The economy being what it is, I’ve been wondering how secure my job is and how to best set myself up should the friendly pink slip be on my desk tomorrow morning.
Last week a friend put a help wanted ad in the newspaper. This is something he does in March for seasonal help. The past couple of years he received two resumes in response to his ad. This week he received 75.
These days, more than ever, a resume has to have some punch to even get noticed. Imagine having to read 200 resumes and short list it to 10. Until the stack of resumes is whittled down to 10, the objective is to eliminate as many as possible. The quicker resumes are filed in the wastebasket, the better. Remember the job of the initial resume reviewer is to get the 200 resumes down to 10.
When I was in college, the proper resume had a title page, cover letter and two pages of job and education history with references. Employers don’t want all that any more. These days it’s all about lean.
I asked my favorite business guru what the essentials are for resumes these days. Here are some of his suggestions.
1. No resume needs to be more than one page in length. Anything more than one page and you’re flirting with the waste bin – just the place you don’t want your resume filed.
2. Under your name and contact information, list you job history. The company, location, and dates employed with months and years. I learned that just listing the year with no month whispers “she’s hiding something.†Be forthcoming. If you only worked from December 2004 to January 2005, say so. Don’t say 2004-2005.
3. Next to the job, location and date list your responsibilities. This would be a miniature description of your job. This is to be very brief. Remember, you only have one page to work with. Go lean. Be concise.
4. This next part is where you get to shine. In a bulleted form, list your accomplishments in the job corresponding to the responsibilities you listed. Begin each accomplishment with an action verb; organized, supervised, managed, recorded…
An example of how this might look:
April 2006 to March 2009: Supervisor for Customer Service Department, XYZ Corporation, Omaha, NE Responsible for the recruitment, hiring and training of customer service representatives, revising Guidelines Manual as needed, mitigating damages with dissatisfied customers
• Supervised 14 customer service representatives
• Implemented awards program for representatives decreasing staff turn-over by 40%
• Revised the Customer Service Guidelines Manual
• Received commendation award in 2008 for outstanding customer service
Once you’ve finished your job history, list you education. University, college, and courses that are pertinent to the job you’re applying for will suffice: BA, University of Nevada, Las Vegas 2004.
That is all the employer wants to know. The objective is to get an interview and at that point you can tell him anything else he wants to know.
Think lean. The more concise, the better.
