Source: Toronto Star, Career Section

Resume Writing

Resumé Writing

Introduction
2-Minute Summary, or "My Personal Summary"
Identifying Your Skills, Talents and Personal Qualifications
Targeting Your Resumé
A Note on References...
Including Additional Information on Your Resumé
Writing the Cover Letter that Gets Your Resumé Noticed
Some Eye-Catching Phrases
Power Words
Keywords

Interviewing

Networking

Negotiating

Resume Writing

Source: Toronto Star, Career Section

Introduction

Developing a Resumé is the first step in any successful job search. The average Resumé is written out of necessity: Everyone knows to have one to get a job.

In fact, most employers require a Resumé before accepting any application, regardless of the position or its pay. You need a Resumé, and you need it now. Time is of the essence in today's job market.

While hundreds of jobs come open every day, their average life span-and your window of opportunity-has now become a matter of weeks. Employers can't afford losses in productivity, so they need to fill open positions as quickly as possible.

That means opportunities can (and most certainly will) arise unexpectedly. You must be prepared for anything at any time. Having a Resumé handy from the outset of a job search enables you to take advantage of what may come along the way.

When you're hunting for a job, the Resumé is your introduction. An effective Resumé gets employers interested in making person-to-person contact with you.

Research suggests that most Resumés are scanned very quickly - for less than a minute. Thus, the decision to interview a candidate is usually based on an overall first impression of him or her.

The Resumé must clearly, concisely and strategically present your qualifications, and show how you can help employers solve the problems they currently face in their business. In short, you must prove your worth as a potential employee in order to progress to the interview stage of the job search.

Your Resumé is one way of communicating the value you offer a perspective employer and of differentiating yourself from the field of job seekers.

Therefore, your Resumé needs to convey three things to those who read it:

You have the skills, talent and personal qualities to accomplish those things that are important to an employer.
You have a history of training, accomplishments and/or experience to substantiate this claim.
You will be an asset to the organization insofar as you facilitate its operations, have positive work attitudes and get along with others.

The Resumé is part employability profile and part promotional device. To write effective Resumés, you must learn how to write powerful yet subtle advertising copy. You have to sell yourself.

Remember: Employers are hiring you, not a piece of paper. Think of the Resumé as a personal advertisement, which promotes you and what you can do - those qualities enabling you to produce tangible results in the workplace.

This Resumé-writing guide is intended to help you sort out, clarify and describe your qualifications to prospective employers. It is designed to help you think about and address employers' real needs so that you can convey to them how and why you're a truly exceptional candidate for the job.

Contact Information

(Name, Address, Phone Number, E-mail, Fax Number)

Directions: Please fill out your contact information, as you want it to appear at the header of your Resumé. Look over the information you're giving carefully--every letter and digit counts!

In most cases, it's best to use your legal name, which is the one that appears on your school records and social insurance card. You don't want to confuse employers by using several versions of your name, and you want them to be able to readily access your records from previous employers, educational institutions, etc.
The phone number you list is important. This is how employers contact you. Therefore, it is advisable to give a number where you can be reached, either in person or by machine, between the hours of 8am and 5pm, Monday through Friday. You don't want employers to discard your Resumé because they can't reach you.

2-Minute Summary, or My Personal Summary

Oftentimes, employers want to know something in addition to the nuts and bolts of your employment history. In other words, they want to know a little about you. Here are some topics you might want to touch on in your personal statement:

YOUR FORMATIVE YEARS. Where did you grow up? What did your parents do for a living? What kinds of things fascinated you as a child? How did the events of you childhood affect or shape the course of your professional life?

NOTE: Don't spend too much time discussing your early life if it doesn't have much to do with where you are today. On the other hand, if your early obsession with rocks eventually led to a career in the petroleum industry, talk about it. Employers like to hire people who're genuinely interested in what they do.

YOUR EDUCATIONAL CREDENTIALS. Where did you attend college? What did you major/minor in? How did the course of your studies impact the direction of your professional life? Why did you choose to study what you did?
YOUR CAREER TO THIS POINT. Where have you been? What is particularly interesting about the progression of your career to this point? What are some of your biggest and/or most important work-related accomplishments?
YOUR CAREER IN TRANSITION. Why are you in transition or changing jobs?
YOUR CAREER IN MOTION. What do you want to do next? Why? Why do you want to it in a particular setting?
YOUR FAMILY STATUS. Feel free to comment on your family life, if you feel it's significant. You'll probably want to omit this topic entirely if you're recently divorced or temporarily separated from your spouse. Don't give employers the wrong impression - that personal issue might negatively affect your work.
YOUR INTERESTS. The advantage of telling employers about your interests is that they can indicate a skill or an area of knowledge that is related to your career goal(s). For example, someone looking for a position in a public relations office might describe his or her interest in photography. Hobbies can also be an effective way of conveying your well roundedness to employers.

What you need to know before you start composing your Resumé...

Effective commercials always target a specific audience to generate sales. What good would it do to market a convertible to people over sixty, when all they really want is a safe, reliable car for taking their grandchildren to the park? The same is true of Resumés: You can't expect an employer to hire a bricklayer when he or she really needs a computer programmer.

You must give some thought to the audience of your Resumé. Usually, the person reading the Resumés is the person who will be doing the hiring. This is the person who is responsible for the bottom line productivity of the organization you hope to be a part of. And, this is someone who cares deeply about the quality of the work that will be done. This is also the person to whom you should target your Resumé.

Put yourself in their shoes: What would they want to know about a prospective employee? What would get them interested in and even excited about meeting you?

The first thing you need to do is get clear what an employer is looking for and what you have to offer him or her.

Finding out what employers want...If you're seeking a job in some field you know well, you probably already know what would make someone a superior candidate. But, if you aren't sure, you can gather clues from want ads and people presently employed in that field. You could even contact an employer and ask him or her what would make someone an ideal candidate for the position. This information is vital for writing a Resumé that markets you to prospective employers. You can use it to tailor your skills and abilities to match the requirements of the position you're seeking.

Figuring out what you have to offer...If you're like most people, this is the hardest part about writing a Resumé. It's often difficult to see connections between the things you have done and the things an employer is looking for. You have knowledge and experience of all sorts, but an employer wants to see your qualifications . They want to learn about your marketable skills and characteristics, which means you need to learn how to brag.

Identifying Your Skills, Talents and Personal Qualifications

Most people feel a bit uneasy when it comes to talking about (or talking up) what they do well. No one likes a braggart; so few people feel comfortable bragging about themselves. If we hold dear what our mothers taught us, we might never find a job - because we would forever be imagining ourselves as less qualified than the next guy or gal.

Since you are the right person for the job, however, the rules can be bent. During the job search, the motto is this: It's okay to boast as long as you have something to boast about. Still feel like you don't have anything much to talk about? You are not alone.

But you are mistaken: Like most people, you have hundreds of skills. How can this be? You never learned how to boast, to explain the myriad skills you have or to express your own aptitude to others.

The fact is, you probably take for granted many things you do well that others would find hard or even impossible to do. That is what sets you apart from others and makes you valuable to prospective employers.

A note on skills vs. duties...Many people find it difficult to distinguish their skills from their duties. Duties are the basic functions of an activity, while skills are the tools by which one accomplishes those functions. Duties or functions are part of any organized activity, whether it is work or play.

A simple way to illustrate the difference between duties and skills is to consider the management of a lemonade stand. The basic duties of a lemonade stand owner might be: "To manage lemonade operations, including marketing, distribution and finances."

There are many skills he or she might need to carry out these functions. Some examples of those skills are: mixing, measuring, planning, sales, customer service, writing, cash handling, record keeping, maintenance, timeliness, dependability, accuracy, and motivation. A complete list of skills would be very long, but the important point to remember is that it takes a number of skills to accomplish even the most simple duties or functions.

Developing Your Skills Language

In order to identify your skills, you must know where to look for them. There are three areas that you should inquire into: previous jobs, personal traits and specific talents. Each area corresponds to a particular type of skill.

Job-Related Skills. These are the skills you need to do a specific job, and the ones you have developed in or for past jobs. An auto mechanic, for example, needs to know how to tune engines, repair brakes and use a variety of tools. These are all skills that he or she would need to repair cars. They are job-related skills, and most people think of job skills when they are asked what kind of skills they have.
Adaptive Skills or Self-Management Skills. These skills can also be defined as personality traits or personal characteristics. Such skills are those that you use day by day to get along with others or to adjust to a particular situation. They are skills that make you unique. For example, honesty and enthusiasm are traits that employers look for in a good worker, as evidence of how he or she will "fit" into the organization. While many job seekers do not emphasize these skills in Resumés, employers look for them.
Transferable Skills. These are skills that can transfer from one job or occupation to another. Because most people do not find jobs identical to their previous ones, it is important to determine how your skills transfer into other opportunities. Writing clearly and the ability to organize things are two examples of transferable skills that you can employ in almost any work situation.

Transferable skills generally fall into five categories:

Communication: the skillful expression, transmission and interpretation of knowledge and ideas
Research and Planning: the search for specific knowledge and the ability to conceptualize future needs and to devise solutions for meeting those needs
Human Relations: the use of interpersonal skills for resolving conflict, helping and relating to people
Organization, Management and Leadership: the ability to supervise, direct and guide individuals and groups in the completion of tasks and fulfillment of goals
Work Survival: the day-to-day skills that assist in promoting effective production and work satisfaction

Targeting Your Resumé

Writing Your Objective or Career Summary

First of all, targeting your Resumé to an employer requires absolute clarity as to the direction in which you want to take your career. You could start by naming the position you intend to pursue. However, simply listing the title of the job you're seeking can be risky. There are over 20,000 job titles in use today-far too many for you or anyone else to really know well. Every work environment is different. You might be delighted to work in one place and entirely miserable working in another. Both situations could look very much the same. They could even have the same job title. This is why you should include an Objective or a Career Summary at the beginning of your Resumé. You want employers to know from the outset what you want to do, as well as what you want to prove you're qualified to do. A focused and well written Objective or Career Summary should convey a powerful message to employers-that there is a perfect "fit" between you and their organization.

If you're making a career change or are a recent graduate, use an Objective...An Objective should include information on the type of position you seek and the most compelling qualities, abilities or accomplishments that will make you stand out from the other applicants. Here are the basic formulae:

OBJECTIVE: "To secure X position in an organization where Y and Z skills would be utilized."

OBJECTIVE: "To secure a position in X in which I may employ Y and Z."

The point of using an Objective is to create a psychological response in an employer by getting him or her to immediately focus on where you're going with your career, rather than where you have (or have not) been.

If you're looking for a new job in the same field, use a Career Summary...A Career Summary highlights your background and provides a brief overview of your most important qualifications, skills and/or professional experience. Here's the basic formula:

CAREER SUMMARY:

A short phrase describing your profession
Two or three additional statements relating to:
the breadth or depth of your skills
the unique combination of skills you possess
your innovative approach to the work
the range of environments in which you have experience
your history of awards, promotions or commendations
your special or well-documented accomplishments in the field
A sentence describing your professional objective or interest

Choosing the Right Resumé Format for You

Resumé format refers not to the design or look of your Resumé but to how you organize and emphasize the information you use to back-up your Objective or Career Summary. It is important to choose a Resumé format that will best suit your individual background. The idea is to format your Resumé in a way that best presents you-your skills, personal traits and work experience-to a prospective employer.

There are three basic types of Resumés: Chronological, Functional and Combination.

The chronological format gives a job-by-job retelling of your experience. It's the traditional favourite of employers because it reads quickly and enables them to spot flaws easily. The skills-based functional format emphasizes what you can do rather than what you have done and where you did it. Finally, the combination format merges skills summaries with job histories, which allows job seekers to place their most marketable skills and experiences at the forefront of their Resumés.

The Chronological Resumé cites your employment history in reverse chronological order, from your most recent position back. It shows dates as well as employers and educational institutions (college, vocational/technical schools and career-oriented programs or courses). This is an up-front format: It demonstrates exactly how and where your career has progressed, underscoring continuity from job to job.

Who Should Write a Chronological Resumé?