The
major sections of a resumé include the following,
and will occur in this order. Keep in mind, each person
probably won’t include each one of these sections.
- Contact
information
- Objective/Title
- Summary
Statement
- Professional
Experience
- Education
- Professional
Training
- Affiliations/Appointments
- Licenses
- Technical
- Languages
Contact
Information
The
first piece of information on your resumé should
be your name, current address, daytime phone number(s),
and e-mail address. Most importantly, you should list a
phone number where someone, or a message recorder, can always
be reached. Employers will not spend time tracking you down.
Make it easy for them to contact you.
TIPS:
3
Do not include any other personal information at the top
(or any other part!) of your resumé (marital status,
number of children, etc.).
3
If the phone number where you can be contacted has an
answering machine, make sure your message is professional,
not "cutesy." ("Hello, John and I are in the backyard
drinking margaritas right now and can’t come to the phone.
. ." won’t work!)
Career
Objective/Title
We
recommend including an objective, but keep it extremely
broad. Why do we believe an objective is necessary? When
promoting a product, the package will "announce" what is
inside. If you bought a box of food with no name on it,
imagine the confusion as to what that product was.
This
means that before you write your resumé, decide who
your target audience is and what position you are
looking for. When you decide these two points, we suggest
using a title, rather than a sentence. For example, instead
of writing, "Seeking career opportunity as a marketing manager
with a company that can offer me continued opportunities
for success," you can simply write the heading: Marketing
Manager or Marketing Professional.
We
recommend the title because it is broad, direct and to-the-point.
Think of your resumé as the packaging on your product.
The packages you see in the grocery store have only a few
words in the titles: OREOS, BANANA YOGURT, YELLOW MUSTARD,
CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM. The purpose of these titles is: 1)
to catch their attention, and 2) prepare them for
exactly what will be inside the package. A brief
title will serve the same purpose for your resumé.
Summary
Statement
The
purpose of the summary statement is to give the employer
a quick snapshot of your qualifications. Here is a breakdown
to help you create a targeted statement. Look at the paragraph
you are about to create in three parts.
The
first part is a very broad and general statement.
It should state how long you have worked, what you are doing
professionally, and what type of companies you have worked
for. If you were working as an accountant for the last 10
and a half years, it could read: "Financial Accountant
(Senior Accountant, Accounting Manager or your last title)
with over ten years experience with two Fortune 500 companies."
The
second part needs to include a list of the skills
you used while on the job and any special skills you would
like to highlight. For example: Skills include...,
Proven ability..., Expertise includes...,
In-depth knowledge of ..., or Technical skills
include... The whole sentence or sentences would then
list the skills you want to highlight. For example: "Technical
skills include profit and loss statements, budgets, forecasting
and variance reporting. Bi-lingual in Spanish and English."
You will want to list the most important skills you have
and any other experience that will set you apart or enhance
your appeal to a future employer.
The
third part of your summary statement should include
a character statement or something about the style in which
you work. It could read like this: " Self-starter who
approaches every project in a detailed, analytical manner."
You can see that these traits would be desirable for someone
in charge of finances. For sales it could read like this:
"Independent manager who is goal-oriented and thrives
on challenge." Only you can identify what character
traits describe you best and are important in your field.
This
is how the finished product would read:
"Financial
Accountant with over 10 years experience with two Fortune
500 companies. Technical skills include: profit and loss
statement, budgets, forecasting and variance reporting.
Bi-lingual in Spanish and English. Self-starter who approaches
every project in a detailed, analytical manner."
Example
Summary Statements
Position:
Electronic Engineer
General
Statement: Electronic Engineer with over 20 years
experience.
Skills
Statement: Strengths include: designing and implementing
process improvements, designing new products, cost estimating,
and employee training in "Teams For Excellence" program.
Strong mechanical aptitude and extremely proficient with
computers.
Character
Statement: Team player who motivates employees to
work toward common goals.
Summary
Statement: Electronic Engineer with over 20 years experience.
Strengths include: designing and implementing process improvements,
designing new products, cost estimating, and employee training
in "Teams For Excellence" program. Strong mechanical aptitude
and extremely proficient with computers. Team player who
motivates employees to work toward common goals.
Position:
Manufacturing Process Manager
General
Statement: Manufacturing Process Manager with fourteen
years progressive and professional experience in manufacturing
and materials management.
Skills
Statement: Recent emphasis on kanban/pull system
implementation, constraint management, and the development
of self-directed work teams. Additional skills include materials,
MRPII, purchasing, and master scheduling.
Character
Statement: Enthusiastic manager with the ability
to effectively manage a diverse workforce.
Summary
Statement: Manufacturing Process Manager with fourteen
years progressive and professional experience in manufacturing
and materials management. Recent emphasis on kanban/pull
system implementation, constraint management, and the development
of self-directed work teams. Additional skills include materials,
MRPII, purchasing and master scheduling. Enthusiastic manager
with the ability to effectively manage a diverse workforce.
Professional
Experience
The
professional experience section lists all jobs you have
had during your career in reverse chronological order -
your most recent job is listed first. List all positions
you have held with each company. This allows the employer
to see how you have progressed in your career.
It
is not necessary to list jobs prior to completing your college
education, unless the position(s) is important to your current
career aspirations. If you have completed high school only,
list all jobs you have held since graduation.
When
possible, list the months you began and ended each position.
If you can not remember the months, listing the years is
acceptable. The headings of your positions will look like
the following:
PROFESSIONAL
EXPERIENCE
Current
Employer Name, Location November 19__ to Present
Current
Job Title (January 19__ to Present)
The
body of the position description includes two parts: 1)
a description of your responsibilities, and 2) your accomplishments.
An
example of a description of responsibilities would be:
"Direct
finance and administration for $500 million automotive parts
manufacturing firm. Responsible for $150 million division
covering 25 states and three European countries. Supervise
50 non-exempt and 15 exempt employees. Report to general
manager and board of directors. Areas of responsibility
include: finance, accounting, human resources, contracts,
facilities. Also, develop special reports including board
reviews, strategic plans and market forecasts."
The
second part of the position description consists of the
major accomplishments you have had during this position.
These should be listed in bullet format, and no more than
two sentences in length. Each accomplishment should be created
in the feature/accomplishment/benefit (FAB) format.
FAB
Format
The
feature/accomplishment/benefit (FAB) presentation is the
first step in organizing your skills in a way that will
motivate a prospective employer to take notice. Instead
of listing your attributes, you will learn to grab the attention
of the reader and relate your abilities to the one thing
that all employers have in common - the bottom line. In
short, a feature/accomplishment/ benefit orientation shows
your greatest strengths and relates them to saving the employer
time and money. The FAB orientation links your strengths
to the bottom line by showing how you can effect your work
environment. Your accomplishment statement will have three
parts:
Feature ...
refers to the actual responsibilities you held in your
previous
position.
Accomplishment ...
pronounces your success while performing your responsibilities.
Benefit ...
signifies how your performance of your responsibilities
has
affected
your past employers. Specifically, this part relates
how
your
accomplishment increased efficiency, improved revenues,
improved
productivity, or reduced costs.
Another
way to look at these statements is to substitute the words:
Situation, Solution, Outcome (SSO).
What situation was your company/department facing? What
did you do to solve the problem? What was the outcome? This
may be a new concept for you and somewhat complicated to
understand. Look closely at the following samples and you
will become clearer on how to create your own FAB statements.
Sample
FAB Statements
Position:
Accounting Manager
Feature:
Redesigned
accounting system and purchased computer hardware . . .
Accomplishment: Streamlined
reporting time. . .
Benefit:
Reduced
outside accounting fees. . .
FAB
Statement: Purchased new computer hardware and accounting
software to redesign manual accounting system. Was able
to streamline reporting time, and reduce outside accounting
fees by $35,000 per year.
Position:
VP of Business Development
Feature:
Developed and implemented a competitive commercial
overhead structure
for
non-government activity. . .
Accomplishment: Captured
commercial sales. . .
Benefit:
Potential revenues in excess of $100 million. .
.
FAB
Statement: Developed and implemented a corporate
safety program which enabled plant to maintain an accident-free
work environment for 429 consecutive days with a staff of
75 employees. Contributed to reducing corporate workers’
compensation claims by 27%.
Position:
Manufacturing Engineer
Feature:
Implemented a Certified Inspector program.
. .
Accomplishment: Reduced
the number of parts inspected upon final assembly. . .
Benefit:
Decreased inspection costs by 45%.. .
FAB
Statement: Implemented a Certified Inspector program
which reduced the number of parts inspected upon final assembly.
Inspection costs were reduced by 45%.
What
Accomplishments Interest Employers?
When
creating your FAB statements, keep in mind the following
list of the top 12 accomplishment areas which most interest
employers.
|
Accomplishment Area
|
|
Increased revenues
|
|
Saved money
|
|
Increased efficiencies
|
|
Cut overhead
|
|
Increased sales
|
|
Improved workplace
safety
|
|
Purchasing accomplishments
|
|
New products/new
lines
|
|
Record keeping
|
|
Increased productivity
|
|
Successful advertising
campaign
|
|
Budgeting
|
S.M.A.C.
Create
a track record of your work history. This needs to be a
re-creation or list of specific and measurable events so
that later you can use these events or examples when you
talk to employers during interviews.
We
use the acronym S.M.A.C. to help you remember the
guidelines to creating a good FAB statement. S.M.A.C. stands
for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, and Compatible (or
Connection).
Specific
for the event or achievement that you want to document.
It needs to be something that you can summarize and articulate
to a future interviewer or company.
Measurable
in the terms of how you were graded or judged in your job
performance. For a salesperson it might be sales quotas;
for an accountant it might be time saved or systems created;
and for a manager it might relate to people skills as in
hired new staff for plant, or promoted five people.
Achievable
in that it needs to be something that is realistic.
If you were an accountant for NASA, using an accomplishment
that helped put a man on the moon might be stretching it
a bit. Future employers will recognize this fact.
Compatible/Connection
is the final test for your accomplishment statement. Does
it create a connection with your future employer, will it
help make a connection? Will they understand and will it
stand out? These accomplishments should entice an employer
in the same way a "hot" ad pulls in potential customers.
TIPS:
- Begin
each accomplishment with an action verb - Designed,
Implemented, Created, Managed . . .
- Avoid
using statements which are not quantifiable. As a rule,
each statement must have a dollar value, percentage or
other quantifier attached to the result.
- When
creating your FAB statements, think in terms of what actions
you took that made the company money, saved the company
money, or changed a procedure to increase efficiencies.
Summary
As
stated in the beginning of this chapter, the FAB statements
you create will be used throughout your job search. First
of all, you will orient your resumé to reflect the
accomplishments and results you have realized in past positions.
Secondly, any additional correspondence you write (cover
letters, interview follow-up letters, etc.) will revolve
around your FAB statements. Finally, each time you speak
to someone (on the phone, interviewing, networking, etc.)
you will relate your value through using the FAB format.
Other
Credentials
The
following sections will add the information necessary to
complete your resumé. Keep in mind, you may not have
to include each section on your resumé, only those
in which you possess formidable qualifications.
Education
This
section of the resumé lists your education credentials,
with your highest degree first. If you have a college degree,
do not list your high school. Also, if you graduated over
five years ago, do not include college honors and awards.
Professional
Training
In
this section, list those workshops, seminars and other continuing
education you have completed in the last five years. List
only those seminars which pertain to the type of position
you are looking for. A typical professional training section
will look like this:
Dale
Carnegie Sales Training Course - 1997
Managing
for Excellence, sponsored by the American Management
Association - 1996
Selling
Your Services, sponsored by the Boise Chamber of
Commerce - 1995
If
you have completed many different training sessions, avoid
listing them all (if more than five). Instead, you can simply
list the types of seminars along with the sponsoring organizations.
For example:
Completed
courses/seminars in sales, management, leadership, and
computer skills sponsored by American Management Association
and the Boise Chamber of Commerce.
Affiliations
In
this section, list those professional organizations to which
you belong.
Appointments
In
this section, list those organizations where you have held
offices in the last five years. Only include professional
organizations - chair of the local Cub Scout Refreshment
Committee doesn’t count! A typical appointments sections
looks like this:
Chairperson,
American Management Association, 1997-98
Paul
Harris Fellow, Rotary International, 1994-95
Licenses
In
this section, list any current licenses pertinent to the
positions you are seeking. If you have your Real Estate
license, but are not looking for a position in this industry,
don't list it! This section will appear like this:
Texas
Real Estate Brokers License, 1994
Texas
Real Estate Sales License, 1992
Technical
This
section includes all computer or technical skills you have.
A typical technical section will look like this:
IBM-PC
compatibles, Dbase III+, WordPerfect, Lotus, and Microsoft
Word.
Languages
List
the languages you know in this section. Indicate whether
you are "fluent," or simply "proficient" in each of them.
A language section will look like this:
Fluent
in Spanish
Proficient
in French
FINAL
TIPS:
- Don’t
include the reasons for leaving your different jobs.
- Don’t
include salary history on your resumé.
- Don’t
include any personal information on a resumé -
marital status, number of children, physical condition,
hobbies, etc. It is illegal for employers to ask for this
information, and it has no bearing on whether you are
qualified for the job.
- Don’t
include references on your resumé. Prepare a separate
sheet of paper for references only. Also, don’t put the
phrase "references provided upon request" on your resumé.
This is assumed by the employer.
- Professional
resumé Template
Name
Address
City,
State Zip
Phone
number(s)
TITLE
SUMMARY
STATEMENT
...Body
of Summary Statement...
PROFESSIONAL
EXPERIENCE
Current
Employer Name, Location November
19__ to Present
Current
Job Title (January 19__ to Present)
...Responsibility
Statement...
...Accomplishment
Statements...
Previous
Job With Same Company (November 19__ to January 19__)
...Responsibility
Statement...
...Accomplishment
Statements...
Previous
Employer(s), Location(s)
19__ to 19__
Job
Title
...Responsibility
Statement...
...Accomplishment
Statements...
EDUCATION
Degree-major,
University, City, State, Year
PROFESSIONAL
TRAINING
Seminars/Classes,
Sponsoring Organizations, Years
AFFILIATIONS
Memberships
APPOINTMENTS
Offices,
Organizations, Years Held
LICENSES
Licenses,
Years Obtained
TECHNICAL
Hardware,
Software, Languages, Office Skills
