career | Robin's Resumes (r)

Resumes for People with Long Careers at One Company: Part I

Oct 04 2015

A good friend of mine told me about his sister who had been out of work for almost a year. His sister refused to go to a professional resume writer because she had already sent out dozens of resumes with no success whatever. So why should she pay for a product that would not get her a job?

My friend asked to see her resume. He told me: “I looked at the resume and rolled my eyes. My sister has years and years of experience, a really interesting career, but it has all been at the same company. She has been promoted over and over and hasn’t been in the job market since graduate school. In fact, I think what she did was simply update her resume from graduate school 20 years ago.”

When finally I had a chance to see the resume, I had to agree with my friend. The resume had all the hallmarks of someone who has never looked for a job. Here are the changes I made, rewriting the resume to current standards:

Placed the position she was looking for at the top, in the header. In her old resume, a recruiter or hiring manager would have to read the entire resume to discover that she was qualified as a Vice President/Director of R&D.
Started the resume with a profile. The old resume jumped right into her most recent position with the company. Again, a hiring manager or recruiter would have to read the entire resume to locate her skills and achievements over the years.
Focused the resume on achievements and their value to the company. For example, she developed laboratory procedures that saved millions of dollars and became state-of-the-art for other labs in the company—in her original resume those results were never mentioned.
Added keywords important to an applicant tracking system.
Listed professional courses she had taken and professional organizations she belonged to and led over the years. Her ability to stay up to date and respected in her profession would be important to a new employer.
Added her foreign language skills—which her old employer never used—and her love of travel. That international perspective might have considerable value for a new employer with overseas locations or business associates.

I rewrote the resume to current standards and my friend’s sister was amazed at the difference. She said, “Now I can see that my old resume was a kid’s resume. This new one is a resume for a grown up.”

If your old resume is in need of “growing up,” please contact me.

4 Reasons Why Your Resume May Not Make the Cut

Jun 28 2015

Many times your resume is discarded by companies for reasons outside your control: someone internal to the company was promoted into the job, the job requirements or the company’s budget changed or perhaps another candidate simply had more of what the company hoped to find in a new employee.

However, the following four situations are under your control. Your resume may not make the cut if:

Your resume fails to specifically address the requirements (skills, education, accomplishments) listed in the job posting. Even the title of the job is important. If the company has advertised for an “executive assistant,” they will reject resumes and cover letters that reference an “executive secretary” position.
Your contact information is incomplete or hard to read (for example, it is in a very light italic font where the number one looks like the letter el). You might overlook a transposed number or letter in your own familiar phone number or email address because you read what you expect to see rather than what is actually on the page. Companies will not search for you; you must make sure your contact information is readable and accurate.
Your resume is not formatted for computerized applicant tracking systems. Many companies of all sizes use ATS to weed out applicants who do not match the job criteria. If the ATS cannot even read your resume, it will not be chosen for further action—the hiring manager may never see it.
You tried too hard. Whether you overdesigned your resume, stretched a few dates to cover gaps (easily discovered with a reference check), included information no one wanted (your GPA from 15 years ago) or described your accomplishments as an employee in terms appropriate to the company’s CEO, recruiters and hiring managers are sensitive to resumes that try too hard and end up feeling false.

Robin’s Resumes® is sensitive to what makes a resume work or not work, including finding the correct balance between the requirements of the job, the requirements of ATS system and your career goals. If your resumes are not making the cut for any of the four reasons above, please contact us.

Resumes for Career Changers

Jun 07 2015

If you are looking to change careers—for example, from engineering to project management—you need to refresh your resume. The resume you used to move up in your engineering career will not impress hiring managers and recruiters who are looking for a project manager. Here are five steps you can take to make sure your resume supports your career change.

First, research your new career carefully so that you understand the requirements and expectations. Your resume should contain the keywords that future employers will look for among your skills, accomplishments and education.

Second, make sure the summary at the top of your resume mentions the transferrable skills, accomplishments and education that relate to the career you want. Companies are not in the business of guessing at your suitability; you must tell them.

Third, you may want to lead your resume with a list of “Major Accomplishments” during your past career chosen specifically because they illustrate your readiness for your new career. You can ignore chronology in this section. To continue with the engineer-to-project-manager example: you would select accomplishments demonstrating your leadership, planning and strategic skills regardless of when they occurred in your career.

Fourth, courses, certifications or a degree related to your new career are invaluable. Make sure your educational preparation is featured on your resume. If you are sending out your resume before your education is complete, you should mention the anticipated date of graduation or certification.

Fifth, ask for testimonials from fellow professionals who can testify to your qualifications for the new position (including soft skills). The opinion of a co-worker, customer, vendor or manager counts highly when a hiring manager or recruiter is reviewing your resume.

At Robin’s Resumes®, we help job applicants make the transition from one successful career to another with resumes that give companies what they are looking for, highlight transferrable skills, emphasize related accomplishments and feature strong testimonials. Let us help you.

How to Handle Dates on a Resume

Jul 27 2014

Are you putting too much or too little emphasis on dates in your resume?

When you list your previous jobs in reverse chronological order, the name of the company should come before the dates of employment. It is fine to give a year spread, rather than a month and year; the day is unnecessary. But you must give the dates of employment. If you have a job history that does not have gaps, it is better to list both the months and year. I will do that in most cases – but if you are not sure what to do, contact a professional.

When you list your education, you do not have to give the dates when you graduated unless the graduation date is very recent or you are a new college graduate.

If you are changing careers or returning to an old career path, it is okay to begin the resume with a section that emphasizes relevant highlights of your career without dates. But after that you must provide a list of previous employment with dates.

If your career has spanned decades, it is acceptable to end your list of jobs with a section entitled “Previous Employment” or “Additional Experience” and to list job title and company name without specific dates. No one expects a vice president to detail his first job as a waiter.

Check dates carefully to make sure they make chronological sense. It is easy to get a single digit wrong and cause concern to potential employers. Also make sure that the dates on your resume align with dates given online, in LinkedIn and other social media sites.

Please contact Robin’s Resumes® if you need help determining whether your resume gives too much or too little emphasis to dates. Next week we’ll discuss the education section of your resume.

How to Help a Job Hunter

Feb 17 2014

If you are searching this blog to help someone in your life who is looking for a first job, new job or new career, here are a few things you can do:

Encourage the job hunter to give you a copy of his or her resume, so that you know exactly what career and jobs to look for. When job hunters lose focus and start applying for “any job,” their chances of landing a great interview actually decrease.
Give your advice on the resume if asked, but suggest a limit to the number of resume editors. Everyone has their own take on the “perfect” resume; a job hunter can end up confused and frustrated by well-meaning but contradictory advice.
Tell your contacts that you know someone who is looking for a job. You never know who will provide that ideal connection. You hairdresser’s husband may be an engineer whose company is looking for an IT director; your computer guru might have a cousin who is looking for a new hairdresser for her salon.
Depression is the norm after a job loss or when a job hunt is not producing results. If the job hunter seems completely discouraged or stalled, suggest contacting a professional resume writer and career coach to give the job hunt new vigor.

At Robin’s Resumes®, job hunters work with an experienced, certified professional writer and coach. We are always happy to discuss our services.