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RÉSUMÉ HELPER
There are many ways to prepare a résumé, and several
differing formats are acceptable to the vast majority of
potential employers. This being said, you need to do a
little research on your target audience prior to sending
out a formal glowing self-appraisal.
RÉSUMÉ BASICS
FORMAT
The format of your résumé will very likely differ based
on the intended recipient. Some potential employers
require the full address of all employers and your
salary information for the previous five to ten years.
For other potential employers, the company name and a
valid point of contact will suffice. Some may only want
the company names of your previous employers. It is a
good idea to have several formats of your résumé on hand
so that you can quickly and easily respond to different
job offerings. If you have experience with or are game
to try new things, using the “Table” function in
Microsoft® Word© is an excellent way to keep your text
well-spaced and neatly aligned.
There are few hard and fast rules when it comes to
résumés. When standardized information is required, a
company or agency will sometimes provide their own
example or will use a standardized fill-in style
template that will put your information into their
desired format. Following some of the following tips is
no guarantee you will create the most scintillating,
awe-inspiring, must-read résumé of the new millennium.
They will, however, provide a solid foundation for
preparing your own personal marketing materials.
COVER
LETTER
You may find that a cover letter template will also come
in handy. Cover letters must also be considered with
reference to the target audience. Your résumé may find
its way to the circular file if not accompanied by a
proper cover letter, or your cover letter may be
circularly filed without even a passing glance as the
prospective employer goes directly to the résumé itself.
If you are providing a “cut-and-paste” résumé via a
company’s website, you probably should not waste any of
your 12-15,000 characters by including a cover page.
Just paste the résumé. Be sure to save your template
with a basic name, then open and rename the file with a
specific name singular to the job offering you are
seeking (“Save As…” under the “File” menu in Microsoft®
Word©). This is a simple way to prevent sending a cover
letter for company “A” to company “B” by mistake. A good
tip here is to find out who at the company is in charge
of hiring, and address the cover letter directly to that
person. At least find out the person’s gender if
possible. Short of all that, make the salutation of the
cover letter read “Dear Ma’am/Sir,” and continue from
there.
USE OF KEY
WORDS AND BOLD TYPE
Potential employers often skim over a résumé to look for
key words and/or phrases that quickly allow sorting of
résumés into “Engineer” or “Administrative Assistant”
stacks. Some large companies actually scan résumés into
a database and use specially designed software programs
to sort them using the same or similar key words and
phrases. Use of bold type will have no effect on the
performance of software programs as they search, but
when résumés are reviewed by hand, effective use of the
bold function can quickly help you stand out from the
pack. Be careful though, as over-use of the bold
function will merely use up your printer ink and
camouflage the very points you are trying to highlight.
PREVIOUS
PAY INFORMATION
If not specifically required, previous pay information
should be omitted from your résumé. Such information
could actually help remove you from consideration. A
prospective employer may not be willing to become
involved in what appears to be the opener in a salary
negotiation. You may also want to omit previous pay
information if you are pursuing a higher paying job than
the one you currently have. However, if you have
extremely desirable skills and are making a case for pay
higher than what was specified in the job listing, your
previous pay may provide leverage. This is a situation
that must be carefully considered on a case-by-case
basis.
MILITARY
EXPERIENCE
If you have previous military experience, your
information will be handled a bit differently than for
other types of previous employment. While you could
typically list employment with company “A” and then
describe your duties and various positions, you cannot
accurately account for your military service under a
single heading of “US Army” or “US Navy” or “US Air
Force” etc. Each major assignment should be addressed as
a different job. For example, “US Army, Company Officer,
Fort Bragg” should be addressed separately from “US
Army, Training Officer, Fort Leavenworth.” A good rule
of thumb is to depict each duty station or command as a
“job” as you compile your work experiences.
USE OF
ACRONYMS
For everyone, but most especially for the military types
out there, DO NOT USE ACRONYMS! That being said, there
are times when spelling everything out can become quite
onerous. A good rule of thumb is to always spell
everything out the first time. Follow the full spelling
with your acronym in parentheses. After that has been
done, the acronym can then be used throughout the rest
of that particular document. If you will be using a
cover letter, be sure you spell out your acronym fully
in both the cover letter and the résumé. It is important
to note that different companies, government agencies,
and all of the uniformed services use many of the same
acronyms, but the words the acronyms stand for vary
wildly. The last thing you want to do in a résumé is
confuse or even potentially offend a prospective
employer through haphazard or errant use of acronyms.
PERSONAL
REFERENCES AND CURRENT EMPLOYER CONTACT
If requested, provide an adequate number of personal
references. If not specifically requested, a couple of
personal references will do no harm (assuming they will
have nice things to say about you). If your current
situation is such that you feel obliged to request your
current employer not be contacted, then make an
unambiguous statement to that effect. Any such statement
should be brief and to the point. A prospective employer
is probably not immediately concerned with why you
prefer your current employer not be contacted. That will
certainly be a topic for conversation in an interview,
but it need not take up space on your résumé. A simple
“Request current employer not be contacted” should
suffice.
GOALS AND
AVAILABILITY
Goal and availability statements also bear
consideration. Goal statements should be specific in
nature and reasonable in expectation. If saving your
résumé as a template under a basic file name, then
renaming as necessary, be sure to tailor parts that are
specific each time. You do not want to send your résumé
to company “A” with the stated goal of lifelong
employment with company “B” (one option is to highlight
text in the template that will change with each
version). A blanket résumé with a simple goal statement
is usually acceptable, as is a résumé with no goal
statement. When attending a job fair or when preparing
an internet-ready cut-and-paste résumé, goal statements
should be simple or avoided altogether. Otherwise, you
open yourself to many opportunities for error.
Availability should be stated simply as something along
the lines of “Immediate”, “Prefer two week notice to
current employer”, or a specific date after which you
are free to commence work. Do not burn bridges, but do
not pass on your once-in-a-lifetime dream job because
you could only give one-week notice to your current
employer. Decide what your priority is for your future,
and convey that appropriately to prospective employers.
GOVERNMENT-SPECIFIC RÉSUMÉ
Several formats are acceptable when applying for
government positions. For contract work, basic-style
résumés are the norm, but for direct government employee
positions a standardized résumé is usually requested.
The US Army has a program called RESUMIX that formats
your information and is referred to frequently in
government job solicitations. QuickHire© LLC is another
company that provides résumé-type information formatting
and on-line applications for federal and state agencies.
Agencies that use RESUMIX or QuickHire© will either
direct you to the necessary websites or will have
fill-in forms on their own website.
GENERAL
ON-LINE RÉSUMÉ SUBMISSION
Several opportunities are available on-line to showcase
your skills to the world. Two of the most popular
websites are Monster® and Yahoo!Hotjobs®. These sites
will guide you through their own résumé-building process
and will let you post the final product on their site as
well as print your own copy. Several private companies
also utilize QuickHire© LLC in a similar fashion as
government agencies.
AIRLINE
INDUSTRY PILOT RÉSUMÉ
This industry has its own category for a special reason.
For most airline positions, a basic style of résumé will
suffice. However, if your goal is to become an airline
pilot, some very specific rules apply. The “Big Three”
of airline pilot résumés are about as absolute a set of
rules as one is likely to experience in the realm of
Human Resources. First, unless otherwise specified,
ALWAYS include a cover letter. Almost every airline
expects one. Be sure to do your research and always
direct the cover letter to the person in charge of pilot
hiring. Second, be very brief yet descriptive concerning
your flying experience. Key words are very important on
an airline résumé. The third and final major point to
make here is to ABSOLUTELY limit your résumé to one
page. At the very least everything past one page will be
thrown out. It is possible to actually generate ill-will
in a pilot hiring department by sending a lengthy
résumé. The appearance is that you did not do your
homework, are a vile non-conformist, and “did not get
the memo” that everyone else apparently received.
Probably the most difficult part of a pilot résumé is
compressing all of your contact information, licenses,
qualifications, total flight time in various categories,
and a synopsis of your major responsibilities for the
previous ten years into one page. Good luck.
RÉSUMÉ
DO’S AND DO NOTS
The
following are in no particular order:
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