How to Structure Your Resume For Success
Your resume is your introduction to a potential employer. It is the number one vehicle in job search that showcases your skills, experience and achievements. It is an opportunity for the job seeker to share their career journey and express how their work experience aligns with the needs of the employer. Yet, writing an effective resume can be a challenge because a resume is not just an account of your work history, it must be written in a manner that gets the attention of the Hiring Manager.
The good news is that as much as the world of work has changed, what has stayed the same are the core principles of what should be included in your resume. In this blog, we will review a number of timeless categories that will surely capture the attention of the Hiring Manager.
Contact Information: Please! Check and make sure your contact information is correct. So much time is spent on creating the content of your resume, that the job seeker can overlook updating their information. Your contact information need not include your full address with zip code; however, should include your full name, city and state along with a telephone number where you can be reached. For your email address, it is best to have an address that reflects your name versus a "cutie" email, or your school or work email. It is also advisable to include a LinkedIn address that has been tailored to simply reflect your name.
Summary Statement: A Summary Statement is an opportunity to express to the reader your capabilities. It should be brief, informative and entice the reader to want to read more about you, specifically, how you developed and utilized the skills and experience you state that you have. The Summary Statement can be an optional category on a resume; however, when written, can provide to the reader a powerful overview of how your skills and experience may be a match to the employer’s needs.
Core Competencies: A list of your core competencies can be included with the Summary Statement or can be a standalone category on the resume. This list of competencies should align your skills to the needs of the employer and to today's job market. This is the list that gets you through the automated system and in front of the Hiring Manager! Your list of competencies should be positioned upfront on your resume so that they can be easily found and viewed.
Selected Accomplishments: This category can be added to your resume when you want to highlight specific achievements that may have been accomplished earlier in your career, but possibly buried on page two should you have a two-page resume. This category helps showcase all relative accomplishments in order to better connect your abilities to the employer's needs.
WORK EXPERIENCE - This category is made up of two types of statements.
Responsibility Statement: Under each of your job titles, write a brief description of your primary tasks. Keep to two to three sentences and remember to start each sentence with an action word. Also, be mindful of the tense. Meaning, if you are no longer in the role, use the past tense when describing your job function.
Accomplishment Statement: Accomplishment Statements tell the story of how you perform at work, and are listed under the responsibility statements. They go beyond simply stating job responsibilities. When writing an Accomplishment Statement, the job seeker must think about the outcome of their work to arrive at an accomplishment. You must think about ACTIONS you have taken at work that have led to quantitative (when possible) RESULTS, or even actions that have been acknowledged by company Awards. Keep the statement brief and place the Accomplishment Statement alongside a bullet point. Here is an example of an Accomplishment Statement: "Streamlined the customer service response, improving customer satisfaction by 10%." versus "Involved in the improvement of customer satisfaction".
Education/Training: State the name of the institution, city and state and dates you graduated and/or received a training certification. Note: Dates alongside education are optional, especially if the graduation dates are beyond 15 years. And, if you are currently pursuing education or training, you may list this on your resume; however, you must list: "in progress".
Additional Timeless Categories: When relevant, additional categories include Community Service and Military Service.
CONCLUSION: Creating a resume requires a strategic approach and careful consideration to how you are communicating your value to the employer. Your resume must be easy to read, clear and concise, connecting the employer's needs to your skills and abilities. By incorporating these timeless tips into your resume, you can feel confident that your resume will have all the elements needed to help secure that interview!