Chapter 4 Step 2: Create a Compelling Marketing Campaign, Part I: Résumé

It Represents You When You Are Not There

Your résumé can be uploaded to global job boardsOriginally used to refer to a physical board or case, often located in an employment center or agency. People looking for work might check the job board every few days to see hand-posted offers of work. This term now refers to an online job board site, where individuals can apply for positions. Two of the largest job boards are Monster and CareerBuilder, but there are hundreds of niche job board sites that focus on teaching positions, technology positions, sales positions, and so on. like MonsterOne of the largest job board sites. (CareerBuilder is a competitor.), CareerBuilderOne of the largest job board sites. (Monster is a competitor.), and others in a few minutes. It can be sent to a company’s online database with a push of a button. It can then be shared with dozens of recruiters and hiring managers without you even knowing about it. In fact, it’s a lot easier to get your résumé in front of a recruiter than it is to have a physical presence in their office; therefore, make certain it’s a well-written, well-positioned document that makes an exceptional first impression.

It Quantifies Your Accomplishments

The best résumés quantify results and accomplishments clearly and easily. Here are some examples:

1. If you reduced errors by 35 percent, if you increased profits by 55 percent, and if 75 percent of your customers are repeat customers, include this information clearly, succinctly, and proudly.
2. If you have been a student teacher with thirty-five students in a classroom and student grades improved by 25 percent, include that as well.
3. If you have worked as an administrative assistant in a dentist’s office and you are part of a marketing team that has increased new patient accounts by 10 percent last quarter, include that!
4. If you worked in the school library and the number of lost books has declined by 50 percent, or if you provide guidance to approximately fifty students per day, that information should be in your résumé.

Quantifying your accomplishments gives your résumé readers the specific information they need to know about your abilities and to be intrigued by what you can do for them.

It Clearly States Your Abilities

Focus on the results of your actions. Being results oriented helps résumé readers understand your abilities. What exactly do you do, or what have you done in the past? Your résumé should answer this question very quickly. For example, if you have been responsible for opening and closing a retail store on a daily basis and for managing the register that took in approximately $5,000 worth of merchandise a day, state that clearly and concisely. If you have written three to four sports articles for your school paper every month for the past three years, include that as well. The more you quantify your accomplishments, the more your abilities will be understood.

It Shows Your Command of the Written Word

You don’t have to be an English major to make sure that your résumé is well-written. If your school has a career services department that offers résumé workshops, be sure to participate in them. Ask an older sibling who is in the workplace to review your résumé before it goes into cyberspace or to a future employer. Other options include asking a teacher, professor, or perhaps someone with whom you worked with or for in the past to review your résumé. Whatever the case, it is your responsibility to have a well-written résumé. You can pay for résumé-writing services, but finding someone who knows the basics of solid résumé writing may be all you need, along with this textbook. Remember that if it has one misspelled word, your résumé could easily be dismissed, along with your candidacy. It’s critical that your résumé be accurate and well written.

It Creates Talking Points for Your Future Interviews

Clearly listing your accomplishments and quantifying those accomplishments can create talking points for your future interviews. For example, perhaps your bullet point is the following:

• Responsible for the intake and outtake of approximately 1,000 books daily, ensuring that all library users are logged into the new electronic database, which has decreased the number of lost books by 80 percent in the past year.

Many individuals have to think about the results of their work. Including this detailed information in your résumé actually allows you to easily talk about the value you’ve brought to previous employers. During an interview, with the preceding example in mind, you can easily talk about how you use technology to improve processes. You can discuss the team environment of the library staff and how you are all working toward decreasing the number of lost books. It shows that you have positively affected the bottom line by helping libraries hold onto books versus losing them, which results in unnecessary fees to library users.

It Proves Your Worth to Your Past Employers

Whenever including bullet points about past work, always tie your efforts to the bottom line. Earlier examples in this chapter included the following accomplishments:

• Reducing errors by 35 percent
• Increasing profits by 55 percent
• Boosting repeat sales to 75 percent

Information relating to a company’s bottom line is exactly what employers want to read. Highlighting results like these increases your chances of having your résumé noticed.

It Demonstrates What You Can Do for Your Future Employer

Unlike financial investments, past performance is an indicator of future success, so include and quantify your past performance, and future employers will be inclined to believe you can do the same for them. They will believe it, but you have to continue supporting that belief with your exceptional networking and interviewing skills (Chapter 7 "Step 4: Network Effectively" and Chapter 8 "Step 4 (Continued): Master the Interview"). Remember, however, that your résumé is introductory in nature. You want to get their attention and initiate their interest so your foot can inch ever closer to getting in their door.

Header

Your résumé header should include four items:

1. Your full name
2. Your address
3. Your e-mail address
4. Your phone number

Your Address

You can use your school address or your permanent home address, or both. Most recruiters prefer both because, at times, they may need to send information to both addresses at different times of the year. Clarity is always a very good thing.

Objective

Recruiters appreciate clarity, and an objective can help a recruiter understand exactly what you offer or what business would best suit your background. Objectives can be very targeted and mention a specific position or can be a bit broader in describing a job function. Whatever objective you choose, it should state what you are looking for and what you have to contribute. It’s not only about you. It’s about what you can do for them. Here are some examples of effective objectives:

• An entry-level accounting position in audit, allowing me to use my analytical and detail orientation to ensure accuracy in all reports and reviews.
• A communications internship at a top media company that will allow me to use my knowledge and experience to produce and edit clear and effective communications.
• An entry-level position in the health-care industry, enabling me to use my business and communications skills to enhance a company’s bottom line.
• A full-time marketing position at a Fortune 500 company, enabling me to utilize my knowledge and experience to enhance marketing efforts firm-wide.

Your objective should not ramble past two lines because no recruiter appreciates reading a paragraph-sized objective.

Using the four preceding items, Figure 4.2 "Sample Résumé—Header and Objective" illustrates how our sample résumé looks thus far.

Figure 4.2 Sample Résumé—Header and Objective

Skills and Additional Information

This section of your résumé should include, but not be limited to, the following information:

• Computer skills: Most employers expect Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, but include additional software knowledge (e.g., Dreamweaver).
• Language skills: Include your honest level of fluency (e.g., Spanish, fluent, French, beginner).
• Community service: Include any volunteer work, such as park clean-ups, walk-a-thons for various causes, fundraising events of any kind. Be specific about your responsibilities and your results including: dollars raised, hours spent, leadership position, end-user experience (e.g. fund-raising efforts reached over $20K, providing for five developmentally disabled students and their parents to travel to Florida to swim with the dolphins.)
• Interests: This information can help to build rapport with interviewers. It’s best to keep it simple and include things that are truly of interest to you such as reading, movies, and physical fitness (in general) or tennis, football, softball (specifically). It’s true that the “Interests” section is not a core piece of information, but the vast majority of interviewers enjoy reviewing this, and the rapport you build can be helpful!

You can include additional information:

• Licenses and certifications: Individuals can achieve literally hundreds of professional licenses in the areas of health care, finance, real estate, insurance, and so forth. For a complete list, Google professional licenses, and you will be able to identify if you should include any on your résumé. Examples include Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA)To become a CFA, a person needs to take the course and pass it through the CFA Institute. This course is known to be rigorous, but you can benefit from it in the long run because you will be a respected securities professional. Level I, Licensed Real Estate Agent, and so forth.

Important note: Never misrepresent any information on your résumé. If you have knowledge of another language, qualify your knowledge as fluent, intermediate, or beginner. If you don’t speak a language other than English, do not include a bullet point about language because you might not know the language capabilities of your interviewers.

Some résumé readers differ on this, but listing your interests can help develop rapport with your résumé reader and interviewer. No matter what the skill level of the interviewer, having a common interest can always begin a great conversation.

An example of information listed in this section could include the following.

References

One of the famous last lines of a résumé is “References furnished upon request.” This is not necessary because employers can simply ask for references when they want them. However, a proactive, impressive strategy would be to create a single-page document that includes the following information:

• Your header (so it’s a matched set with the résumé), including your name, address, and contact information
• Your reference’s name
• Your reference’s company and title
• Your reference’s relationship to you (e.g., manager, peer, vendor, and so forth)
• Your reference’s contact information, including their e-mail address and phone number

Do not widely distribute this information because it contains the contact information of your references, which you should treat as confidential. However, having the list prepared enables you to quickly share this information with prospective employers upon request.

Help your references help you by notifying them that they can expect a call and by highlighting the most important qualities you want them to mention.

An example of this document could include the following.

Functional Résumés

This chapter thus far has reviewed a résumé that follows a chronological format. Another format to consider is a functional résuméAs opposed to a chronological résumé, offers a different emphasis on a candidate’s accomplishments and background., which highlights the skills you’ve developed more than the individual jobs you’ve held.

Functional résumés can be different from what most recruiters will review, so it’s best to proceed with care. This includes consulting a career services office and consulting a professional résumé writer.

It’s important to note that throughout the many, many years that individuals have been drafting résumés, recruiters have expected to see a chronological résumé with certain sections: employment, education, and additional information. In most cases, it’s best to give recruiters what they expect: a chronological résumé.

With that understood, functional résumés can be used for college students and experienced candidates for the following reasons:

• Individuals may want to highlight their skills and achievements rather than the companies for which they worked.
• College students who do not have a strong work experience history can use a functional résumé to give them a chance to include other achievements, honors, and abilities in a very pronounced way.
• Experienced individuals can deemphasize gaps in employment because recruiters often notice gaps and then want those gaps explained.
• Experienced individuals can also deemphasize career mobility and emphasize skills and achievements.

Here are some categories you may want to consider when drafting a functional résumé:

• Communication skills
• Teamwork skills
• Leadership skills
• Honors and special achievements
• Athletic involvement and achievements
• Volunteer experiences

Figure 4.4 "Sample Functional Résumé 1" and Figure 4.5 "Sample Functional Résumé 2" are examples of how a functional résumé might look.

Figure 4.4 Sample Functional Résumé 1

Figure 4.5 Sample Functional Résumé 2

Curriculum Vitae (CV)

Some people interchange the word résumé with curriculum vitae (CV)Used internationally, particularly for research-oriented positions. A CV is often longer and more detailed than a résumé., which is incorrect because they are different items. A CV is mostly used internationally, particularly for research-oriented positions. A CV is often longer and more detailed than a résumé. In some cases, CVs are six to eight pages long and include published material and conference information if the person presented information to colleagues. A CV may or may not include biographical information, including marital status and nationality (this is typically the case with international students studying in the United States).

With this said, a résumé is the appropriate document when seeking any nonacademic or nonclinical position in the United States. If you are interested in working overseas, use research to familiarize yourself with an employer’s expectation regarding résumés, CVs, and additional information.

Gaps

Recruiters carefully review résumés and will notice any gaps in either employment or education. While rare, any anomaly should be addressed. For example, perhaps a student was ill for half a semester and didn’t graduate in the expected year. Perhaps they had an opportunity to live in another country for a prolonged period of time. A résumé will state the timeline, but the cover letter can be used for more of an explanation. It’s best to consult a professional because this situation can be a bit of a minefield.

Short Stints

Recruiters appreciate longevity at a company. If you’ve worked two summers at the same company, that proves your worth to your employer because they rehired you. If you’ve jumped from one company to another in short periods of time, that can be considered a disadvantage.

Merging Companies

A list of the top one hundred companies today is vastly different from a list of the top one hundred companies from ten years ago. If you worked for a company that has now merged with another company and no longer has the same name, simply list the name of the new company and put the previous company’s name in parentheses. Here is an example:

Pfizer (premerger Warner-Lambert), New York, New York