The heart of your resume, that's what. Start with plenty of blank paper for each job you have held. Begin in reverse chronological order, starting with your current or last position. Make a separate write-up for each position with each firm, agency, organization, or company. Work Experience is what will make the most impact on the employer.
Employer Name/Address/Description
Use the correct current name of the organization and a division or subsidiary if one is or was your employer. Show the approximate size in sales dollars or, depending on circumstances, the number of employees, units in a chain, members in an association, or the size of the annual budget in your governmental agency, institution, or not-for-profit foundation. Describe the activities very briefly, except for those employers whose names are either household words or self-explanatory.
Dotes of Employment
Record these dates accurately, from and to, for your own information. For example: May 15, 1980-December 31, 1986. More precise dates can be given in an interview, should they be required.
Position Held
In most cases the position you held can best be described by using your personal title or the position title. Do not fabricate a fancy title if you didn't have one.
Earnings
Normally, earnings should not be listed in a resume. Save this information for an interview, where it might be a factor in salary negotiations. Do, however, get your earnings down on paper to refresh your memory and in case you need the facts later.
In the upper brackets you might consider showing cur-rent or recent earnings to filter out any employers who might not realize where you stand in the salary hierarchy.
Responsibilities
Write out all of the responsibilities of each position, and then put them in digest form. List the three, four, or five items of major importance. A brief sentence is all the space you can give to each one. Omit details. Refer to the sample resumes in chapter 6 to see how this is done.
Achievements
What did you do well in prior positions? Here again, as you look back over your career so far, ask yourself what counted most with regard to organizational goals reached, clients or customers satisfied, designs created, or sales or profits built. In other words, focus on those areas where you contributed, led the way, or carried out plans. What was your share of these achievements?
Again, see chapter 6 for examples to stimulate your thinking. Do not make big deals out of little deals. Don't exaggerate. Avoid "ego statements." In those positions in which there were no accomplishments, make no list. Concentrate on those positions, preferably more current ones, where you did produce. Always keep your job objective and/or career plan in mind as you search out your top contributions. Those achievements that relate to your objective will be most effective. All other materials are nice to read but may be extraneous. Do not pretend that apples are oranges. Employers have had a lot of experience, too.
How do you put such accomplishments in writing? First, get your material down on paper in draft form, as you review each prior work assignment. Then, write and rewrite until each of your achievements is concisely stated in one sentence, short but complete. Don't quit with that. See if you can restate each sentence so that if you were doing the hiring, you would be affected positively.
Are you finished now? Not quite. Review this section once more. Does each statement suggest a firm, confident individual, without excessive ego? More important, does it reflect you and what you are? Is the choice of words the best possible? You want to be careful here, for you are in the heart of your resume. The employer is now thinking, "What did you do for others, that I hope you can do for me, to solve my problems, to fill my needs?"
As this handbook will remind you from time to time, a resume has one principal, essential aim: to get you an interview. That's why what you write and how you write it are so important. They spell success or failure, whether you are directing your resume to a potential employer, to an executive search recruiter, or to your contacts.
Reason for Change
It's best to omit any reference to why you left an employer or an assignment. There are some exceptions, but as a rule, it is almost impossible to state in a sentence or two why you left, whose decision it was, whose fault, or what the situation really was. No matter how you state a reason, you give an employer the opportunity to decide not to interview you based upon what he or she reads.
Never write in your resume that you left by mutual agreement. Employers translate this into "fired." You will doubtless be asked for your reasons by every potential employer, but by omitting them from your resume you will at least have the privilege of presenting each reason in favorable terms. Another benefit of giving no reasons for leaving in a resume is that it keeps you honest. You can't be tempted to cover up, blame your ex-boss, or lie just a little.
Here are some reasons given (taken from actual resumes) that are presumably sincere and honest but are easily misinterpreted or viewed negatively by employers. The comment following each example suggests what a potential employer might think.
Resigned by mutual agreement, due to economic reversals requiring cutback:
He or she was fired or quit to avoid termination. The statement might or might not be true. Most "mutual agreements" are not instigated by the employee.
Resigned after completion of a leave of absence:
What's this all about? Why was a leave of absence taken?
No opportunity for further advancement under present management practices:
Could be true, probably is. But is this person simply dissatisfied? Why no advancement? Not promotable anymore? Burnout?
Seek new opportunity to apply knowledge and experience:
This could mean almost anything. Of course, it could be a normal desire to climb higher. Was this turnover the fault of the employer or the employee?
If you strongly believe that the reason for changing your current or last job is logically justifiable and normally acceptable by employers, then you may safely use it for that position only. Examples of such situations would include a business or department being closed or relocated, a merger, resignation to have a family, or severe economic conditions causing a staff reduction. However, even under such circumstances, it may be best not to give a reason. If you include some reasons and not others, an employer is automatically interested in the reasons not given.
While there are pros and cons for including or excluding your reasons to change, experience strongly suggests that it is best to omit them and then discuss them openly and truthfully when asked in an interview.
At this stage you've done your homework on your work history. If you did it thoroughly you don't need to do it again. The data will enable you to write a sales-tool resume and will better prepare you for any interview. Save your work papers and notes. You may need them again someday for a new resume with a different objective.
