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Anyone on here an expert with resumes?
I am currently employed but sending out my resume to multiple companies. I'd like to move and/or change jobs but I feel my resume might be holding me back.
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There are alot of reume site's out there to help you...Just remember short and to the point is the way to go these day's
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Legend
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Quote:
There are alot of reume site's out there to help you...Just remember short and to the point is the way to go these day's
completely depends on the field. as an experienced engineer, employers want a ton of details on resume's.
so, you need to find people in your field who do hiring to answer you.
#gmstrong
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"Every responsibility implies opportunity, and every opportunity implies responsibility." Otis Allen Glazebrook, 1880
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One thing I've read quite a bit is avoid the resume cliches. Try to be creative, yes, but don't say the same things everyone always says. "I'm an independent self-starter who is goal and team oriented."
Say something that's going to make you stand out.
Also, don't make things up.
I am unfamiliar with this feeling of optimism
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A resume is all about "Why should I give you, out of maybe hundreds of those who submit resumes, an interview?"
If your resume doesn't give compelling reasons, such as experience, education, goals, accomplishments, related activities, organization membership, etc .... you're wasting your time sending it. Your resume is your initial impression .... and like the saying goes, you never get a second chance to make a first impression.
Every line after "Name" should be geared towards giving reasons for someone to spend time talking with you.
Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
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The biggest mistake on resumes is an " I Me My" resume.
I am great, I want this kind of work , I have done this, I want to do this.
These are all things that need to be said just say them in away to appeal to the employer.
eg.
My last position involved doing this and that I could assist your company in these areas and blah blah blah. I believe my experiences in this area would greatly benefit your company. I think you get the idea
Joe Thomas #73
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Format is important. if it doesn't appeal to the eye, it simply will be pushed back.
Clean resumes. No fancy lettering or fonts, no need to use colored paper, no scents (please, don't scent the paper)
Most resume you send today will be via email. so it's going to most likely be printed out on plain copier/printer paper.
Try to keep the lenght down to 2 pages, but if it's not possible, it's ok..
Format should be like this:
Name
Address
Home Phone
Cell Phone
Email address
Objective: Be lose with this. Pigeon holeing yourself isn't a good thing.
Educations: BSBA, Cleveland State, 1999 3.2 GPA (skip the gpa if your under 3.)
Experience:
Most recent job first
List your jobs chronologically. don't lump experiences from different companies together unless it was the exact same job just with a different company.
References
you can list them, But I wouldn't. I'd rather put "references available upon request"
Don't lie on a resume, don't leave important facts out. Most ligit employers today do background checks and a good investigator will find the holes in your resume. Explaining that is harder than explaining a bad reference.
In todays world, when you post your resume on Monster or careerbuilder or one of the many other job boards, the key is "buzz words"
example, if you were a software engineer, you want to list every language you can program in.. C, C++ etc. people that use those services to find resumes are required to search for those buzz words.
Today for instance, I was searching monster for an ME with Busbar design and E/M Packaging experience and strong Pro-E usage.
In the search bar, I put in the following string: "mechanical engineer" and Packaging and EM and Pro-E.
up came 20 or so resumes. I had to read each one and see if any fit. I found 2.
Buzz words are key. find those in your background that you can attach to your experience, and find a way to use them,
If you want, send me your email address via PM and I'll respond, then you can email me your resume and I can give you specific pointers..
Oh,, I have 34 years in the employement field,, I know from what I speak..
#GMSTRONG
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.”
Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe."
Damanshot
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thanks for some of the tips guys! my resume does some of those things, but when I read it, I say to myself "so what. I know other people who are better" lol. Maybe if I felt better about my accomplishments, other people would too.
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Legend
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Quote:
The biggest mistake on resumes is an " I Me My" resume.
I am great, I want this kind of work , I have done this, I want to do this.
These are all things that need to be said just say them in away to appeal to the employer.
eg.
My last position involved doing this and that I could assist your company in these areas and blah blah blah. I believe my experiences in this area would greatly benefit your company. I think you get the idea
Along with that, I would highly recommend talking to a friend that is in the HR department of some company. Ask him/her - "here's my resume, I'm not applying here - but tell me what you see when looking at my resume - what should I tweak, leave out, add, etc".
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Legend
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If you're submitting to a large company, there's a good chance they scan their resumes for keywords. Do some research and like Arch said, speak to an HR rep in your field. Load that resume with keywords related to your field. At least you'll make the cut for an interview.
And into the forest I go, to lose my mind and find my soul.
- John Muir
#GMSTRONG
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Quote:
Format is important. if it doesn't appeal to the eye, it simply will be pushed back.
Clean resumes. No fancy lettering or fonts, no need to use colored paper, no scents (please, don't scent the paper)
Most resume you send today will be via email. so it's going to most likely be printed out on plain copier/printer paper.
Try to keep the lenght down to 2 pages, but if it's not possible, it's ok..
Format should be like this:
Name
Address
Home Phone
Cell Phone
Email address
Objective: Be lose with this. Pigeon holeing yourself isn't a good thing.
Educations: BSBA, Cleveland State, 1999 3.2 GPA (skip the gpa if your under 3.)
Experience:
Most recent job first
List your jobs chronologically. don't lump experiences from different companies together unless it was the exact same job just with a different company.
References
you can list them, But I wouldn't. I'd rather put "references available upon request"
Don't lie on a resume, don't leave important facts out. Most ligit employers today do background checks and a good investigator will find the holes in your resume. Explaining that is harder than explaining a bad reference.
In todays world, when you post your resume on Monster or careerbuilder or one of the many other job boards, the key is "buzz words"
example, if you were a software engineer, you want to list every language you can program in.. C, C++ etc. people that use those services to find resumes are required to search for those buzz words.
Today for instance, I was searching monster for an ME with Busbar design and E/M Packaging experience and strong Pro-E usage.
In the search bar, I put in the following string: "mechanical engineer" and Packaging and EM and Pro-E.
up came 20 or so resumes. I had to read each one and see if any fit. I found 2.
Buzz words are key. find those in your background that you can attach to your experience, and find a way to use them,
If you want, send me your email address via PM and I'll respond, then you can email me your resume and I can give you specific pointers..
Oh,, I have 34 years in the employement field,, I know from what I speak..
THIS. Might as well close out the thread. Your advice is what this guy should focus on. I am in the industry as well, Daman. You hit on damn near everything.
I heart winning
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Legend
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We all get involved in the hiring process of engineers at our office so I will just give you my personal preferences since I read a lot of resumes.
Research the company you are responding to and use THEIR buzz words.. find things that will appeal to them.
Remember this, when they look through your resume (and hundreds others) they are NOT looking for a reason to short list you, they are looking for a reason to throw you out... they will weed out the first cut then move on to the second cut,that is where you need to stand out. Spelling, grammer, etc, these are reasons to throw somebody out.
I'll give you an example. Our company has a values statement on our website.. 7 values that we take very seriously, one guy actually worked those into his resume.. very impressive.
yebat' Putin
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Quote:
please, don't scent the paper)
I am not sure why anybody in their right mind would do this.
And no, I am not doubting that people do this. I am sure with you having 34 years of experience, you have seen all kinds of goofy stuff.
[color:"white"]I've always been crazy, but it's kept me from going insane -Waylon Jennings
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thanks Arch, DC, and everyone else! Daman helped me a lot last night too. I am glad we can use this message board to help one another out
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Legend
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Quote:
Quote:
please, don't scent the paper)
I am not sure why anybody in their right mind would do this.
And no, I am not doubting that people do this. I am sure with you having 34 years of experience, you have seen all kinds of goofy stuff.
I'm pretty sure I haven't seen everything, but I've seen some really stupid stuff..
Like the guy that came into my office about 8 years ago looking for a job as an Electronics Tech.. He came in dressed as a woman. One of the hardest things in the world to do is keep a straight face when he asked me why people weren't hiring him.. good lord, I wanted to reach across the desk and slap him silly..
I've gotten scented resumes a bunch of times. Mostly women but I've had a few guys do it also. I guess they think it will stand out, but truth is, when you mail a resume to someone (using snail mail), they open it, set it on a pile and after a while, they can't tell who's is scented and whose isn't.
It's a really dumb idea but with most every resume coming in via email these days, it's almost a non factor.
I could sit here and tell you stories that would make you mad, make you laugh and a few that will probably make you cry... let me just say this, people are wierd 
#GMSTRONG
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.”
Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe."
Damanshot
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My biggest pet peeves, when I read a resume, are typos, misspelled words and being too cluttered. I was helping my supervisor weed out some resumes from her stack of 120 for a position in San Fran last year. Right away, if something was misspelled, I wouldn't even read it to my boss. Same this with typos (ie hte instead of the). And if the resumes were so cluttered I couldn't read it, I wouldn't even read a location out to my boss. (geographical location was hugely important to this job - we were NOT paying to relocate anyone). I'm sure Damanshot gave you some great advice though...It is his business. 
![[Linked Image from i75.photobucket.com]](http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i302/lrhinkle/d5eaf0b9-e429-4211-b53f-b843bfcf6aa9_zps2ac17420.jpg) #gmstrong
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My first job out of college, I actually had a digit wrong in my phone number. Somehow they figured it out what the right number was, and I eventually got the job anyway. (Must of been the excessive use of buzz words)  Daman and DC pretty much nailed the big points. Having done a few hires the past year or so, I know what we did ... and it's pretty much what DC said. When you first get it, it's going to get tossed if it has major spelling errors, weird fonts or anything that may point to you being an unstable individual. After that ... it was look for the "buzz words" ... And I don't necessarily mean words like "teamwork" or "self-motivated" (although those help). It's mostly words for the type of experience they're looking for. So if somebody wants java-programmers with xml experience, they'll search for those keywords. So put EVERYTHING you've had even a remote bit of experience in. It will at least get you looked at. The past job experience and education are the two main areas, and should be like 95% of your resume. This is where you squeeze in those keywords. "Job Objective" should be really generic, non-specific and no longer than one line. References should be "References available on request". Everything else should be Job experience/education and spelling out every aspect of what you did there, as one little piece of a side-project you did during college could be exactly what somebody is looking for.
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Legend
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depends on experience with whether or not to have an 'objective'. If you have alot of experience it is a completely meaningless line. therefore, it's better to replace it with 2-3 lines of a summary of your experience (lots of buzz word scrunching possible in that one).
#gmstrong
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Quote:
depends on experience with whether or not to have an 'objective'. If you have alot of experience it is a completely meaningless line. therefore, it's better to replace it with 2-3 lines of a summary of your experience (lots of buzz word scrunching possible in that one).
Yep, don't have an objective in my resume. Used to add more about my work experience in there.
It's supposed to be hard! If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard... is what makes it great!
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Isnt the objective to get a job  I would like a job , a job would be a nice thing to have.
Joe Thomas #73
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I think Daman's is pretty tight although I'd bring a slightly different perspective to it which I think is particularly valuable for younger professionals or people who don't have a wealth of experience in a field.
Make a section ahead of work history labelled "Relevant Skills". Pump that full of all the stuff you can do that applies to the job. I think this immediately positions you for the job by showing how you fit the bill.
That and I have a personal pet peeve against "objective"...you sent me a resume...I know what you're looking for. If you wanna expand upon it, include a covering letter.
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All Pro
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Reminds me of a line in The Office .... 'I avoid employing unlucky people .... I throw half of the pile of CVs in the bin without reading them'
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I'm in the current boat as you. I am very interested in how things pan out for you. I haven't had to do much in the way of job searching in the past, I have had only two jobs since I was 21 and now I am 39 so . . .
One thing is for sure as I am finding out, Looking for a job . . . IS a job! LOL
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If you are looking for a job. Make it a full time job.
I was out of work recently. When I found work it was like a break. I was working 14 hours day looking for work.
Open up the phone book ( or do what I did, an online yellow pages search from the radius of my home. call everyone you are interested in ) I probably called 600 people. Most will say send your info. Some will interview you. Dont stop looking full time until you have a job. Dont get discouraged most calls will lead to nothing. Its a numbers game some one will be interested if you keep calling.
Joe Thomas #73
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Daman gave you great advice but be careful using his versions of how to spell many words.
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Quote:
Quote:
There are alot of reume site's out there to help you...Just remember short and to the point is the way to go these day's
completely depends on the field. as an experienced engineer, employers want a ton of details on resume's.
so, you need to find people in your field who do hiring to answer you.
It does depend, but as an experienced engineer in a particular field, my employer doesn't need to know my first job, my second job, my third job. They only need information about the jobs which apply to the job I'm, applying for.
For example, my first 'job' was working as an employee after school cleaning up a small department store. They don't need that information. They don't need to know that I worked at a restaurant as a dishwasher after that. It doesn't apply to the job that I applied for. They don't need to know the job that I worked at while going to school. I worked as a car porter for a rental car agency. I transported cars from the main location to various locations at the airport and other locations. None of those jobs apply to my current job - and I've been in this field now for more than 15 years. They don't really need to know anything back further than that. If they want to know, they can ask in the interview process.
Now, if your work history is short (ie, you've worked at only one or two places), then you certainly can add any jobs that you've worked at, but if your work history is extensive, there's little need to include every job you've ever done.
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2nd String
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Quote:
If you are looking for a job. Make it a full time job.
I was out of work recently. When I found work it was like a break. I was working 14 hours day looking for work.
Open up the phone book ( or do what I did, an online yellow pages search from the radius of my home. call everyone you are interested in ) I probably called 600 people. Most will say send your info. Some will interview you. Dont stop looking full time until you have a job. Dont get discouraged most calls will lead to nothing. Its a numbers game some one will be interested if you keep calling.
Excellent advice!
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The resume is finished. My next question (not demanding) is
Where is the best place to look?
I scour linkedin, monster, and careerbuilder every day.
What are some other places?
Our sunday paper has zilch, btw.
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Legend
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"Resume Maker Professional" is the BEST resume program you could possibly use IMO. It gives you so many options, and literally does the resume for you with a few clicks here and there.
You will be so happy with the end product.. TRUST!!
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Try different industry associations. When I was job hunting for PR jobs, the two principal PR professional associations were great.
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Online yellow pages. Start calling everyone.
Someone will be interested if you dont stop calling each and company you are interested in. By the 10th call you will have your own pitch. Really listen to what they are saying and adjust your pitch as you see fit. and did I mention dont stop calling. Take notes on each call. If they say call back and ask for Joe on tuesday. Write it down and dont forget. If they say call back in a month write it down and dont forget. You get the idea. Its a numbers game. Start with a list of 600 companies. Great thing about online yellow pages is you can search from a radius from you house. start with the closest ones.
Joe Thomas #73
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that's a really good idea!
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In the past I have made 600 phone calls in a month. Make it a full time job.
Dont call anyone on monday morning.
I go out and get a new legal pad and keep my records on that. You can do it with a computer program if you like. I just find a pen and paper quicker. I have a set of codes I use. CA = call again maybe the number was busy or the person I talked to was no help. WCIN = they will call if your services are needed. NA = No answer. KIT = they want you to keep in touch for future possibilities. Make up your own as you go along.
Make an new email address book for where you send resumes.
Last edited by BADdog; 05/16/11 09:29 PM.
Joe Thomas #73
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