| Resumes have been around for quite some time, but | | | | employee skill and employer need. These sections are |
| tend to change from periods of relative job | | | | proving the generalities laid out in the summary, using |
| abundance to periods of relative job scarcity. | | | | the terminology and tone of the job listing sparingly. |
| What is a resume? | | | | How to write for emotional impact |
| Generally speaking, a resume bridges the divide | | | | A resume should sell a story, and should create a |
| between the needs of an employer, and the skills of | | | | vivid picture in a hiring manager's mind. This happens |
| a job applicant. Think about these two concepts as | | | | by writing resumes in a specific way, call Situation, |
| circles - ideally, a resume can show where those two | | | | Action, Result, and comes in handy particularly for |
| areas overlap, as in a venn diagram. This is the larger | | | | describing previous employment. The situation is what |
| concept of a resume, and hopefully it will help resume | | | | situation the employee found themselves in. Usually |
| authors think in terms of an employer's need - this | | | | this is implied. Action is what action was taken, and |
| skill transfers as well to the job interview. A job | | | | result is the positive benefit of the employee's action. |
| applicant cannot sell anything until s/he understands | | | | Result is extremely important, and a well-written |
| the employer's need. A job applicant has to listen and | | | | result allows a potential employer to see a vivid |
| be ready. | | | | picture of the employee working successfully in a |
| Read the job posting! | | | | new job. |
| I was originally going to put this section last, but | | | | Example of Situation, Action, Result |
| information hierarchy dictates that most people won't | | | | "Created and implemented online marketing program, |
| get that far, and even if they did would consider this | | | | increasing device sales by 20% in 03Q2010" |
| paragraph unimportant, since it's at the bottom of | | | | "Redesigned process flow of manufacturing line. |
| the article.Read the whole job posting! Take notes. | | | | Detailed analysis showed electricity savings of $300 |
| Employer need in a resume | | | | day in addition to shaving 2 minutes off the |
| What used to be known as the 'objective' is now | | | | production time per item, saving company over |
| known as the 'summary'. In periods of job | | | | $6,000 per day of operation." |
| abundance, job seekers could dedicate a section of | | | | The idea is to not use "I" and instead go right into |
| their resume to what skills they wanted to learn | | | | the verb action to start the sentence. Be sure to use |
| from their employer, what intangible benefits they | | | | details. Notice how the "Redesigned process flow" |
| hoped to gain from employment, etc. Those days | | | | never stated explicitly that the process flow needed |
| are long gone. The summary has replaced the | | | | to be redesigned, yet implied that it did. That is the |
| objective. A summary is a paragraph summarizing the | | | | situation. |
| job applicant's skills using the terminology and tone of | | | | Keep employer's need in mind - always |
| the job posting. Think about the summary as the | | | | An employer doesn't need to know that 'references |
| place where the job posting shows up strongly in the | | | | available upon request' - of course they are. |
| resume. The summary should be near the top of the | | | | Employers don't need to know about unrelated |
| resume (just below the name/contact info) and | | | | hobbies, personal idiosyncrasies or anything unrelated |
| should be two-three sentences long at most. | | | | to the job at hand. Hiring managers are busy people, |
| Employee skill in a resume | | | | and they will give any one resume 8-10 seconds at |
| The job history, skill and education sections of the | | | | first glance. So be brief, and to-the-point. |
| resume should show the specific, detailed overlap of | | | | |