Unbeatable Resumes (5 page)

Don't let anyone try to convince you to use any kind of format other than a chronological one. And always use a
reverse
chronological format. That is, you list your present or your most recent job first, and then work backwards. You state the name of the company you work for or have worked for and the dates of your employment—month and year. Then you describe, in detail, what your job function was and how well you performed—again, in terms a high school senior could understand. You don't even have to use full sentences (e.g., you can begin statements with verbs). And each statement should not begin with “I.” Just make sure that what you write is short, to the point, and easily understood.

A paragraph format works well. Bulleted lists also work well, as long as they highlight the important points. Bullet points without a descriptive paragraph don't seem to be as effective, though. And too many bullet points can become tedious and make your résumé too long.

Technology has altered the way we read, and so bullet points are common and expected. Quite a few studies have documented how the Internet has changed us from a culture of written media to one of visual media. So bullet points—even bulleted sentences, paragraphs, or short paragraphs—are visual aids for getting the reader's attention.

The bullet points have to communicate
specific, meaningful performance qualities
or else they won't work. After the first few bullet points are read, the rest will be ignored unless there's substantive information given. So, use bullet points to convey information that is:

Specific

Meaningful

Performance based

This seems like a simple concept, but it
isn't that easy to do
. As you will see in the “résumé makeover” section (
Chapter 5
), many people include fluffy, meaningless material in the body of their résumés. To weed out the fluff, you will have to think, write, and rewrite—many times. Keep what you write simple, but specific and powerful. Remember, you're trying to get the reader to interview you, based on what you say you've done and how successful you say you've been.

Functional/accomplishment résumés are, unfortunately, rather popular. Instead of a reverse chronological listing of prior employment, these list all of the functions a person has fulfilled, and often their accomplishments, in the body of the résumé, without relating them to particular jobs. In fact, most often the functions and accomplishments section takes up the vast majority of space on the résumé. Then, at the very bottom of the document, the companies a person has worked for are listed. (See an example of one of these in
Chapter 5
.)

Using a functional format immediately communicates that you are trying to cover up something—too many jobs, gaps in your work history, or something else that a chronological format would expose. As a result, a functional/accomplishment format communicates distrust and deception. And with hiring authorities receiving scores of résumés, they quickly look for reasons to weed some out. Most of the time they just reject functional/accomplishment résumés without further review.

Another problem with this format is that, while it communicates what you did and how well you did it, it doesn't do so within the context of
when, where
, and
with whom
. Whoever reads the résumé can't associate the accomplishments with particular jobs or companies, and so the information is viewed as useless. (As mentioned in
Chapter 3
, the hiring authorities in our survey didn't like them, either.)

Here are some statements of accomplishments that appeared on a résumé I recently received. See if you can figure out what these statements mean:

5-year average of 85% overall CSAT, 94% billable utilization, 97% burn rate while maintaining a 40% up-sell average

Ranked among the top five account executives, receiving national achievement for attaining goal; promoted

These statements are meaningless because they exist totally out of context. Not only do the readers have a problem associating the functions with the time and place of employment, but they also have no idea of how the functions and accomplishments relate to what the companies do.

Some résumé services advise people to use a functional résumé if they are reentering the workforce, leaving the military, pursuing a different job function, or are seeking their first job. In these instances, it is possible that a functional résumé may get read. But they will be more likely to get attention when our economy is booming and when there are only a few candidates for the jobs available. For now, when there are too many résumés for each job opportunity, stick to the reverse chronological format.

Starting with your most recent position, write the times of your employment clearly, including both month and year. Do this for every job that you've had for at least the past fifteen years. Dates, companies, and functions dating back more than fifteen years can be consolidated.

If you've been out of work for more than three or four months, or have been between jobs more than twice, record just the years and omit the months. Be aware that hiring authorities may draw unflattering conclusions about your using just the years and you run the risk of being passed over, but putting down the specifics is more likely to call attention to the gap and get you eliminated from consideration.

If you have changed jobs within the same firm, don't list each job separately, as though you had changed companies. Often, résumé readers simply look at the dates of employment; if they see a one-year
stint followed by another year's stint, followed by yet another one-year stint, they may consider you as having had too many jobs. So, if you've had a number of promotions or different jobs with the same company, put the comprehensive dates next to the company name. Then, you can list the dates next to each position within the company, detailing the titles or duties.

Write the complete names of the companies you have worked for. If a company's name would not be easily recognized, also state what it does. If you work for a company whose business is not extremely well known, many résumé readers will dismiss your résumé simply because they aren't familiar with the company!

The point is that you need to be certain the person reading the résumé understands who you have worked for and what that business entails. Even if you worked for a large, well-recognized organization, it doesn't hurt to name and briefly describe the division as well. For example, stating that you worked for IBM is meaningless unless you name the division or group, as well as what you've done.

You list your job title after the name of the company. If it is not clear from the title exactly what you did, or if the title is in any way confusing, change it to something more consistent with the industry or to a title people might recognize more readily. If you have an oddball title but, for whatever reason, you feel you must use it, put it in parentheses, next to the traditional title. For example, your title of Client Advocate might actually be the same as Customer Service Representative or Account Executive elsewhere. You be the judge, but remember that you want to convey the function of your job at that company.

Titles can be confusing. There are lots of VPs, for example, who are really just sales reps. They are told to use the VP title to help get them in the door of a potential customer. The same goes for Regional Manager, Director, and similar titles. A hiring authority looking for a Salesperson will often immediately dismiss the résumé, thinking
I'm
not looking for a VP or Director; I'm looking for a Salesperson!
So, tailor your title, if necessary, to fit the category of work that the hiring authority will recognize.

After you've listed the date and title for each job you've had, describe in three or four sentences exactly what you did there. Use language a high school senior would understand, keeping it simple and clear. You may want to devote more space in the résumé to your recent jobs, especially ones that are more applicable to the position you are applying for. However, if you've been in your current position for only one year and have spent fifteen years in your previous position, hiring authorities will likely be more interested in the previous fifteen years than in your past year. The longer you have worked in an organization and the more recent your experience, the more detail you need to provide.

Some people leave information on their education for the end of the résumé, while others put it at the beginning. Baccalaureate degrees, especially if you graduated with high honors from a prestigious school, may be worth putting at the beginning. In the business environment, advanced degrees from prestigious schools should probably be noted as well. If you're listing your degrees on the résumé, always include the dates you received them.