That’s right—resume writing is selling. Your resume is an advertisement for what you can bring to an employer. Similar to newspaper and TV advertising, to be effective your resume must do the following:
■ Capture attention in the first few seconds.
■ Establish credibility—a reason for the reader to believe that you can do what you say.
■ Inspire the reader to want to know more.
When you’re making a big purchase, an ad alone will not usually inspire you to act. (Have
you ever bought a car or a computer based solely on a magazine or TV ad?) But a good
advertisement will create interest in the product and make you want to know more.
That’s what your resume should do for you. Your goal in sending your resume is to get the
employer to become interested enough to pick up the phone and call you for an interview.
But your resume can do more than just get you in the door for an interview! It will also
serve as a basis for the questions and discussions you’ll have with the hiring authority. So
for your interviews, you must be prepared to explain every item on your resume in a way
that continues selling the “product”—you!
Before we launch into writing your resume, let’s take a look at a few frequently asked questions
and clear up some common misperceptions about resumes.
Resumes are incredibly flexible documents. There are no “rules” about what you must or
cannot include, how or where to present the information, or any real taboos except that
your resume must not contain any spelling, grammatical, or punctuation errors. You can
select and present the most positive, impressive things about you—things that relate to the
employer’s needs, as you’ve identified them in your Core Qualifications list. But because a
good resume is concisely written and tightly formatted, it’s important that you start out
with a good organizational structure so that you can include just the right information,
arranged for maximum impact.
To create that structure, resumes are sectioned into five principal categories:
■ Header/Contact Information: A well-organized presentation of your name and contact
information (one or more mailing addresses, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses,
and other ways of reaching you).
■ Objective and/or Skills Summary: A section at the top of your resume that immediately
identifies what you’re looking for and highlights your most important qualifications.
■ Education: Presents all facets of your recent college experience, such as coursework,
academic honors, internships, and activities.
■ Work Experience: Chronicles the details of your employment experience, whether coop
or internship; part-time during school year or summers; or full-time experience
before, during, or since you graduated from college.
■ Extras: In this category go the many bits of information that you’d like to include but
that don’t fit neatly into any of the prior categories.
You can start with the easy stuff and work your way through the process in the following
steps.
Start Strongly with Well-Organized Contact Information
Give potential employers the information they need in a format that makes it easy for them
to find what they’re looking for. Your name should be prominent. Use bold and/or larger
type to catch the reader’s attention.
Should you use a nickname? Because a resume is a fairly formal business document, it’s traditional
to use your full given name (Richard J. Williams, not Ricky Williams). But you
might want to consider using a nickname in the following circumstances:
■ If no one ever uses your real name (for example, Jay Vasipoli rather than Mortimer J.
Vasipoli III).
■ Your name appears difficult to pronounce (for example, Shayna O’Riordan, not
Séadhna O’Riordan).
■ You want to use an Americanized name or nickname in place of or to supplement your
traditional name (for example, Manh “Mike” Nguyen).
If you are sending out your resume while you are still living at school, you’ll need to include
both school and home addresses and telephone numbers. If the best way to reach you is on
your mobile phone, be sure to include that number as well. And be certain that you have a
reliable answering service for any number you include. Don’t include pagers or fax numbers
unless there really is no better way to contact you.
You must have an e-mail address that’s professional, permanent, and reliable. Consider getting
a separate Hotmail or Yahoo! address just for your job search (this is especially important
if your everyday e-mail address is something like fratparty@bigu.edu).
Create a new word-processing document or use the resume-development worksheet in the
appendix to organize your contact information. Here are a few sample formats to consider:
Sell Your Strongest Qualifications in a Powerful Skills Summary
This important introductory section of your resume should present a quick “snapshot” of
who you are and what you have to offer. Whether you use a formal Objective statement,
use both an Objective and a Skills Summary, or combine the two into some kind of
Summary/Profile, be sure you do the following for greatest impact:
■ Instantly communicate just what kind of job you’re looking for.
■ Highlight your strongest qualifications.
This essential information must be crystal-clear in just a quick glance at the top part of your
resume. Equally important, you must write this section with the employer’s interests in
mind. Stating what you want is not nearly as effective as telling employers what you can do for
them.
Write Your Objective/Skills Summary
There are many interesting ways to communicate your objective and key skills. To make it
easy for you, first I’ll walk you through a step-by-step process. Then, if you’re feeling creative
or would like to consider a different way of presenting this information, we’ll review a variety
of options and examples for alternatives to a simple Skills Summary.
Write an Objective, Goal, or Target Statement
Although it’s not strictly necessary to lead off your resume with an objective, I do recommend
it for new graduates. It is a quick, easy way to focus the employer’s attention on
your areas of interest. Otherwise, because you probably don’t have a lengthy or relevant
employment history, it might be difficult for the employer to understand what jobs you’re
qualified for.
When writing your objective, be specific, brief, and direct; avoid meaningless statements
such as “Seeking a challenging, rewarding position with the opportunity for career advancement.”
Read More: Writing Your Killer Resume
