TIPS ON
HOW TO PREPARE
AN EFFECTIVE RESUME AND
ESTIMATE YOUR CHANCES
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OF
GETTING THE JOB YOU REALLY WANT
JOBS, JOBS, JOBS!! ARE THERE
ANY???
The situation in today's job
market shows that the well known career formula:
secondary/post-secondary education = guaranteed 9 to 5 well-paid
job for life has become obsolete. The good old days of certainty
and stability are long gone.
Those who found themselves unemployed due
to economic changes tend to blame the government and new
technology for their misfortunes. In the 1990 ies we have
witnessed a transition into the age of computer
technology. But unfortunately many people are not prepared
to deal with the new changes.
In the 1960 ies or 1970 ies many employers were
looking for employees with a "programmable
robotic" attitude, people who followed their orders
promptly. Those, who knew how to do it
"properly" were usually able to secure their jobs
until retirement. If we were to compare any giant company
with a powerful corporate mechanism to a big machine with
many interchangeable parts that possess no intelligence,
the employees of a corporation would be equivalent to the
interchangeable parts. In those days things looked simpler and
employment criterias were different. Now that
computer took over the jobs of these so-called
"robotic" employees, human resource managers
have changed their hiring criteria. Today, many employers
look for the individuals with a "ME Inc." attitude,
willing to take initiatives and accept responsibilities of
a challenging working environment as well as to
respond immediately to any new changes in the economy and
implement them in their workplace. In other words
employers tell their potential employees: "Do not
just tell me what you have to offer. Tell me how you
and your credentials will assist you in meeting my expectations
and the challenges that our business faces in our
ever-changing economy."
This may be illustrated in a very simple argument. Each
argument contains at least two premises and
conclusion. The smaller gap (or bigger the degree of
relevancy) between the premises, the stronger your
argument you will create.
PREMISE 1:
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PREMISE 2:
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CONCLUSION:
We will now reverse the order since your employer has already
established your conclusion by defining what he/she wants.
In other words your employer has established the job
requirements and you are now trying to tell him how you can
satisfy his/her requirements or meet his expectations. Your
potential employer has established THE
CONCLUSION: "We are looking for a candidate who
possesses A, B, C, D, K, X, Y, Z qualifications, has
extensive marketing experience and excellent communication
skills, etc.
You now have to come up with the premises:
PREMISE 1:
"I have A, B, C, D, K, X, Y, Z qualifications."
PREMISE 2:
"I have extensive marketing experience and excellent
communication skills communication skills etc."
Therefore I believe
I suit your needs.
This is an example of "perfect argument" where there
is no gaps between its premises.
This is very rarely to occur. You might know some individuals
who do not have all of the necessary experience and
qualifications but are getting hired. You may say to
yourself "I do have the right work attitude, I
believe I am qualified to perform well at the jobs that I am
applying for. I have sent over 1000 resumes and I
still cannot get the interview for the job that I would
enjoy. What is wrong?".
Well, there are
several factors that may work against you. Here are some
of them.
1. You may be overqualified for the
position and your potential employers may think that they will
have to pay you more than they can afford.
2. The position has been already taken by
someone else from the company or the department, but Human
Resources manager, having to follow the company policy, has
advertised this particular position outside the company.
3. You may be little
under qualified, but the worst.... your resume does not
display to your potential employer that you nevertheless
do have most of the knowledge, professional
qualifications, skills or abilities required by the job.
You may not have a doubt that you qualify, but your
potential employers have no way of knowing that.
Quite often, your future employer does not have a lot of time to
spend on looking at your case, and since he/she cannot
read your mind, the first, and perhaps the only thing that
he/she will pay most attention to is your resume. Having
taken a close look at your credentials, a qualified Human
Resources Officer will not only study and analyze the contents
of your resume, but will also try to get a sense of what
kind of person you are and with what confidence and in what
style you evaluate your achievements. The following
explains how to put together a resume that will increase your
chances of getting the job you want.
We should start with
the basics by asking ourselves what a resume or a C V.
is? One of the dictionaries defines this word as
follows:
"A
summary of employment experience and personal information
submitted with a job application."
You may think that this is nothing new to
you. You may be right. Resume is nothing else than just a
small book about yourself. Its purpose is to indirectly
introduce you to a stranger and to tell him/her what you want
him/her to know about you.
Now, imagine yourself going to a bookstore
and wanting to find a book that suits a particular interest that
you may have. There are often hundreds of books to choose from,
but you only want one that will best respond to your
needs. So how do you find the one without having to read
them all in order to make the best judgment? You
automatically look at the table of contents or at the
summary on the cover. At some point you learn whether this
is a science fiction or true story or whether this book is
intended for adults or children. You are also considering
factors such as appearance, usefulness of the information, the
approach taken, its benefits and advantages over other books you
have just looked at as well as the price. Getting the best
value for your money seems like the natural thing to do.
Now try to compare your potential employer
to yourself in the bookstore. Imagine him/her going through
about two hundred resumes as you are going through many of
books. Initially he or she pays attention to the appearance of
each resume. Keep in mind that a lot of people stick with the
theory that your resume represents you and its appearance shows
how much you care for the job. Your future employer knows that
if hired, you are going to be representing his/her company in
the competitive world and will be contributing to creating
the company's image before its potential clients. Before
preparing your resume, you may want to stop and think about the
kind of first impression you want to create. After all,
you do not have a second chance to create your first impression.
Secondly, the hiring party will be
examining the usefulness of the information in your
resume. He or she will try to single out the points
that match the required criteria in order to find out whether
your credentials, satisfy his/her needs. At this point,
the resumes of qualified candidates will be separated from the
"inadequate ones". He/she cannot establish whether or
not you are qualified without your r?sum?'s indications.
From our own experience we found out that often people
with very well written resumes yet not fully qualified stand
better chances of getting the interview than those that
are qualified or even overqualified who submitted poorly written
resumes.
Ask yourself a question "Is my resume telling my potential
employer that I definitely do meet his requirements or does it
just show what I have to offer which sometimes may not
indicate that I am qualified for the job?"
Now let us use the points mentioned
earlier to better explain the purpose of your resume. You
already know that your resume should:
1. Be distinct and
create a lasting impression (so that its appearance draws the
attention of your prospective employer).
2. In a few brief
statements, display which of your characteristics will reinforce
your credentials (or the lack of) and give you an
"edge".
3. Make it
seem logical to your potential employer(s) that you can satisfy
his/her requirements and that you are qualified for the
advertised job.
4. Be simple
as far as it being the guide to getting to know you.
YOU MAY NOW PROCEED WITH
THE PREPARATION OF YOUR RESUME
Part 1. 0.
Your Knowledge Skills and Abilities.
If judging from your "Knowledge,
Skills and Abilities" /("Professional Qualifications,
Skills and Abilities") or "table of
contents" and "cover page" your
potential employer considers you a qualified candidate, he/she
will proceed on to determining how your qualifications and work
experience relates to his/her requirements. He/she will
want to know whether you have the necessary work experience,
appropriate education, whether you are a leader or a follower,
how likely you are to take initiative and how far you are
willing to go in order to assure that the corporate goals are
achieved. This issue brings us to another 5 topics, which
should assist your employer in finding in detail what he or she
needs to know about you.
PART 2. 0.
Work experience or (employment history)
This topic should help your employer to
determine that you have the work experience he/she
is looking for. In this paragraph you should outline your duties
and responsibilities in each place of your previous
employment. If you have had a chance to take on additional
responsibilities during your present or past employment,
you may outline these in an additional sub-paragraph
"Professional achievements".
In general, most employers are interested
in staff that likes to take initiative, who possess leadership
qualities, who is a "go-getter" and capable of working
well even under pressure, as well as in those who can think
critically and who is reliable in emergency situations.
Such criteria is extremely important when applying for
management or supervisory, customer service or marketing
positions.
It is important to mention such qualities if you are applying
for a position within the company where you are presently
working. It may grant you a preference over the
"outside" candidates.
If you are a medical professional or research scientist
you may list your professional achievements briefly describing
the nature of your work and the objectives of your
project. It all depends on each individual case and the
level of relevancy to the requirements of your future
employer. You may list your achievements under an
additional sub-heading "Professional
Achievements". If you have many important
professional achievements you may list them on a separate
page.
PART 3.0. Education
This topic should outline your education.
If you have taken additional courses offered by your
current or past employers, outline them under a
sub-paragraph "Additional courses taken". This may
serve as an indicator that you are developing your credentials
and are likely to learn and implement new ideas in your future
place of employment. In this sub-paragraph you may list
your certifications, professional designations etc.
PART 4.0. Membership
in professional organizations
If you are a professional such as a
medical doctor, lawyer, or a professional engineer, you
should mention your membership in a professional
organization, especially if you were certified by that
particular organization.
PART 5.0. Community
involvement, interest and activities
In this paragraph, you may outline your membership in your
community organizations.
You may think that this is not important at all. In some cases
it may not be as important as it is in others.
It all depends on the position you are applying for. It is
more important if you are applying for a marketing or
sales position in large corporation or a dealership.
Sales and marketing positions require a lot of public relations
work in order to attract potential customers. Your
lack of activity in your community may lead your employer
to a conclusion that you do not have public relations
skills that are considered to be a part of your future
job. If you are a dynamic individual and an active community
member, people will tend to like your personality;
your potential employer may suppose that eventually your
community members will become your clients as they will be
buying "you" and your public relations along with the
service or the product of the company.
PART 6. References
There are two types
of references:
6.1. Professional
references
Professional references are used to
identify individual's knowledge skills and abilities and
are obtained from your current or past employer(s), individuals
or companies who worked with you or have used your
services or purchased your products.
6.2. Character
references.
Character references are used to identify
individual's character, attitude, community involvement,
honesty, etc. If you are applying for the positions in the
area of social work, teaching, customer service, sales or
marketing, your future employer may be examining more closely
these references.
In most cases we suggest that our clients
obtain two professional and one character
references. Please note that some employers will not want
to contact your references simply because they know that
you will not use as your reference someone who does not
like you. Instead they may simply contact your present or
former employers. You may choose to use your
present or past employers for our professional and character
references.
There are basically
two types of resumes:
1. General resumes
2. Resumes that are directed to specific
jobs
1. General resumes are intended to outline
all of your qualification and they are prepared for the
individuals who are sending their resumes to various companies
and organizations or placing them on several web sites of the
employment agencies. General resumes provide comprehensive
information about the individual as well as outline all of
his/her qualifications.
When preparing a general resume you may
want to include an additional point that outlines your objective
before the section "Professional qualifications,
knowledge, skills and abilities". This point is known
as a "CAREER OBJECTIVE". This topic should also
co-relate to the next topic of your resume in order to bring to
your future employer's attention your knowledge skills and
abilities.
2. Custom made resumes or resumes that are
directed to a specific jobs
By preparing a resume of this type, the candidate must have a
job posting that he/she may use to emphasize on meeting
the requirements of the advertised position. These resumes are
ideal when you know the company and your future job
description, duties and responsibilities as well as
qualifications needed to get the position.
YOUR COVER LETTER
When preparing this type of resume you may
also want to submit a cover letter with your
resume at the time of submission. Your cover letter
should always help you to create that first lasting impression
of you in the mind of your future employer. Cover letters are
mend to show that you are interested in the advertised
position, introduce you in a very brief and short form to
your future employer, explain your qualifications and encourage
him/her to call you for a personal interview. This
letter should include the following information:
1. Your name and address
2. Date
3. Company's name and person representing
Human Resources department (if available).
4. The position you are applying for,
including competition number (if any).
5. A brief explanation telling your
employer how you can satisfy his/her requirements and convince
him/her to invite you for a personal interview. It should be
fairly straightforward, short and simple.
You may find it more effective to compose
this information into three main paragraphs:
1. A brief introduction and information
about yourself.
2. An attempt to show your future employer why you believe that
you should be considered for this position and how your
qualifications meet the requirements of your future job.
3. A conclusion where in a pleasant yet persistent way you are
requesting a personal interview to discuss your
qualifications. At this point you probably know what is
needed to put together a successful resume and the purpose
it should serve. Of course, during a personal interview, you
should be ready to elaborate on whatever you have stated in your
resume. Many employers may ask you to undertake
skill tests, or verify your knowledge of certain computer
programs. Even if you will not get the job, we always
suggest asking the department of Human Resources to review with
your interviewing officer the reasons for the
rejection. This will help you to identify possible
failures and correct your mistakes in the future. You may
ask for your resume to be referred to another department of the
same company, and although you may not get the job that you are
expecting, you may be giving yourself a chance to look for
another job within this particular company. By doing so,
you may temporarily accept a "second-best" position
and in the meanwhile gain the reputation that will later help
you get the desired position. At this point, we hope you have a
better idea on how to prepare your resume.
Also, when looking for a job, you may want to explore the option
of conducting your job search on the Internet. Today, because of
a wider exposure and better communication many employers prefer
to advertise job openings via Internet. By placing
their ads onto their web sites they eliminate computer
illiterate candidates.
Conducting your job search on
the Internet is one of the best ways of exploring job
opportunities in your area of expertise. However, we suggest
that you should always verify "bona fides" of the
company where you submit your resume. We recommend to use our ON-LINE
JOB SEARCH PAGE (CLICK HERE).
We trust that you will find the above
information useful and we hope that it will assist you in
the process of preparation of your resume and in the
achievement of successful results.
We realize that some individuals may require our assistance in
preparing their resumes or may have some questions. If this is
the case, please do not hesitate to contact us.
If you
would like us to prepare your resume or require our assistance
with the review of your existing resume and customizing it
according to your future job requirements, please go to
our on-line "QUESTIONNAIRE/ASSESSMENT
FORM".
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