LESSON 3A: Resumes and Cover Letters (Blog)

Welcome back, Job Seekers. I hope you have had a good week and time to practice reviewing the lessons outlined in Lesson 2: How to Read a Job Ad. It may help you in reviewing today’s topic.

Understanding and Composing the Resume

A resume is a document you create to market yourself to an employer. It is a packet of information you present to the employer to convince him/her that you are the best qualified candidate for the position offered based on your experience and abilities and that your objectives match the needs of the hiring company. It is the way you package yourself. 

The resume process has evolved dramatically through time. Before career ads on the computer, if you wanted to apply for a job, you pulled out your typewriter, white out, and composed a one-page resume you duplicated. You took that same resume and delivered it to all employers you were considering. It is a far-changed world. No longer is the one-size-fits-all resume acceptable.  Each resume you offer must be uniquely crafted to meet the requirements of the specific job for which you are applying.  Sounds like a monumental hurdle, doesn’t it?

It could be, but there are steps you can take to make your burden lighter. For this exercise, I will assume you have access to some sort of word processing software.  Going back to the you know you concept, take time now to prepare. Sit down and think of every possible marketable job skill you possess. Brainstorm, and write each skill on a separate line. Don’t worry about filling in details; just let your ideas come to mind like popping corn. Review your list, and determine if you have missed anything.

Next, create on your computer a folder called Resume. Using your word processing software, for each job skill you have identified, write two or three sentences, in the same, active verb tense, describing measurable accomplishments for those skills. File each blurb in a separate document within the Resume folder, and name each in a way that will be easiest for you to retrieve. Be sure to run each document through the spell checker, and correct any grammar, punctuation, or spelling errors. If you have someone with good writing skills you can consult, ask them to review these blurbs, looking for consistency. 

Once you have compiled these gems, it will be much easier to compose a resume when the opportunity arises. When you find a job ad for which you have an interest, go to your folder, and paste in the text you have already created. You may have to tweak the language ever so slightly if the terminology used in the ad defines what you have written but is called something else. 

In your day-to-day life, as you develop additional skills, be sure to identify them, and add each to your resume folder. In addition, create a subfolder in your Resume folder called Aspirations. As you identify job skills required in want ads you cannot currently match, create a simple file for each. That is your homework folder. Identifying skills you do not currently have maps things you may wish to pursue or find ways to “creatively” match—without lying—on your resume.

For each job ad online, there are often hundreds if not thousands of candidates. HR departments are not staffed to accommodate this additional load and have taken to scanning resumes electronically, letting the computer identify if the resume you have presented matches the skills indicated. That can seem daunting as well. Remember the job ad you reviewed? Go back to it. Match as many of those job requirements as possible as often as possible.  Wondering how to get past the scanner? See Out Smarting Automatic Resume Screening and Tips on Preparing Resumes that Will Be Computer Scanned.

You know the key words, and you’ve created a folder to draw from that may contain the responses you need. But how do you compose a resume and what style should you use? There are a number of good articles that shed light. Write a Winning Resume is a good overview with which to start as is Susan Ireland’s outstanding 10 Steps: How to Write a Resume. It is important to note there has been a rethinking as it relates to the number of pages to include, and one or two pages is no longer the mandate (unless the job ad specifies a no-more-than length).  See Resume Length is Crucial for Selling Yourself in 2012 and How to Decide on Resume Length. There are even guides as to which fonts to consider.

Now that you have some ideas as to guidelines, you will need to determine which type of resume you will write, Chronological, Functional, or Combination. It helps to know when to use each type. If you are creating a chronological resume, and there are gaps in your employment, there are tips for filling the void. In addition, here are some samples that are job-based to use as guidelines.

There are some points included in all types of resumes including your objective and your accomplishments.  Having reviewed resumes on more than one occasion, I can tell you the best and most likely referred for consideration included objectives at top that were cleanly written and packed a punch with real accomplishments. They used real language and not just lofty prose.

Knowing all of this, you may want samples. Not to fear. Susan Ireland has 90 Great Resume Examples. She also has an informational article that tells How to Upload or Email a Resume.  

It may also help you to know there are templates from which you can draw available for free online. For Microsoft Word, see Microsoft Resume Templates.  For Office for Mac, see Templates. For Macintosh’s Pages Software, see How to Write a Resume on a Mac.

It may also help you, before you sit down to write your resume, to know what HR specialists tell employers to look for when reviewing resumes.  See The Secret to Reading Resumes and Resume Reading.

Finally, you have about 30 seconds to make an impression with your resume. It should be clean and clear and move the eye down the page with sufficient white space. The average reader generally reads the first 7 words and the last 3 words of any paragraph. Breaking your paragraphs apart will help your reader advance. The longer they read, the better chance you have to be referred.

In tomorrow’s lesson, we will cover the importance of the Cover Letter. It is the bow you put on your package that invites the reader to consider advancing to the resume.

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Lesson 3B – Cover Letters

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LESSON 2: How to Read a Job Ad

LESSON 1: Where to Search for a Job (Blog)

Introduction