first 15 seconds.

Placing important information at the end of a long paragraph almost guarantees that I won't read it. This is exactly what the job seeker did. It was only by chance that I read the line. There was something in the resume that interested me and I decided to look a little further for more information and found this:

"Designated back up for <department manager> when this individual is unavailable.”

This statement, by itself doesn't mean much. In the field that this job seeker is in, it is significant. The job seeker is in a role with a large number of peers, all managed by the department manager. This individual is in a role that does require someone to fill in for them on a regular basis. Finally, the manager's role is significantly more challenging than the job seekers regular duties.

This statement implies very strongly that the job seeker is the best leader out of all of his peers. This isn't something that should be buried or hidden on a resume. It is a type of recommendation from the individual's boss that they are the best in the department and designated as such publicly by placing them in the role of fill in.

As a job seeker, it is extremely important to recognize the elements of your background that set you apart and highlight you potential. This job seeker failed to do this. The information that they highlighted and was most prominent on their resume was much less important. It was essentially data about their job responsibilities and did little to sell the candidate.

Transitioning Military Resume Mistake

I did a number of resume assessments on Thursday for transitioning military personnel and ran into the same mistake several times. 

The mistake each of the individuals made was to not state clearly what their employment was.  This may seem like an odd mistake, but it is actually very common and something I have seen on transitioning military resumes before.

The Mistake

There are several key elements that these individuals left out. 

Name of the Employer:  Although it is usually easy to figure out who the employer is, it's a good idea to make this absolutely clear.  One of the reasons for this is the variety of employment options in the military.  There are number of roles held by civilian contractors.  Specifying the employer ensures that no misinterpretation develops.

Full Dates of Service:  The overall dates of the individual's service were omitted from many of the resumes.  References to 10, 20 or 25 years of service were included within the text of the resume, but this information didn't standout.  What was not included was an actual range of dates, such at “1990 to Present.”  This may seem like nit-picking, but without a clear statement of when the individual joined, the job seeker could create uncertainty in the mind of the hiring manager.

Rank:  Many of the resumes omitted the individual's rank.  It's important for military personnel to put their career in civilian terms and not use too much military speak.  Unfortunately, many people go too far with this and make up terms for what they did that others don't understand.  Listing the rank of each position does two important things.  It helps individuals with a military background understand the job seeker better and it shows a clear progression over the individual's career.

Presenting a career of consistent promotions is a big selling point.  Listing the rank of each position shows the hiring manager when a person was promoted.  Even if someone can't differentiate one rank from another, it will be clear that a progression to high level positions occurred.

Why This is Important

I have looked at a lot of resumes from military personnel that make the mistake of not presenting basic information about their career.  This makes it difficult to know what position would be a good fit.  It also misses an opportunity.  Demonstrating a long service record, with consistent pattern of promotions, establishes a track record of success. 

Unrelated Work Experience on a Resume

I ran into a resume of a person that organized their work experience well. The job seeker had made a very significant career change 12 years ago. The prior career was a technical trade and the current career is sales role.

The resume was organized with the two different careers separated into a professional experience section and an additional experience section. Here's how he structured his resume:

Executive Summary

<One paragraph – four sentences>

Core Competencies

<List of a dozen skill keywords>

Professional Experience

<List of positions with descriptions and accomplishments – over the last twelve years – included employment dates>

Additional Experience

<List of positions with descriptions and accomplishments – did not include employment dates>

Education

<College degree and industry certifications>

I like to have detailed employment dates on a resume, and yet found this presentation, without dates for some positions, very compelling. The reason I like this presentation is it focuses the resume on the current career.  Additionally, I don't feel that the employment dates from this prior career add much value to understanding the job seker's background.

If the job seeker had changed careers more recently, I would want the dates. Employment dates give an indication of stability – they don't tell the whole story but do add valuable information. Further back in a person's career, they are less relevant.

If the job seeker had stayed in the same career, I'd also be more interested in the dates from further back. Understanding the progression and experience of a job seeker is important. Part of this is knowing how they got their start. Did they start at the bottom and work their way up slowly, or did they reach a high level without working in the trenches? There are advantages and disadvantages of both. Knowing how someone got started in a career is important for this reason.

In this case, the prior experience wasn't relevant and was more than 10 years ago. Separating it into a different section and providing less information was fine. It drew more attention to what was important – the experience of the last twelve years.

Consultant Objective Statement

I reviewed a resume that had an objective statement that illustrates several mistakes. The job seeker was an experienced consultant. I can't tell you the exact experience level because their resume didn't have employment dates (a major problem). I would guess the person had close to 10 years of experience.

Below is the objective statement:

<University Name> MBA seeks Contract Possitions anywhere in the US or Internationally will travel anywhere as long as per diem is provided. Will consider permanent/direct hire possitions in the <Metro Area> area only.

The first problem is the spelling of “Possitions.” This doesn't bother me much. The job seeker is from a non-english speaking country and spent a portion of their career in that country. Additionally, the job seeker is a technical consultant, making communications skills less important than in other roles.

Another problem is way the candidate states the value they offer. The job seeker makes their MBA the only feature important enough to highlight in their objective. For a recent graduate, this would be ok, but this candidate has significant experience. They should emphasize their experience, skills or accomplishments instead of their education.

The biggest problem with the objective is that it doesn't say what the job seeker wants to do. There is a goal regarding geography – they won't relocate permanently, but they will travel anywhere for a contract position. This doesn't narrow the possibilities that much. The objective doesn't say what type of job the person wants. From their resume, I can make an educated guess based on their experience, but you don't want to make a hiring manager have to work to figure out what you want.

Finally, your objective statement should not specify your compensation or benefits requirements. The statement that per diem is required doesn't help the impression. Although this is a very reasonable expectation, stating it this prominently in the resume objective gives me the impression that this person is going to be very demanding and difficult to manage.

Dates for Each Job on Your Resume

I read a resume today that grouped the employment history in such a way that it obscured the job seeker's experience.  This person has spent the last 20 years with the same company in the auto industry and recently lost their job.  With such a long career with one company, it’s not surprising this individual held a number of different positions in different areas of the company.

The problem with this resume was how the work experience was presented.  The job seeker provided the years they worked for the company, but they didn’t list any detail for each position.  Here’s the format of their work experience:

Company Name – City, State   198x to 2008
Job Title One:  <short list of responsibilities>
Job Title Two:  <short list of responsibilities>
Job Title Three:  <short list of responsibilities>
Job Title Four:  <short list of responsibilities>
Job Title Five:  <short list of responsibilities>
Job Title Six:  <short list of responsibilities>

In another section of the resume, the job seeker lists a number of accomplishments, but doesn’t related the accomplishments to specific roles.

The problem with this is that it is very difficult to understand what the job seeker did.  The six job were actually in five different functional areas of the company, and have significant differences in skills and experiences. 

Knowing how many years were spent in each position would really help.  Plus, it’s impossible to tell which of the roles was the best fit for the job seeker.  The resume didn’t have an objective, so I have to guess which position is the best fit.  I would assume it's the most recent role – but I honestly don’t know and could be completely wrong.

It is important for your resume to tell your story.  A resume is more than a collection of facts – it’s a picture of your career and potential.  This resume gave me some facts, but did not show me the potential of this candidate.