These readings are very valuable tools for a person who is trying to land that dream job they have always been wanting. But, I found that I already knew most of the information in these readings. Two years ago, when I first started looking for jobs, I went to a class held by the CCO that taught people how to make resumes and cover letters. After taking this class I made a resume and brought it back to the CCO department in Stewart Center and got it reviewed and critiqued. I then made revisions to my resume, went back and got the green light from them. Going through this process was a great experience because it taught me all of the fundamentals of what a good resume actually looked like, just like what these reading try to do. I would recommend this to anyone who is having difficulty making a good resume.
One of the things that stuck out to me the most was the section on focusing on the key words in the actual job ad. Doing this allows the HR rep to know that the job you are applying for is actually something you want to do. In almost every job ad that I have applied for I have tried to use the key words from the ad somewhere in it, whether it be in the objective or in my experiences.
Something else that I took to heart was the statement about how even if you have all the experience in the world, but your resume doesn’t look good, then no one will read it. In my eyes half of the initial impression that your resume gives off is whether or not it looks good. An HR rep is not going to want to read a resume that does not follow a pattern or looks like it was thrown together in five minutes.
The only thing I did not really agree on was when to show and when not to show your GPA. According to the first reading you should only show your GPA if it is over a 3.5. Well what about a major like mine (MET) or other engineering/technical majors where it is hard just to get over a 3.0? I believe that putting your GPA on a resume should vary between different majors and there should not just be a standard for everyone.
From job ad to Objective
Using the key words from a job ad and placing them in your objective statement is something I hadn’t thought about doing until I went over your article. Before when writing my objective statements I just used key words that I thought a company may want to hear. By rearranging the job ad, you can tailor your objective statement so that the company you are pursing will be more attentive to your resume. From this I looked back at the job description that I am applying for and used some of the key words that I was lacking and placed them into my objectives.
Zebulon Rouse
Objective Statement
Well I am glad Zeb that reading my response helped you in making your next resume. Although, your method of using key words that you thought would be relevant is a good idea, using the key words from the actual ad is probably the best thing to do. It is never a bad thing for your resume to match well with the actual job description itself. I know when I made my resume for this project I looked back at the job description for the Honda job that I was applying for and tried to put that information into my resume. The information that the company you are applying to gives you is a great asset in making your resume.
Cross Your T's and Dot Your I's
I also think that one of the most simple and biggest mistakes is having a sloppy resume. It needs to be clean and well written. In such a competitive market and when holding one resume next to the other, it is easy to discard a resume for simple formatting issues, spelling or grammar problems, and other mistakes. Sometimes it’s almost difficult to catch some of these errors when you are more focused on items such as material. I constantly overlook my resume and find a mistake from months ago. This is one of the first problems that can jeopardize your chances in landing a career opportunity.
Slop Slop Sloppy
To me a resume that is sloppy and untidy just shows that the person applying for the job did not care enough to take the time to go through and change it. Imagine if you were an HR rep having to look at 10,000 resumes a day, the first thing you would do to a resume that was too sloppy to easily read would be to throw away.
I agree greatly about what you said about focusing too much on the actual content of your resume and missing stupid little mistakes here and there. I found that after I made my resume I had to read it three or four times just to make sure I overlooked the content and just looked for grammar and spelling mistakes.