Instructor Blog #2: Resumes

In this blog we'd like to discuss ways to make you stand out from the crowd. Good application materials can help you score the job you want, or at least give you a fighting chance. The last thing you want to do is send out a mediocre or terrible resume. Without hyperbole, we can say that a resume is one of the most important documents you will ever produce. The irony, of course, is that it will be read in 10-30 seconds, and if you don't make that cut, you get thrown away. 10-30 seconds: that's all the time you have to survive the first cut, so you better do it right.

The frustrating thing about resumes is that if you ask 10 people about them, you will get 10 different pieces of advice. Resumes are a gamble. Some people will like one move, others will hate it. Some people want objective statements, some don't. Some want very slim design, others want full design. Remember that resumes are a gamble. You can't guarantee that you document will be successful, but we will work on getting the odds in your favor.

To begin, a few pieces of advice from the experts. The first is from the Rockport Institute:

A great resume doesn't just tell them what you have done but makes the same assertion that all good ads do: If you buy this product, you will get these specific, direct benefits. It presents you in the best light. It convinces the employer that you have what it takes to be successful in this new position or career.

The second is from Douglas Richardson, who wrote the "Skeptical Resume Reader" article:

Show me a clear-cut sense of direction. I keep seeing resumes that are little more than buckets into which a lot of data has been dumped in the apparent belief that I will fill in the gaps, synthesize diverse information, connect the dots and tell you what kind of product you are. I have no incentive to do this, given the number of knights eager to enter the lists. It isn't my job to make sense out of your life.

From these quotations, we want you to take several things. First, a company does not care about you: not really. They want people who are going to be great for the company, who will make the company better. So they don't care if you took really interesting classes, or had a cool internship, or got some great scholarship. They only care if you show them how these things prove that you will be a great fit as a great employee for the company. Your resume is not about you. It's ultimately about them. It's an ad for you aimed at them, so you want to appeal to what the company wants.

Secondly, resumes are an ethos builder. If you demonstrate through a resume that you understand the conventions and expectations of a business world, you look qualified and professional. If you can present yourself well, you can represent a company well. If you present yourself poorly, you look unqualified and unprofessional. So remember that the resume is the first representative of yourself that the company sees, so make a great first impression.

Thirdly, as Richardson says, a resume is not just a blank sheet that you pour data onto. You need to construct your resume carefully to match the job and the company. This means focusing on the key words in the job ads. That is worth writing again. Focus on the key words in the job ads. Many people do not understand this, and it hurts them. Job ads tell you what the company wants, so you have to show the company that you match their requirements. Consider a sample job ad for an IT Delivery Manager for Sears in Lafayette. The ad lists many requirements. For instance, it wants the candidate to be able to "Manage the creation of detail design documentation," "Motivate team to achieve results utilizing their potential," and have the "Ability to work in a fast paced exciting environment."

You do not have to play guessing games about what the company wants—they just told you. Now it's your job to demonstrate that you are this person. So first, think about all your past experiences. Think about times you designed documents, motivated teams, and worked in fast paced environments. It's best if these experiences were relevant to computers, but the time you motivated trainees at Target or worked in the fast paced environment of Hardee's are also relevant, if you frame them in the right way. If you have the luxury of many past job experiences, choose the ones that are most relevant to the experience. If you only have a few job experiences, highlight the tasks that best fit the job description. As you write, use the language used in the job ad. The HR people are going to be looking for those qualities in those words. If you don't exhibit that you have those qualities in their language, why would they want to hire you?

So how does this manifest in each section? Let's break the resume down section by section with some specific advice. The Thomson Handbook gives great and more thorough advice on all these sections, so read it carefully. Our thoughts supplement the text.

Objective Statement

Frankly, objective statements are not as en vogue as they used to be. However, the CCO says most companies still want them. The goal of an objective statement is to convey what job you want and how you will serve the company, such as "To acquire a software sales position in an organization seeking an extraordinary record of generating new accounts, exceeding sales targets and enthusiastic customer relations." This is a bit wordier than you might want to be, but you get the point. The objective is using a sentence fragment that starts with "to" or a verb (seeking, etc) that operates as a thesis that focuses the resume. Be careful to specify a specific job, something neither too general nor too specific (resumes are often filed away for 6 months or a year, so you want something that might still meet the needs of the company after that time has passed). Be careful also to not talk about what you want. HR professionals often see resumes that say "To secure an entry level position that will develop my network of contacts in the medical field." This essentially admits that you are using the job as a stepping stone to something better. What company wants that employee?

Education

Because you go to Purdue, your education section is probably your strongest asset right now. Later on, as you get more experience, education will slide further and further down your resume, but for now it will probably feature prominently at the top. At minimum, include your major, your minor, your degree, your anticipated graduation, and your GPA if it's over 3.5. (If your major GPA is good, you can include that instead.) You can also consider including relevant courses, though do so only if you have taken applicable courses beyond the requirements. You can also include foreign language skills or computer skills in this section. Include a foreign language only if you are comfortable speaking it in a technical job environment and include only computer skills that are unusual and applicable (don't put Windows, or Firefox, for example, unless they are specifically called for in the job ad).

Experience

Here's the meat and potatoes of your resume. This is the part that will sell you to the employer. You want at least three jobs on here, in reverse chronological order (most recent first), with at least two bullet points under each describing your duties, accomplishments, and skills. Choose your most relevant experiences to feature. If you have substantial volunteer experience that is relevant, you can include that if you call your section "Experience" or "Relevant Experience" rather than "Work Experience." Include your job title, the company, and the dates of employment at minimum (you can also include the location of the company). The position you held is usually most important, and the dates are usually the least, so feature the position on the left side of the resume, where the eye scans first, and the dates on the right, where the eye may not reach in a 10 second scan.

As you write your bullets, keep several things in mind. First, use parallel active verbs. That means starting each bullet with a verb of the same tense. If one bullet starts with a verb ending in "ed," they should all start that way. If one starts with a present tense verb, they should all start that way. Use active, descriptive verbs. Don't use "did," "was," or "participated." Use "organized," "analyzed," "implemented," "trained," "produced," etc. This page from Purdue's OWL will help you with this process.

Also, be specific in your descriptions. A description like "worked in an office performing various tasks" is extremely vague and almost worthless. A description like "Provided customer service by answering 100 calls from overseas banking clients daily on 12 line telephone" tells us what you did. That's something we can sink our teeth into. Quantify when you can, especially if the numbers are impressive. "Served customers food" is less impressive than "Served 200 customers food daily and operated cash register totaling $1,000 in daily sales." If you used any applicable equipment, machinery, or software in your job, say so. If you taught or trained anyone to do anything, say so. If you wrote or designed anything relevant, say so. If you implemented anything new or had a new idea, say so. If you got any special awards or accomplishments, say so. Use these bullets to prove that you match the company's expectation, so if they want someone with "Strong oral and written communication skills," don't just state that you have them, demonstrate that you do by describing what you have accomplished.

Activities, Awards, Honors, Volunteer Work, etc

Resumes often include references to other activities, awards, honors, and volunteer work done by the candidate. This is great in moderation, but only if it's applicable. If you are on the Engineers Guild of Purdue University, say so. If you play guitar or do yoga or built a cool treehouse or cradle sick puppies, it probably isn't relevant. Keep this section relevant and short, and at the bottom of the resume.

Design

Your resume better look great. The HR people should want to marry your resume, or at least take it out to dinner. If it doesn't look good, you could have amazing experience and no one will read it. If information is hard to find, no one will find it. A good resume is easy to scan from top to bottom, makes good use of bullets, bold, and italics to create a hierarchy of information, and uses white space effectively. Use bullets where you most want to guide the eye, so avoid bullet overkill. Also, pay very close attention to alignment, which is key for scanability. Remember, good design is invisible, so don't go overboard with gold paper and glitter and sparkles. Use an elegant, simple, clean, easy-to-read design that uses the page well and is easy on a scanning eye. However, stay away from stock resume templates and default fonts on Microsoft Word. HR professionals have seen these a million times, and you want to stand out from the crowd, not be lost in it. (Besides, what does it say about you if you're only willing to do the least amount of work possible on what's one of the most important documents you'll ever write?)

Many people have trouble making their resume fit a page. Your resume must fit on one page, and even people with vast amounts of experience, skills, and awards can produce a one-page resume. This is mostly a issue of selecting and presenting the appropriate material for a specific job rather than trying to dump everything you've ever done into one generic resume. If you need a little wiggle room, you can lower your page margins. The standard for resumes is 1", but you can take them down to .8" or even .5" and get away with it. Make your margins consistent. Also pay attention to the spaces between points. All font should be at least size 10 or 11, but spaces between things can be as low as size 8 font, so you can adjust these, as long as you are consistent.

Spelling and Grammar

A resume is one place where spelling and grammar certainly count. HR personnel often must winnow down vast numbers of resumes to a manageable stack. If you give them any excuse to remove your resume, they will take it immediately. Your resume won't have the chance to make up lost ground, because it will already be in the garbage. This is not hyperbole. HR people, like everyone else, have large workloads and tight deadlines. They simply can't waste time. To emphasize this, we are not giving a grade over a C to any resume with a misspelling or noticeable grammar flaw. We know this sounds harsh, but if you were to send out a resume with such a blemish, it would likely be discarded, which is the equivalent of failure.

Scanable Resumes

Some companies, such as Purdue, scan resumes with computers that sort out resumes with key words from those that don't. So again, this emphasizes the importance of keywords. It is also important that scanable resumes avoid italics, underlining, or strange fonts that throw off the computer. (Most job ads will identify if applicants should complete scanable resumes.)

Good luck on producing your resume. Feel free to contact us with any questions.