Category: Resume Writing

Graduation Dates on Your Resume

I read a couple resumes recently that had unusual graduation dates. The dates listed detracted from the impression the resume made.

I read a couple resumes recently that had unusual graduation dates. The dates listed detracted from the impression the resume made.

Six Years of High School

A candidate with a bachelor’s degree and 40+ year career listed his high school on his resume. With a bachelor’s degree, there is no need to list high school. This isn’t a major problem though. The problem was range of dates. The high school listing had the dates 1961-1967, a six year time period. I don’t know if this was a typo, if the school system considered high school to be 7th through 12th grades, if the candidate had repeated a couple years or if there was another explanation.

Including the dates raises a question that is meaningless. The candidate’s performance in high school more than forty years ago has nothing to do with their capability today. Additionally, including the range of dates makes no sense. It is generally assumed if you include a single date, it is the graduation date. Finally, many older workers report instances of age discrimination. Highlighting your age with a high school graduation date can’t help your search, and may hurt it.

Super Fast Bachelor’s

A candidate listed their high school graduation and their college graduation dates. They included the months of each. This made it clear exactly how long the candidate had been in college – a year and a half. Reinforcing this, the candidate listed the number of credit hours completed to get the degree and a 4.0 GPA. Ordinarily, I would assume a graduation date only 18 months after getting out of high school would indicate a diploma mill, but the school is a big state school with a good reputation anyone would recognize. My conclusion is the date is either a typo or the candidate is lying. Neither is a good impression. There was no need to list the high school, or any of the graduation dates.

Employment dates are a critical element of a resume, but graduation dates are optional. Unless you are a recent graduate, drop your graduation dates. They will offer little value.

Resume of a Fired CEO

Rick Wagoner resigned on Monday after being asked by the President Obama to step down as CEO of GM. Wagoner joins millions of unemployed that lost their jobs. One trend I see with people that have been fired is they do a poor job of presenting their strengths and accomplishments. They allow the reason they were fired to define them. How Wagoner might present his resume demonstrates how to approach you resume if you were fired.

Rick Wagoner resigned on Monday after being asked by the President Obama to step down as CEO of GM. Wagoner joins millions of unemployed that lost their jobs.  One trend I see with people that have been fired is they do a poor job of presenting their strengths and accomplishments.  They allow the reason they were fired to define them.  How Wagoner might present his resume demonstrates how to approach you resume if you were fired. 

It's easy to demonize the CEO of a company on the verge of bankruptcy. It is much more difficult to fix problems that have been building for fifty years at a company as large and complex as GM.  Is Rick Wagoner a good CEO? Did he do a good job or a bad one? I don't have these answers.  What I do know is Wagoner has excellent experience and numerous accomplishments in his career. 

The accomplishments should be the focus of the resume.  They demonstrate the value that Wagoner has achieved in his career and show the potential value he would provide an employer.  With a little research, I uncovered enough information to get his resume started and to give an idea of how to market someone being fired in a very public way. 

Professional Summary

Senior executive with 32 years of progressively increasing responsibilities, leading to Chairman and CEO of the fourth largest company in the United States. Extensive international experience, including leadership roles in Brazil, Canada and Europe.

  • Successfully led union contract changes that shifted $50 billion of health care costs from GM to the UAW.

  • Shut down the Oldsmobile division, resulting in substantial cost savings.

  • Purchased Daewoo, gaining substantial inroads into compact and sub-compact car markets.

  • Turned around GM's North American Operations. Losses in the three years prior to becoming President of NAO totaled $11 billion. Each of the four years managing NAO were profitable with total profits of $6.6 billion.

Work Experience

General Motors 1977 to 2009

  • Chairman and CEO, GM 2003-2009

  • President and CEO, GM 2000-2003

  • President and COO, GM 1998-2000

  • President NAO, GM 1994-1998

  • Executive VP and CFO, GM 1992-1994

  • President, GM Brazil 1991-1992

  • VP of Finance, GM Europe 1989-1990

  • Various Positions in GM Brazil and GM Canada, 1981-1989

  • Analyst, Treasury Department, GM 1977-1981

Education

  • Master's degree in Business Administration, Harvard University

  • Bachelor's degree in Economics, Duke University

This is just an outline of what a resume of Rich Wagoner might look like. At every step in his career, he has had significant accomplishments. The changes he made at GM are substantial. Shutting down Oldsmobile and shifting health care costs of retirees to the UAW are major improvements. Reducing labor and retiree costs are key priorities for turning around GM. Wagoner has shown an ability to work with the union and achieve substantial modifications to the contract structure. All of this points to a track record of success.

The problem with Wagoner's situation is the successes haven't added up to deliver overall corporate success. Does he just need more time? Did he start making these changes too late to save the company? Is there more he could have done? I can't answer these questions.  I do know that the track record of Wagoner indicates he could add significant value to other companies.  His very public profile poses a marketing challenge.  Without this, he could be a very marketable candidate despite being fired.  Being fired did not change the experience, knowledge, skills and potential of Wagoner.

If you were fired, your potential remains, also. Do not focus on the reasons you were fired. You can't ignore them, but you shouldn't let them define you.

In your job search, you need to present the value you delivered. This requires listing accomplishments. In my resume for Wagoner, I led off with a professional summary section and four accomplishments. They could be a lot stronger (I had to piece together the info from news articles), but they show significant contributions. The accomplishments also focus on the key challenges that GM faces: labor costs, unprofitable businesses, expanding into more fuel efficient vehicles and turning around divisions losing money. If no one knew Rick Wagoner, his resume would be a very close match to the ideal candidate for the GM CEO job.

If you lost your job, either through a layoff or being fired, don't discount the value you have provided. It is very easy to dwell on the negatives. Instead, focus on the positives – the accomplishments, successes and contributions in your career.

Resume Tip #9

Resume Tip: Provide specific results and contributions you delivered.

Resume Tip:  Provide specific results and contributions you delivered.

Many job seekers list the goals of the projects they have worked on.  Goals are good, but actual results delivered are more important.  Review your resume and assess each accomplishment to ensure it shows clearly what you did and what the outcome was.

One challenge a lot of job seekers encounter is identifying significant accomplishments from their background.  Our book, Resume Writing for Manufacturing Careers includes a detailed section on accomplishments.  It shows how to identify and write about your accomplishments so they make a great impression.  Although all the examples are tailored to Manufacturing Careers, the ideas and techniques in the book are applicable to almost any situation.

Choosing a Font for Your Resume

Everyone wants their resume to look good. The font your choose can have a big affect on the presentation of your resume. Some fonts look great on a computer screen. Others look better in print. There are also fonts that look unprofessional no matter how they are viewed.

Everyone wants their resume to look good. The font you choose can have a big effect on the presentation of your resume. Some fonts look great on a computer screen. Others look better in print. There are also fonts that look unprofessional no matter how they are viewed.

There are two types of fonts – Serif and Sans Serif. Serif fonts have details at the end of the lines that make up letters. Sans Serif fonts do not have these details. Below are two of the most common fonts:

Serif Sans Serif

The font on the left is Times New Roman and the font on the right is Arial. Serif fonts are common in print and read very well in this format. They are more difficult to read on a computer screen. Sans Serif fonts are much easier to read on a computer screen. When choosing a font, you will need to decide if you want your resume looking best on screen or in print. For most job seekers, a sans serif font will be the best choice since their resume will be looked at much more on screen.

Selecting the type of font is just the starting point. You then need to choose the specific font. There are two primary factors you should consider. First, you want a font that looks good. Second, you want a font that is widely available. There are fonts that are rare and only show up in a few programs. If the reader of your resume does not have the font you choose, the program will try to find a close match. Unfortunately, the close match might not be that close.

One of the fonts that is being used more frequently that is not yet widely available is Calibri. This is the default font in Microsoft Word 2007. It’s a really good looking font. The problem is that older systems don’t have it. I was working on a computer that didn’t have Word 2007 today and opened a file that had been created in it. The system chose a font that looked like a cartoon font (I would show you what it looks like, but it isn’t a common font and you might not have it). The resume looked terrible.

Common Fonts

Sticking with one of these fonts will not guarantee that every reader of your resume will see it exactly the way you want, but it will improve the odds. These fonts are available on more than 90% of the computers on the internet. By contrast, Calibri is on less than half the computers (code style provides statistics on the availability of fonts).

If you absolutely have to use a font that no one else on the planet has, there are options. You can embed the font in the file. Word allows you to do this in the Tools menu under options. Embedding the font will allow a reader of your document to install the font on your system.  Not all fonts can be embedded though.  Some have licensing limitations that prevent this.

You may be bored with Arial or Verdana, but they look reasonably good. Another font may look better, but may also get replaced with something much worse.

KPI’s and Your Resume

KPI’s are Key Performance Indicators. They are the metrics that drive the overall performance of an organization. KPI’s are critical to a company’s success and are an important element in your resume. If you don’t discuss KPI’s on your resume, you should.

KPI’s are Key Performance Indicators. They are the metrics that drive the overall performance of an organization. KPI’s are critical to a company’s success and are an important element in your resume. If you don’t discuss KPI’s on your resume, you should.

A KPI is a measure of an activity that provides an indication of success or failure. Every industry has different metrics that drive performance. You should know the KPI’s that are important in your organization, and how you affect these KPI’s. If you don’t know your KPI’s, you’re going to have a tougher time in your search.

The reason KPI’s are so important is two-fold. First, many hiring managers want to know that a candidate is concerned about how their performance drives the overall success of a company. Discussing your KPI’s can help show that you understand what you need to do to succeed. Second, hiring managers like to see candidates that take responsibility for their performance and are committed to meeting expectations. To meet expectations, you need to know what they are and your performance relative to those expectations. Knowing our KPI’s is a good way to show this to a hiring manager.

KPI’s also help you show how you will drive performance of a team you manage. It is very difficult to drive performance without setting clear expectations and measuring the results. KPI’s are an important element of this.

Examples of KPI’s

Each industry has different challenges and different KPI’s. Below are examples from a manufacturing.

  • Scrap dollars per labor hour

  • Parts produced per labor hour

  • Rework hours per labor hour

  • Production hours to setup hours

  • Maintenance hours per shift

  • Equipment downtime

  • Order backlog

  • Percentage of orders shipped on-time

  • Line fill of orders shipped

This is just a sampling of a few KPI’s. A company may have dozens of metrics that are significant.

Writing About KPI’s

On your resume, you should write about specific KPI’s that are significant to the business. Start by discussing your actions and then provide the change in the KPI. For example, a production manager may have reduced setup times by standardizing tooling:

Reduced Setup Times: Standardized tooling in punch presses by utilizing a consistent mounting configuration. This change reduced setup times from an average to two hours to under 30 minutes. Setup hours per labor hour were reduced by 60% in the punch press workcenter.

This bullet provides a clear action completed by the job seeker. The results of the action are also clear. The job seeker reinforces the results by showing the effect on a KPI. This example provides one additional element that benefits the presentation. It is written with the title “Reduced Setup Times.” This title makes it very easy to scan the resume and see what is important, while reinforcing the results achieved by the job seeker.

If your resume does not detail any KPI’s, review your performance, identify the KPI’s that are important and show how you affected those KPI’s.

Newly published in 2010:  Get the best book for Manufacturing Resumes

Resume Writing for Manufacturing Careers - Front Cover

Spelling Errors on a Resume

Writing an effective resume requires a greater attention to detail than almost any other writing you will do. Most hiring managers assume the resume you submit is an example of the highest quality work you can produce. A mistake that would be overlooked in a typical daily email becomes a major detractor on your resume. This makes proofreading your resume a critical step.

Writing an effective resume requires a greater attention to detail than almost any other writing you will do. Most hiring managers assume the resume you submit is an example of the highest quality work you can produce. A mistake that would be overlooked in a typical daily email becomes a major detractor on your resume. This makes proofreading your resume a critical step.

Eliminating spelling and grammar mistakes sounds easy, but can be very difficult. Most people find proofreading their own work extremely challenging. They know what they meant to write. A missing word, use of the wrong word or a misspelling can be overlooked with even repeated proofreads.

Spell Check

There are steps you can take to avoid making mistakes. The first is using spell check. When I get a resume and open it in Word, any misspelled word is underlined in red. The mistakes are essentially highlighted and jump off the screen. Errors like this will make the worst impression. It is so easy to identify and fix an error that is underlined in red on your screen that few hiring managers will be forgiving.

You may not have Microsoft Word. If you don’t, other word processors have spell check. OpenOffice is a free office suite anyone can download. It is very similar to Microsoft Office and can save files in a Word format. If you don’t have a good work processor get OpenOffice or Microsoft Word.

If you are submitting your resume online, you may have to copy it into a form. Few forms come with spell check. There is a solution. Install the google toolbar and add the spell check button. This will spell check any form fields in your browser.

Limitations of Spell Check

Even if you use spell check, it is still easy to make a mistake. There are four common mistakes:

  1. Typos Resulting in the Wrong Word: If you type the wrong key and spell a different word correctly, spell check will not catch the mistake. For example, typing “k” instead of “d” in “word” will result in “work.”

  2. All Caps: Some programs do not spell check words in all caps, since a word in all caps is often an acronym. On a resume, many job seekers use all caps to emphasize important elements.

  3. Common Mistakes: There are some words that are commonly misused. For example, “affect” and “effect” are very similar, but have different usage.

  4. Omitted Words: When typing quickly, you may skip a word. For example, pronouns, articles and prepositions are short and can be missed when editing a sentence. When proofreading, it is easy to not look at these words and assume they are there. For a reader unfamiliar with the text, omitting one of these words is a mistake that is easy to see.

Solutions

  • Read Out Loud: A good way to proofread your resume is to print it and read it out load. Go slow and read each word individually. This is tough. You have to concentrate on each word.

  • Read Backwards: To make it easier to concentrate on each word, read your resume from the bottom up. Read the last sent first. Then move up to the second to last sentence. Keep reading each sentence individually, from the end to the beginning.  Reading each sentence by itself, you are more likely to concentrate on each word and not get into a flow that will cause you to overlook mistakes.

  • Change Your Surroundings:  If you always work on your resume in one location, go somewhere else to proofread.  The change of scenery can make it easier to focus on text as it is written on the page.

  • Get a Proofreader: Get someone to proofread your resume. Ideally, you will know a good writer that is an expert with resumes review your resume. If you don’t know some like this, you can hire someone to do a resume review.

To ensure your resume is error free takes work and multiple reviews.  Some job seekers don’t have the patience for this or don’t realize the importance.

Resume Tip #8

Resume Tip: Don’t over exaggerate your experiences or accomplishments.

Resume Tip:  Don’t over exaggerate your experiences or accomplishments.

Your resume is a sales pitch for why you should be hired.  You are expected to present your background positively, but this does not mean that you should characterize your experience as something that it isn’t.  Your resume must be an honest depiction of what you have done.  Some job seekers think exaggeration and lies will get them a job.  In reality, one over exaggeration can cause a hiring manager to doubt everything in a resume and reject the candidate.

Some job seekers with great accomplishments struggle with presenting them so they will be both impressive and believable.  If you are uncertain of the impression you are making with your resume, get a second opinion.

Resume Tip #7

Resume Tip: Include awards and other recognition of your accomplishments on your resume.

Resume Tip:  Include awards and other recognition of your accomplishments on your resume.

With your accomplishments, include recognition of these accomplishments.  This could entail a major corporate award, but often the recognition is less formal.  Some companies provide bonuses for successful projects, recognition lunches or dinners after a significant contribution or a public congratulatory statement.  Consider including these in your resume as they can help validate the significance of an accomplishment.

8 Reasons to Hire a Professional Resume Writer

A resume writing service can help develop a resume that gets attention instead one that is overlooked. Despite this, the vast majority of job seekers write their own resume. For some, this is effective, but many struggle. Even more problematic, many job seekers do not know they are sending an inadequate resume. This can prolong a job search, costing the job seeker thousands, or tens of thousands of dollars from missed opportunities.

A resume writing service can help develop a resume that gets attention instead one that is overlooked. Despite this, the vast majority of job seekers write their own resume. For some, this is effective, but many struggle. Even more problematic, many job seekers do not know they are sending an inadequate resume. This can prolong a job search, costing the job seeker thousands, or tens of thousands of dollars from missed opportunities.

The primary reason given by job seekers for why they do not hire a resume writer is that they are the expert about their career. As the most knowledge on the subject, they assume they are the best writer for the job. The truth is most job seekers are not very good at writing a resume. The second most common reason job seekers give for not hiring a professional writer is the cost. This can be short sighted as a poor resume that prolongs a job search or yields inferior job offers can be far more costly than the most expensive resume writing services.

A professional resume writer can help you develop a more effective resume. There are eight primary reasons for this:

  1. Professional Resume Writers Know Resumes – A good resume writer will have read thousands, or tens of thousands of resumes in their career. They have seen virtually every conceivable style, format and structure. Most job seekers have only read a few resumes in their careers.

  2. Professional Resume Writers Understand Hiring Managers – The key for a resume to be effective is it must impress hiring managers and lead to interviews. Good resume writers understand what hiring managers look for, and what they don’t want to see.

  3. Professional Resume Writers Don’t Have Emotional Ties – Many job seekers include details in their resume for emotional reasons. A professional resume writer will assess each piece of information objectively. An accomplishment or experience that holds personal significance may not help sell the job seeker. The professional resume writer will help weed out details that that the job seeker feels are important but are unimportant to a hiring manager.

  4. Professional Resume Writers Don’t Know the Full Background – Many job seekers fail to explain details of their experience clearly because they know the full background and situation. A resume needs to be written so a person with no knowledge of the candidate can understand clearly their background in a very short time. Job seekers often find it difficult to describe their experience in clear, simple terms.

  5. Professional Resume Writers are Writing Experts – The vast majority of job seekers claim to be good communicators. The truth is some people are good writers and others aren’t. A good writer can help polish a resume so that it reads clearly and delivers a more compelling message.

  6. It is Very Difficult to Edit Your Own Work– It is much more difficult to edit and proofread your own work. You know what you meant to write and may read your resume as you intended it, not as you actually typed it. Another person can only go by what is on the paper. They don’t know what you intended. No matter how many times you review your resume, another set of eyes can make a huge difference.

  7. Professional Resume Writers Are Faster – Most job seekers spend weeks working on their resume. A professional resume writer will often complete a resume in a few days. This can accelerate your job search.

  8. Professional Resume Writers Will Eliminate the Jargon – Most companies have terminology that is unique. Some terms are used so much within the company, employees assume everyone knows them. A resume writer will quickly identify words that will not be clear to a hiring manager at a different company.

A professional resume writer will help you develop an effective resume and can help you gain a competitive advantage over your competition.

Resume Filename Best Practices

The filename of a resume is an often-overlooked detail by many job seekers. Palladian surveyed a selection of resumes and identified best practices and common mistakes for naming the resume file. In the study, Palladian indentified four elements that routinely appear in the filenames of resume. The most common was an indication of the job seeker’s name. Also common were the word “resume,” a version number of the resume and the date the resume was written.

The filename of a resume is an often-overlooked detail by many job seekers. Palladian surveyed a selection of resumes and identified best practices and common mistakes for naming the resume file.

In the study, Palladian identified four elements that routinely appear in the filenames of resume.  The most common was an indication of the job seeker’s name.  Also common were the word “resume,” a version number of the resume and the date the resume was written.

Job Seeker’s Name

Ninety-two percent of resumes had some indication of the candidate’s name, but only fifty-eight percent contained both the first and last name. Nine percent of the resumes had no reference to the candidate, with files names like “resume,” “myresume” and “resume2009.”  The remainder had some reference to the candidate, a first name, a last name or initials, but did not contain both the first and last name.

Other Information

A large percentage of resume filenames contained information of no value to a hiring manager.  Two common items were the date the resume was written and the version number of the resume.  There were job seekers that put information in the filename that had no meaning.  In some cases, it looked like the job seeker used the resume of someone else as a template, since the filename contained a different person’s name.  Others had random words that seemed to have no meaning.

File Format

By far, the most common file format was the Microsoft Word 2003 – a .doc file.  There were also pdf, rtf, wps and docx file formats, along with one format that could not be identified.

Best Practices

  • Use your first and last name in the file name.
  • Include the word “resume”
  • Include a keyword phrase (1 to 3 words summarizing your job or industry)
  • Separate words with hyphens
  • Submit your resume in a Microsoft Word 2003 format (.doc)

Structure of a good resume filename:  FirstName-LastName-Resume-KeywordPhrase.doc

Example:  John-Doe-Resume-Logistics-Manager.doc