Category: Resume Writing

How Far Back Does My Work Experience Need to Go?

For most job seekers, the work experience section of the resume contains the meat and potatoes of their background. This is usually the biggest section on a resume, containing half to three quarters of the content. It is easy to add content to your work experience until it is too long. It is more difficult deciding what to delete.

For most job seekers, the work experience section of the resume contains the meat and potatoes of their background.  This is usually the biggest section on a resume, containing half to three quarters of the content.  It is easy to add content to your work experience until it is too long.  It is more difficult deciding what to delete.

Knowing how many years your resume should cover is a big question.  Unfortunately, there isn’t a standard answer.  There are some guidelines you can use.  If you have been in the work force for less than ten years, you need to list everything.  The last ten years of your work experience is required.

If you have been in the workforce for more ten years, you have some choices.  You need to present the last ten years in detail.  For many job seekers, presenting the last twenty years is a good idea.  Any experience beyond twenty years is much less important. 

Your most current experiences are the most significant to a hiring manager.  If you haven’t worked in a field or used a skill for more than ten years, it is highly unlikely this background will help you.  In my experience, I have found many job seekers don’t like hearing that a job they did very successfully more than ten years ago isn’t going to impress a hiring manager. 

An easy way to picture how a hiring manager will look at your experience is to consider how you would assess a surgeon doing a complicated life-saving operation on you.  Imagine this situation.  You need a bypass operation.  One of the doctors you talk to hasn’t performed a surgery in the last 15 years.  In fact, he shifted 15 years ago into hospital administration and hasn’t practiced medicine since then.  He now wants to get back into operating room and has told you he is confident he will be able to perform the surgery successfully.

The doctor may be capable of doing the surgery.  Technology in the field has changed and his skills have gotten rusty, but that doesn’t guarantee he will fail.  He might do a great job.  Would you hire this doctor to save your life?  Probably not.  If he was the only doctor available and you would die if you didn’t hire him, I expect he would get the job, but not if there were any alternatives.

Hiring managers look at a job seeker’s background in a similar way. The skills used in the recent past – the last five to ten years – are the most significant.  As you write your resume, you need to present this timeframe in detail.  Beyond that, you can summarize your experience very briefly and even omit positions in the distant past.

Power Verbs for Your Resume

I’ve been getting a lot of resumes lately with very weak verbs. Many of them avoid using verbs entirely and just use the phrase “responsible for…” with everything on the resume.

I've been getting a lot of resumes lately with very weak verbs.  Many of them avoid using verbs entirely and just use the phrase "responsible for…" with everything on the resume. 

No one gets hired because they had responsibility for something.  They get hired based on the results they delivered.  This makes it essential to use verbs that convey success.  If you're having trouble coming up with good, strong verbs for your resume, check out this list of power verbs. 

Proofreading Your Contact Information

I received a couple resumes this week with mistakes in the candidate’s contact information. Neither of the errors were caught by spell check. Despite this, they were clear mistakes.

I received a couple resumes this week with mistakes in the candidate’s contact information.  Neither of the errors were caught by spell check.  Despite this, they were clear mistakes.

The first resume had an error in the job seeker’s street address.  I wanted to check if a job was within commuting distance for the candidate and decided to go to google maps.  I copied the address straight off the resume and pasted it into the search bar.  The address came up as non-existent.  The candidate had misspelled the street name by missing one letter. 

The second resume had an error in the email address.  The candidate transposed letters in the address.  This is an even bigger problem than the street address. 

Both mistakes were very minor typos – only one or two letters wrong.  Despite this, they could cause a significant problem.  A wrong email could prevent a hiring manager from getting in contact with the candidate.  The street address could become a problem at the time of an offer.  Many companies will overnight a formal offer letter to the candidate.  If this goes to the wrong address or is returned, it can delay the entire process. 

Mistakes in the contact information are especially tough to identify.  You know the information incredibly well and see what it is supposed to be – not what it is.  To ensure you don’t have a mistake, read the contact information letter by letter and word by word.  Check the contact info periodically.  It is easy to make a minor change and add a mistake and never realize it. 

Retiree Returning to the Workforce

Two weeks ago, I talked with an individual who retired several years ago. The job seeker had decided to return to the workforce to offset the impact of the financial markets. This individual had spent the last 25 years of his career with the same company and had not written a resume or gone on a job interview in more than 30 years.

Two weeks ago, I talked with an individual who retired several years ago. The job seeker had decided to return to the workforce to offset the impact of the financial markets. This individual had spent the last 25 years of his career with the same company and had not written a resume or gone on a job interview in more than 30 years.

I reviewed the first draft he wrote of his resume and it was terrible. The resume started with an objective statement listing the job seeker’s goals. It said something to the effect that the job seeker need to supplement his retirement income and is looking for a position to do that. This reminded me of the interview from the movie The Wedding Singer.  In the scene, Adam Sandler’s character talks about he likes money and is looking for a job where he can get more money.  Although his interest is probably the same as many job seekers, talking about how your only goal or concern is to get more money is not a good strategy.

The remainder of the resume wasn’t any better. It contained very little information about the experience of the job seeker. The information he provided was limited to basic responsibilities – the type of tasks anyone that held the job titles would have done. There was nothing to differentiate the job seeker from other candidates.

The bottom third of the resume focused on the hobbies of the job seeker in retirement.I understand why he did this. The hobbies show his current active lifestyle and are the most recent elements of his background. Unfortunately, they do little to show the candidate’s qualifications for the job he is pursuing.

Mistakes like this are extremely common. There are very few people who can sit down and write a great resume if they haven’t written a resume in more than 20 years. Even job seekers with more recent job search experience struggle. It is very difficult become really good at resume writing when it is a skills only used every few years.

The solution very few job seekers adopt is hiring a professional resume writer. The retiree asked me to rewrite his resume for him.It only took a few days and we developed an impressive presentation of his experience and accomplishments. The job seeker also asked for some one-on-one coaching to teach him how to search for jobs on the internet, how to apply and how to write an impressive cover letter.

I completed the resume and the coaching two weeks ago.Earlier this week, the candidate let me know he landed a job that was almost an ideal match to his goals and wrote “There is no question I could not have gotten a job so quickly without your help, thanks.”

It is very rare that a job seeker can land a job this quickly. Few companies have a hiring process this rapid and the economic situation has made it more difficult.The candidate had a couple advantages – he is in a part of the country that is holding up better than most and he was seeking a job a level or two below the last position he held. With these advantages, an impressive resume and a good job search plan, the candidate was able to capitalize on this opportunity immediately.

Whether you are returning to the workforce after years off, or are actively employed and looking for a change – get help with your search.

Don’t Highlight Your Age

I worked with a job seeker interested in returning to the workforce after several years of retirement. Like many people today, the combination of falling housing values and a large drop in the stock market have reduced the retirement savings well below what was expected. To maintain the standard of living, this individual decided a part time job would help. The job seeker is also excited to return to working after several years off.

I worked with a job seeker interested in returning to the workforce after several years of retirement. Like many people today, the combination of falling housing values and a large drop in the stock market have reduced the retirement savings well below what was expected. To maintain the standard of living, this individual decided a part time job would help. The job seeker is also excited to return to working after several years off.

I reviewed the cover letter written by the job seeker. In it, he calls attention to his extensive sales experience. This individual worked in sales for just over forty years. This makes it easy to figure of the age of the job seeker.

Many people report encountering age discrimination. How common it is and how likely this job seeker is to encounter it are tough to estimate. There are companies who will not discriminate, and there probably are some who will. Knowing how big a factor age discrimination might be for this individual is impossible to tell.

A job seeker can raise or lower the odds of encountering age discrimination. You are not required to tell an employer your age. You also don't need to tell an employer key information that allows the calculation of your age – for example, a high school graduation date should not be listed on your resume.

The individual's cover letter included a sentence highlighting the 40+ years of sales experience the job seeker possesses. Highlighting the sales experience is good, but there is little need for emphasizing 40+ years.

The job seeker had held several positions over his career, and we decided to omit from his resume several at the start of his career. The resume showed more than twenty years of work experience. Omitting the first few positions does nothing to obscure the candidate's experience or potential. An entry level position forty years ago will not make a difference in a person's marketability today.

In the cover letter, we changed the 40+ years of experience to 30+ years of experience. It is still accurate – the candidate has more than 30 years of experience. It is just less precise. The difference in the presentation expands the potential age range of the job seeker. With more than forty years of experience and several years of retirement, the job seeker should be in his mid to late sixties. Changing the cover letter to thirty plus years changes this potential range to mid fifties and older.

This is a small change but it makes the age of the job seeker less of a factor and this may reduce the chance of age discrimination.

Resume with an Atypical Career Progression

The career progression of most job seekers follows a typical pattern. It starts with an entry level job and progresses to positions of increasing responsibility. At any point in time, the job seeker holds a single full time position. This progression is very common and easy to understand. So, what do you do if your career isn’t typical?

The career progression of most job seekers follows a typical pattern.  It starts with an entry level job and progresses to positions of increasing responsibility.  At any point in time, the job seeker holds a single full time position.  This progression is very common and easy to understand.  So, what do you do if your career isn’t typical?

The resume I ran into today dealt with a non-traditional career in a very effective way.  The job seeker had held a series of sales and sales management positions.  Then, a couple years ago, he shifted into a consulting role.  His resume shows five concurrent positions, with titles such as Director of Sales, Director of Business Development and Director of Fundraising.

This list of positions raised a number of questions immediately.  Holding what appear to be five full time positions simultaneously doesn’t make sense.  My initial reaction was confusion.  I had no idea what the job seeker was doing.

One tactic the job seeker could have taken would be to describe each position in detail.  This would make for a very long resume.  The job seeker took a different approach.  He provided one line that explained that these were consulting positions.  He then offered an example.  In the example, he described one of positions in detail.  This showed the type of work the job seeker was doing.  Because the positions were similar, it is easy to see how the other roles would have similar responsibilities and accomplishments.

The job seeker then provided a traditional description of each full time job he had held prior to moving into consulting.  The approach turned out to be clear and easy to follow.

The key to the effectiveness of this resume was its clear presentation of what the job seeker did.  The way it was written was unusual, but it made it clear, very quickly, what the job seeker did.  Although I started out confused, it only took a few seconds to understand what was going on.  There are other ways the job seeker could have presented their consulting experience without writing a long description of each position.  The important thing is not providing every last detail – it is showing a clear picture of your overall experience.  In this regard, the job seeker did a good job by describing just one of the five positions.

If you have a non-traditional career progression following a traditional chronological format may not work.  If you are uncertain how to structure your resume, get help.

Upgrading Your Skills

Improving your credentials is a good way to set yourself apart from your competition. Most people don’t have the time to get an additional degree, but there are options for improving your skills and your marketability.

Improving your credentials is a good way to set yourself apart from your competition.  Most people don't have the time to get an additional degree, but there are options for improving your skills and your marketability.

Obtaining an industry certification is a step that can boost your career.  Industry certifications provide a third party statement of training in specific skills.  Some are very specialized while others are applicable to a wide range of industries. 

Some certifications are absolute requirements – for example becoming CPA, a Professional Engineer or passing the bar exam are critical for some jobs in accounting, engineering or law.  Other certifications are optional, and can give you an edge over your competition.

A few of the more common certifications we see on a regular basis include:

  • CPIM – Certification in Production and Inventory Management (APICS)
  • C.P.M. – Certified Purchasing Manager (ISM)
  • PMP – Professional Project Manager (PMI)
  • Green Belt – Six Sigma Certification (Various Organizations)
  • Black Belt – Six Sigma Certification (Various Organizations)
  • PHR – Professional in Human Resources (HR Certification Institute)

Some of these can be obtained quickly, while others may take a year or more.  The benefits your career can be significant.  These certifications are much less costly to obtain than an advanced degree – often costing a few thousand dollars instead of the tens of thousands for master's degree.

Below are the trends in job postings for these certifications.  The graph show the percentage of job postings mentioning the certification.
 

The demand for PMP's is up, while the other certifications are down, but not as much as many industries in general. In a down economy, companies can be more selective.  There may be less jobs, but more companies are requiring professional certifications.

Look at the certifications in your field and consider pursuing one.  It could make the difference in your job search.

Tell Me My Resume Is Great

I was asked to take a look at a resume of a friend and gave him some advice on a section of his resume. What he was really asking me was to validate the quality of his resume. He wanted to hear how good it was so he could stop working on it.

Over the weekend, I was asked to take a look at a resume of a friend and gave him some advice on a section of his resume. His reaction was to tell me he didn’t want me reviewing that part of his resume and rejected my advice. The reason he gave for turning down the advice was that he wrote that part of his resume a year ago and it was good enough then – it doesn’t need to be changed now.

I had given some resume writing advice to this same friend a year ago. At the time, his resume was in really bad shape. There were no accomplishments and it read like a job description. I showed him how he could list specific successes. He made these changes at the time and his resume improved significantly.

Since then, he moved into a new position with the same employer and wanted to add this job to his resume. He added the new position and gave me the resume to review.

Although I reviewed his resume a year ago, I looked at the entire document again. The addition of the new position was ok. There were no accomplishments related to the new position, but he had only been in it a short time. The description was clear and concise.

I then read the rest of the resume. When I reached the skills section at the end of the resume, it was very brief. This individual works in construction and uses a number of specialized project management software packages. He has extensive experience with one of the packages most commonly by very large general contractors.

The resume listed the software packages in one line starting with “Experience with…” and then named about a half a dozen programs. This bullet does nothing to qualify the experience level with each software package. Did he work with some of this software for a short time more than five years ago? Does he work with these everyday and is an expert user? There is nothing on the resume to indicate the skill level.

Failing to show the skill level of key skills is common on resumes. I recommended to my friend that he provide more detail and information about the key software packages. His reaction was to tell me he only asked me to review his current position and didn’t want to change anything else.

The real reason he didn’t want to take my advice had nothing to do with the advice. What he was really asking me was to validate the quality of his resume. He wanted to hear how good it was so he could stop working on it.

“I Hate Writing My Resume”

There are a lot of job seekers who hate writing their resume. As far as tasks go, some people think almost anything is better than working on their resume. There are a lot of people that feel this way. For many, their reluctance to continue to work on their resume will hurt their job search.

If you absolutely hate working on your resume. Get help. Hiring a resume writer will make the process much easier and help you develop much more effective resume.

Resume Tip #14

Resume Tip: Don’t assume your background makes it clear why you are qualified to do a job. Show specifically how you skills and experience will make you successful.

Resume Tip:  Don’t assume your background makes it clear why you are qualified to do a job.  Show specifically how you skills and experience will make you successful.

When trying to break into a new job or career, stating you can do a job isn’t enough.  It may be clear to you that your skills will allow you do a job successfully, but it may not be obvious to the hiring manager.  Demonstrate your transferable skills by showing specific experiences and accomplishments.

 

Resume Writing Style

In our Military Resume Benchmarking Report, we assessed the writing style of the resumes and found 31% of the resumes had inconsistent sentence structures.

In our Military Resume Benchmarking Report, we assessed the writing style of the resumes. A resume is an introduction to an employer.  Writing a resume requires a much greater attention to detail than almost any other form of writing.  A poorly written resume with lots of mistakes will ensure a bad first impression. Unfortunately, mistakes on resumes are not rare. In our research study, we found 31% of the resumes had inconsistent sentence structures.

There are a variety of acceptable styles and we didn’t want our personal preferences to bias the report. We assessed the consistency of the style. Most resumes are written without using personal pronouns. Others are written in the first person. The verb usage also varies from passive to active voice. Maintaining consistency makes a resume more predictable and easier scan quickly. At the same time, when you write, some variation in sentence structure can improve readability. When we assessed the writing style, we looked for inconsistencies or gross grammatical errors that significantly hurt the readability.

Seeing so many resumes make basic writing mistakes, I wanted to share an example of inconsistent writing from a resume. Below is the first paragraph from a resume I received recently. It isn’t one of the resumes from the research study, but is representative of some of the worst offenders.

Professional Summary

I’m an honest, loyal and highly motivated worker who is result-oriented with over 20 years of active military service and experience in Recruiting, Human Resources, Personnel Administration, and Operations & Training. Possess strong leadership skills and successful team building capabilities and have excellent technical, communication, presentation, and customer service skills. I am a resourceful problem solver with the proven ability to bring quick resolution to challenging situations. Hold a Bachelor of Business Administration degree majoring in General Business with a minor in Business Management.

The summary starts out with by the personal pronoun “I.” The second sentence omits the pronoun, starting with “Possess strong…” In the third sentence, the job seeker uses the personal pronoun again. Finally, in the forth sentence, the job seeker leaves out the pronoun again.

This inconsistencies hurt the readability and are a distraction from the content. A much better approach would be to pick a convention and stick with it. Further hurting the effectiveness, the job seeker uses “Possess” and “Hold” to start two of the sentences instead of the more common “Possesses” and “Holds.”

To fix this, I would scrap the structure and break the text into bullets. The summary is essentially a list of qualities and I would break it down into the form of a list. I would also bold some text to highlight key concepts.

Professional Summary

  • Results-oriented Sergeant Major with 20 years of active military service in Recruiting, Human Resources, Personnel Administration, Operations and Training.
  • Strong leader with a track record of building successful teams.
  • Highly skilled in technical, communications, presentation, and customer service.
  • Resourceful problem solver with the proven ability to bring quick resolution to challenging situations.

This section reads much clearer. It has most of the same content. I emphasize a few key attributes by bolding a few words. If a hiring manager only scans this section on their way to the work experience, it should help to create an image of the job seeker as a results-oriented, highly skilled leader with good problem solving skills. This simpler summary of the job seeker is likely to be much more effective than a longer more detailed summary.

Is my rewrite perfect? No, it’s far from it. I wanted to show how inconsistent sentence structure can hurt a resume. I also wanted to show an alternative, but didn’t want to bring in much new content. If I really want to fix this resume, I would cut the bullets I listed down to just a couple lines and add a few accomplishments. It’s good for a job seeker to say they were successful, but it is much more effective to show a hiring manager past successes. Adding a couple accomplishments can dramatically improve the overall impression of the resume.

Bottom line: Keep your sentence structure consistent. Proofread your resume closely. Add some accomplishments to show a hiring manager how good you are rather than just making claims. Do these things, and your resume will improve.