Last blog, we talked about writing a quality cover letter, so we’re going to focus on resumes this week. It’s important to remember that you don’t have to be the most qualified candidate to get called for an interview. You simply have to make the strongest case for yourself, and nobody should be able to do that better than you!
Just like your cover letter should make the employer eager to read your resume, your resume should make him eager to meet with you face-to-face. You accomplish this by selling yourself better than the other applicants. Think of it like this: people don’t spend $100 on Nike tennis shoes because they’re the best shoes in the world. They might or might not be; I really don’t know. People buy them because the advertisers sell them!
So your resume is your advertisement. You’re the marketer and the product! That said, you should tailor your resume to suit the needs of your target market (the employer). In other words, you should have a standard resume that can be adjusted slightly depending on the position you’re seeking and the personality of the hiring person.
As I mentioned last time, it’s likely most of your resumes will be submitted online or as attachments, so you’re extremely limited in your visual presentation. Back in the day, I used Publisher to design a spectacular layout and printed it on heavy cotton paper—grey with blue font. It stood out from the pack like a glow-in-the-dark necklace, and I almost always got called for an interview!
Those days are gone, though, so you have to use different tricks. Bold print for certain words or phrases is one way, and really does a good job of making that particular statement jump off the page! (See what I mean?!) Italics can help emphasize key words as well. Different size fonts and highlighting are two other tricks, but I’d use these with less frequency. I typically use only two or three font sizes for the body of the resume: one standard size (14 pt) for section headings, another for bullet points in the body of the sections (10 pt), and sometimes 12-point for opening and closing paragraphs. Full justification always looks better than left-margin-only justification.
Those are a few tricks you can try, but the key is to use what fits your style and personality. Remember that the prospective employer only wants to know two things about you: who you are and what you’ll do on his team. The layout of your resume helps tell him who you are. You’ll use the content of the resume to further describe yourself and highlight your skills.
On that note, let’s talk about the body of the resume. There’s nothing I hate more than opening a resume and seeing this:
OBJECTIVE: To obtain a position that allows me to use my strengths to help the company succeed while offering room for personal advancement.
My response to this opening is usually to close it up and hit the delete key. Why? Because this person obviously is either stupid, lacks creativity, or he thinks I’m stupid! Every person on the planet has that same objective! You have limited space to get me interested in you. Why waste it by telling me something I already know! Instead, say something of value, and ignore the “Objective” heading. Just put your name and other personal information at the top of the page, and write a full paragraph opening below that—something like this:
For much of my life and career, I have specialized in caring for the elderly and terminally ill. I have a natural gift and strong desire to serve individuals in this stage of life, my goal being to keep them as functional as possible. My expertise in restorative nursing has given me the opportunity to develop one of the first restorative programs in the state for an Adult Day Care facility. This program includes individualized exercise programs and an exercise focus group. In addition, I have created and overseen In-Service programs for entire facilities. I have strong staff development skills, and I love to teach. As a certified STNA Instructor, I had a near-perfect passage rate for my students, and I always earn the highest possible scores on all audits. Combined with my long history of solid performance in various other challenging roles as an RN, these factors make me an excellent candidate for a position within your firm.
After reading this opening paragraph—whether you know anything about nursing or not—you now know a lot about this particular nurse! That opening is probably a bit too long (remember the two- to four-sentence rule), but it’s well-written, creative, and full of good meat, making it far more effective than the typical opening most resume-readers see. That’s your goal!
After the opening, then, should be your characteristics or attributes. This is where you describe your style: who you are and what you’re passionate about. These are not so much job skills as they are job styles. They are the inner motivators that drive your decision-making and action-taking.
- Team-building & mentoring: I instill a winning attitude within my organization using training, communication, & motivation to maximize potential; I am skilled at building a team of individuals who possess the intangibles necessary for long-term success; I believe in establishing an environment where team members are empowered to grow & thrive within their set boundaries
- Sales-driven & focused: I find opportunities for growing sales while maintaining crisp, uncluttered locations; I do not settle for a “nice” increase
- Creative problem-solving skills: I root out the true causes of issues & look for the solution that works best immediately & long-term; I treat the problems, not the symptoms
As you can see, even though there are only three bullet-points, there is a wealth of information about this individual. Just like the RN above, this person has effectively described his strengths, and illustrated exactly what he means by phrases such as team-building and creative problem-solving.
Depending on the amount of real-world experience you have, the next section would be your Qualifications. Or, if your prior experience is limited, you could also list them with your with your Key Attributes, and label it as Key Attributes & Qualifications. Either way, your qualifications should specifically target the job you’re seeking. For instance, if you’re applying for an auto mechanic position, the fact that you can merchandise clothing in a department store is completely irrelevant. So give careful thought to what skills are necessary to perform the job effectively, and what skills you possess that made you successful in the past and/or will make you successful in the future.
OK, we’re about halfway there, so we’ll stop for this week. This should give you plenty to think about and work on until I finish up on the next blog. Then after we get through resume-writing, we’ll tackle the job hunt itself and take a look at things like phone skills, interviewing, follow-up, and negotiating salary (everyone’s favorite!).
Til then…
Saemus Sutton is the creator of the Wash, Rinse, Repeat leadership mentoring model and author of the book Leaders Make Leaders. For more information, visit his website at www.leadersmakeleaders.com.
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