Your Resume Again - A Work in Progess

When I first lost my job, I blew the dust off my resume.  I tweaked it, shared it with a few co-workers for critique and started submitting it.  Then I sat back and waited for the phone to ring. The phone never rang.  How could that be? How could a company not see the value, enthusiasm and well, just ME that I could bring to their workplace? What was wrong with them?  What was wrong with me?  It stung. 

I then brought it to the attention of a career counselor at the outplacement office that my former company so graciously offered (by the way, if your company offers this, swallow your pride and use it).  He diplomatically pointed out to me that my resume, “ah um, aged me.”  He was right!

That was two years ago and since then I have learned a lot about creating a resume.  This may seem like old news to some long term unemployed but if it helps and you take a second look at your resume, then my job is done.  Here’s what I know:

1.    The resume you create today is a template only.  It needs to be adjusted for every position for which you apply. Seriously. For some reason, many people skip this step.

a.    Align your resume with the key words in the position.  Look at the job description and requirements and use this wording as guidance.

b.    Support your resume statements with measurable results (money saved, processes improved, and percentages of whatever great things you did).  ***

c.    Your resume is not a job description so stop writing it like one.

2.    Format your resume for electronic submission. Review the submission requirements (Plaintext, pdf.) and submit your resume as requested.

3.    Dump the Objective and refresh your resume with a Personal Branding Statement.

4.    Toss the “References Available upon Request” statement. Prepare them on a separate document.

5.    Capture the last 10 – 15 years of employment only. The position you had 16+ years ago is not relevant. The exception to this is if you are applying for a job similar to what you had back then.

These are the top five issues that I see again and again in my Resume Preparation classes.  I know that it is extra work to tailor your resume for each position but if it is going to make you and your hard work stand out from the rest of the hundreds of application, isn’t it worth it?

NOTE

** I heard a great tip the other day.  Someone in class said that tailoring a resume to every position can be a recipe for disaster (i.e. pain in the butt) because you may leave yourself open to typos, grammar and spelling mistakes etc.  Another class participant provided this tip:

Prepare a Word document containing ALL of your job accomplishments. Put these measurable accomplishments under various headings.  This man's Word document is over 25 pages long!  This document should be spell and grammar checked by software and people.  When it is time to prepare a tailored resume for a job, go through the document and choose the appropriate wording/measurements to copy and paste into your resume template.  Ah, priceless advice.  I liked it because it is also a good way to review your past and validate your wonderful accomplishments.

UPDATE 1/30/11: Here is an article about the same thing.