| One of the most common questions asked to us by potential candidates is
"How does my resume look?" or "Should I include this..or that???"
Because we deal with many different corporations, we think we have a good idea of what
hiring managers and human resource professionals look for. We have taken some of our
experiences and put them on here for your reference and perusal. We hope that some of the
suggestions we give you on this page will help you decide what to put into a resume and
what to leave out. Please note that contrary to many myths..there is no "right
resume!" Different positions and professions have different resumes and most vary as
much as the individuals who create resumes.
ALWAYS KEEP IN MIND your RESUME IS
SELLING the most important thing.... YOU!!!!
1. BE YOURSELF-make your resume a reflection of YOU.
Computer aided programs are fine for creating resumes, but when using one be original. You
would be surprised at how many people submit the same formats (layout, font, etc.) of
resumes. After seeing two or three identically formatted resumes it becomes hard to stand
out on paper.
2. USE KEYWORDS-this is especially true for Information Systems
professionals. One frustrating problem for hiring managers and human resource managers is
wading through a pile of technical resumes trying to find candidates who fit the specs
they are looking for. The sorting process is usually quick and sometimes can ruin a
qualified applicants chances if he/she doesn't show UP FRONT what
hardware, software, and operating systems that person is familiar with. Keywords should be
one of the very first things a prospective employer sees when they view your resume. NEVER
make an employer search for them...make your skills come to him..use keywords up front
that get his/her attention.
Keywords should be listed by years of experience. Your strongest area or forte should be
listed first, followed by your other areas of experience. Again, that should be arranged
by most experience first......to least. Putting the years of experience is not necessary,
but very beneficial to managers.
Example:
John Doe 123 West Charleston Way Austin, TX 74341
Objective: To be employed by a progressive corporation that will put my 7
years of technical expertise to work within a fast moving team for the common good of the
corporation.
HARDWARE: RS6000 (7 years), HP3000 (4 years), HP9000 (3 years)
LANGUAGES: C,C++, Cobol
OPER. SYS: AIX, UNIX, MS-DOS, HP-UX, WINDOWS
SOFTWARE: POWERBUILDER, CLIPPER, PAGEMILL
EXPERIENCE:
Obviously, this is just an example...you can do it anyway you like. BUT GET YOUR
KEYWORDS SEEN QUICKLY BY THE EMPLOYER!
3. BE CONCISE - There is no need for a 5 page resume and you will be lucky if
more that 2 pages get read. Even if you have 40 years of experience with 10 separate
companies most managers will not give much notice or consideration to anything done after
10 years. Therefore, be concise and choose words on your resume carefully. Say as much as
possible in as few words as possible. Don't get overly detailed too. It's great to know
that you worked on specific hardware and software but don't take a paragraph to detail
your job description and the systems/languages you used.
4. SHOW ACTION-Show results from the positions you have held. It is important
not only to say what you do, but also ...
HOW WELL YOU DO IT
Explain briefly the job you did and how it benefited the organization. (i.e. cut down
time from 5 hours to 1 hour. The new network that I designed increased
network/system efficiency by 80%). |
