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Anatomy of an Interview Winning Resume

June 26 2016 nfougere Resume Writing 0 comments Tags: How to write a resume, resume writing, Resume Writing Tips

Your resume is your main marketing material for your job search and the purpose of your resume is to land the interview. As such, it is important that you optimize your resume making the best use of each element of your resume.

Elements of Your Resume

Name, Address, Telephone, and email

This should appear at the top of each page of your resume. It ensures that the reader knows who you are and how to contact you. If the pages of your resume get separated, having your name on the top of each page will enable the reviewer to find each page. In addition, do not put this in the header of your resume. Not all recruitment systems can read headers. Here are a few other tips for this section:
- Be sure to include your postal code (or zip code) with your address. Recruiters sometimes conduct proximity searches for candidates, which is typically done vis-à-vis your postal/zip code.
- Have a professional sounding outgoing voice mail message.
- Ensure you have a professional email address. It is best not to use a work email (unless applying to a role internal to your organization). Some job seekers find it useful to set up a separate email address for their job search as this can help organizing your job search correspondence.
Professional Profile

This should be a 3-4 line summary of your experience, tailored to the role, and highlighting your experience. I recommend not using an objective as it suggests that you are highlighting what you are looking for. Keep in mind, the employer is more interested in what skills and experience you bring to the table. As such, a professional profile (or summary) can highlight this. In a previous blog post, I highlight how to tailor this section of your resume.
Accomplishments or Technical Skills

If you have 5 or more years of experience, list your top 2-3 accomplishments as it relates to the role. For people in technical fields, such as IT or engineering, you can list your top technical skills instead of your accomplishments. Either way, this section should be tailored to the role.
Experience

This is the meat of your resume and should ideally begin on the first page of your resume. Your experience should be listed in reverse chronological order. Each role should begin with the name of the organization, your job title, and the dates (month and year) you were in the role. Additionally, if the role was a contract position, be sure to make note of that after your job title. In this section, provide a high-level list of relevant core duties/responsibilities, ensuring that you begin each statement with an action word. Again, this section should be tailored to the role to which you are applying. Finally, be sure to include any relevant accomplishments you’ve achieved while in the role. Not only will this highlight your experience, but it will also demonstrate that you’ve performed well.
Education

If you are a new grad, you may want to move this section immediately below your professional profile. Otherwise, keep this section under your experience. Be sure to include your formal education, institution attended, date graduated, and any area of specialization. Finally, you may also want to include any relevant professional development courses you’ve taken. Again, be sure to streamline these because the education section can become too lengthy otherwise.
Volunteer Experience

Highlight any volunteer work you have done. While your work experience is the meat of the resume, your volunteer experience can highlight additional skills that you can bring to the role. In addition, if you have political volunteer experience, it is best to make this section as generic as possible as this may create an unfair bias. (Noted exception: Australia, where political affiliation is a protected ground element).
Additional Skills

Highlight any language skills that you didn’t call out in your professional summary. In addition, you can mention any extra-curricular activities in which you are involved. Again, be sure to streamline this section so that it remains relevant and professional.

Final Thought

From time to time, I will see resumes that end with “References Available upon Request.” Although this was popular 20+ years ago, it is no longer necessary. In other words, it goes without saying, so there is no need to say it. Further, it takes up space on the resume, which could otherwise be used for more relevant information.

Having a job-specific, and clearly laid out resume that highlights your skills and accomplishments, is essential for getting the interview. With these tips, you should be well on your way to having a resume that will get noticed.

If you have additional tips, I would love to hear from you. Finally, for personalized advice, feel free to check out the services section here.

Until next time, happy hunting!

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How to Tailor your Resume

May 26 2016 nfougere Resume Writing 0 comments Tags: resume writing, Resume Writing Tips, Tailor your Resume

As a best practice, you should tailor your resume to each role for which you apply. One critical area of a resume that I see get overlooked time and time again is the professional summary, which usually appears at the top of a resume.

There is a marketing concept called above the fold. Think of a newspaper. Newspapers consist of very large sheets of paper which are neatly put together and then folded in half. The headline for the newspaper – which is the “hook” and what compels readers to buy the newspaper – is found at the top of the front page of the newspaper. In other words, it is found above the fold. Using this analogy, think of your resume in the same way. The top ½ – ⅔ of your resume is the most important piece of real estate on your resume. This is the above the fold section. As such, the information found here, such as your Professional Summary, must be tailored to the role.

It is important to include keywords from the job description truthfully throughout your resume, as discussed in a previous blog post. That said, if your relevant experience doesn’t appear until the second page of your resume, then likely it will be overlooked. As an example, say that you are a Human Resources professional and you have experience in both unionized and non-unionized environments. You are applying to two roles – one in a union and one in a non-union environment. If your professional profile doesn’t highlight your union environment experience and your unionized experience doesn’t appear until the second page of your resume, then it may get overlooked for the union role. It won’t likely make a difference for the non-union role. On the other hand, if your professional profile highlights your union experience, then it will be great for the union role, but it may not make a difference for the non-union role. You also run the risk of not optimizing your ‘above the fold’ space for the non-union role.

For most roles, a recruiter will receive anywhere from 250 – 500 resumes (or more) for each role they manage. The recruiter will try to speak with the top 10-15 candidates (maximum) – or top 2-5%. The chances that 10 other, equally qualified candidates will have their resume optimized (and in some cases professionally written) for the role you’re applying to is very high. If your resume isn’t optimized, then it may not get a second look.

If you have any questions about this or any other job search topic, please feel free to leave them in the comments below. If you have any questions, video ideas, or would like to collaborate, please feel free to contact me directly. For personalized advice, click here for a list of services.

In the meantime: Happy Hunting!

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The Truth Behind Functional Resumes

May 12 2016 nfougere Resume Writing 0 comments Tags: Chronological Resume, Functional Resume, resume writing, Resume Writing Tips

I have received a number of questions and comments about how to write a functional resume and if one should be used when applying for jobs. To begin, let’s look at different resume formats.

Resume Formats

The most common resume format is chronological. As many of us are aware, a chronological resume would outline your professional profile or summary at the top, followed by a chronological listing of the positions you’ve held, companies with which you’ve worked, when you worked there, your duties, and your achievements. The emphasis of the chronological resume is on your experience and achievements.

The functional resume, on the other hand, would highlight your professional profile or summary at the top, followed by more detail around your relevant skills, then a detailed list of your relevant key accomplishments. The bottom of the functional resume is where your list of previous roles and companies would be found. The emphasis of the functional resume is on your transferrable skills as opposed to your experience. As such, they are more commonly used by people who:

Have large gaps in employment,
Have made frequent job changes,
Are changing careers, or
Are new to the job market.

Which Resume Format Should I Use?

Functional resumes were very popular when I started recruiting in the 1990’s but have since fallen out of fashion – mainly because they are ineffective in landing an interview. There are 3 key reasons for this:

Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are unable to read and assimilate the information on functional resumes. With the prevalence of ATS systems, it is critical that you have a resume that is in a readable format. If the ATS can’t read your resume, it will not rank well among the other applications. For more information on how these systems work, you can view my previous blog here.
Functional resumes raise doubt. Because chronological resumes are so prevalent, when an employer sees a functional resume it raises suspicion. Employers are well aware of the common uses of a functional resume, and as such, a red flag tends to go up when they see one.
Functional resumes are harder to read. The layout of a chronological resume provides the employer with a greater sense of how you have progressed and grown throughout your career. A functional resume requires the employer to figure out your career story on their own. In the time-strapped world that we live in, the employer is unlikely to work that hard to determine whether or not you are the best fit – especially when there are hundreds of other resumes and candidates from which they can choose.

As an alternative, I would recommend using a hybrid or combination resume. The combination resume would have the same layout as a chronological resume, but instead of focusing on your job duties you would highlight your skills and accomplishments. You can add more context around how your skills positively impacted the organization, department, or your team. If you have gaps in employment, you can include the volunteer positions you’ve held and the skills you developed in those positions. Perhaps you were a stay at home parent for an extended period of time. You can highlight your budgeting, organization, and conflict resolution skills that you would have developed.

In extreme cases (such as extended illness), you can use your functional resume. You may need to rely more heavily on leveraging other job search strategies (such as networking and working with recruitment agencies) to increase your chances of being considered.

Final Thoughts

I recommend using a chronological resume when applying to jobs. If a chronological resume does not fully capture your skills, however, try using a combination resume. By blending the transferrable skills emphasis of a functional resume with the layout of a chronological resume, you will be better able to position your skills in a way that is palatable for the employer (and their ATS systems).

Your resume is a key piece of your marketing material for your job search. This is the first impression that an employer will have of you and your skills, and as the saying goes: “You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.”

If you have any additional insights on using a functional resume or have any other questions, please leave a comment below. Also, if you would like personalized advice, please feel free to contact me directly.

Happy Hunting!

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How to Optimize your Resume for Recruitment Systems

March 31 2016 nfougere Resume Writing 0 comments Tags: How to write a resume, Job Search, recruitment systems, resume screening, resume writing, Resume Writing Tips

Recruitment systems – also known as Applicant Tracking Systems, or ATS – are the databases that recruiters use to post jobs and receive resumes. They are relational databases, which means that they are able to recognize relationships between sets of data. In this case, an ATS is able to detect relationships between the job ad and your resume.

Let’s walk through how this works:

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It is also important to note that ATS systems are computer systems after all. As such, your resume format must be readable. Here are a few tips for writing your resume to ensure that it doesn’t get immediately rejected by the ATS:

Use the Keywords from the job ad throughout your resume.
Use proper spelling and grammar.
Don’t put your contact details in the header – most ATS systems cannot read information in the header of a document.
Don’t use graphs, charts, or images – the ATS won’t be able to read this information and will assume it is “garbage.”
Don’t use fancy fonts – again, we need to ensure the ATS can read your resume.
Use standard resume formatting – this makes your resume much more readable to an ATS.

Given that over 90% of large companies, and 60% of medium companies use Applicant Tracking Systems, it is more important than ever that you ensure that your resume is ATS friendly.

For help on writing an ATS-friendly resume, check out our Resume Writing services by clicking here.