Effective Recruiting Solutions

Create a Powerful Resume* Your resume is the marketing tool to sell a product – and you are the product. A resume needs to provide reasons a company should hire you. A powerful resume will pique a hiring company’s interest in you and compel the firm to request an interview. It also shows articulation, maturity, judgment, writing style, and motivation. In your resumes: State your accomplishments and achievements. Provide information on your background. Show how you have or can affect the bottom line. Reveal specific resources you bring to a company. Demonstrate vividly how the company will benefit by hiring you. You must show you are an achiever. Resumes contains these parts in this order:    Personal contact information  (top of the resume)         Name - full name; place nickname in parentheses         Addresses - campus and home (on each side of the page)              (one address place all information in the center of the page)         Phone, fax, pager, cellular numbers - campus and home         Email         Web address.   Objective or positioning statement State the specific occupation, location, industry you are seek - "Seeking an environmental corporate law position in California" State only attributes that apply. Tailor your statement to fit the company to which you are sending the resume. Avoid general, non-specific statements that could apply to any position - "Seeking a position to utilize my skills." Refrain from statements longer than two lines. Summary statement should be used by people with significant experience - stating 3-4 greatest accomplishments in the field of choice. Resumes with strong positioning statements always make it into a ‘good pile".   Education (If you have no substantial work experience, list your education first.) List each school and its location in reverse date order. Indicate your degree, the month and year of your graduation.      Prior to graduation use phrase:      "Bachelor of Science – Expected graduation December 2001."       (Spell out all degrees – Bachelor, Master or Doctorate.) Include your major, minor and/or overall grades, if over 3.0.     State your grade with your major and/or minor -     "Biology major 3.6/4.0; French minor 3.2/40; Overall GPA: 3.1/4/0" Indicate academic accomplishments. Include coursework only if it is occupation related. Include projects, papers or activities that relate to a specific job. List exchange programs or foreign study programs. List scholarships, awards or other academic related honors. Present academic or campus clubs and organizations .     State titles and duties including accomplishments;     "President of debate team"  shows ability to conduct a powerful      dialogue to sway an argument . Indicate athletic activities with awards and achievements. Refrain from listing high school information unless spectacular and related to an occupation. Included this information in an "Additional" section not in the college education section.    Experience List all work experience in reverse date order. Place date under major heading (Experience); if appropriate indicate internship, part-time or co-op next to the date. Indicate company name and location on the same line to the right of the date followed by job title on second line. Select duties that illustrates a skill you want to showcase with a quantifiable accomplishment .  "Averaged $20K per sales call ." Quantify each statement/bullet with a figure, if possible, to provide a clear picture of your accomplishments. Describe your duties in real terms, not in language found in job descriptions.  e.g. "Weekly purchased $20K worth of inventory and filled 100+ purchase orders."  not "Responsible for inventory." Use action verbs to describe what you accomplishments and how you affected the company's revenue.  Show that you made a difference. Use keywords in all statements - refrain from a 'keyword section'. Demonstrate your increased responsibilities. Combine similar jobs into one bullet in an "Additional" section or eliminate if it doesn’t provide important supplemental hiring data.   Additional Present community, organization, affiliation, or athletic activities that show teamwork or achievement. State special interests, skills or abilities, such as foreign language proficiency, computer skills, reader to the blind, or toastmaster. Include certification, license, training, or conference participation that gives you a boarder skill base. Other terms may be used in place of "Additional" based on presented information -"Skills", "Activities". What Recruiters Look For Recruiters spend a maximum of 30 seconds reviewing a resume.  Make your resume easy to read or skim. Prepare a hard copy resume for surface mailings or interviewing. Submit an electronic resume when a text or scannable resume is requested or when faxing a resume. HARD COPY RESUME Prepare your resume with attention to visual presentation to attract the reader and use action verbs to keep the reader focused on the attributes you want to showcase. Make resumes easy to read by aligning titles and dates, use 2-line statements for each bullet. The reader's eyes are able to quickly follow a logical sequence of events. Use powerful action verbs – refrain from repeat usage of same verb. Create a one-page resume with one inch margins – never less than .5". Use enough white space for contrast and easy reading. Refrain from writing a resume in paragraph format, it forces the recruiter to read each word. Use easy reading fonts and size; e.g. Arial or Helvetica that is at least 10 point font. Refrain from fancy text, borders, graphics or colors. Use smooth textured paper in shades of beige, ivory, cream, very light blue or gray. Hold up the resume to see how it looks – is it visually balanced, pleasing to the eye? ELECTRONIC RESUME Text that is easily transferred into a database by a scanner is the most important element of an electronic resume – concentrate on key words. Current scanners are more sophisticated in picking up various graphics or fonts, but they still have limitations and some companies haven't upgraded this technology. Therefore, to make sure your important words are captured: Refrain from any type of graphics, borders, fancy text, all capitalized, italicized, bolded or unlined words. Avoid unusual placement of information – e.g. contact information at the bottom of a page or column presentation of information. Use simple fonts and 10 to 12 point font. Copy a resume on plain white paper (no water marks) when submitting via fax. Add key words within the resume section; review a job description to verify what an employee is seeking. Include synonyms for the key words to ensure proper capture during a search. Replace a key word section with a summary statement showcasing your accomplishments and skills. STANDARD INFORMATION Objective or Positioning Statements. Popular beliefs may indicate to omit an objective statement. Objective statement allows readers to focus on what you want. Resumes not containing statements forces readers to guess what you want to do. Incorporate targeted field of interest, area of expertise or unique ability. Personal Data Refrain from including personal information e.g. birth date, marital or health information or attaching a photograph. Include work status, if non-U.S. citizen or if educated outside of the United States. References Refrain from including the statement "References available on request". Hiring companies always ask for references – don’t waste value resume real estate with a useless statement. Relocation Indicate mobility on the resume if trying to move from a "home" location with "Able to relocate" in your additional section and show different work locations to prove the desire to move. Personal Pronouns Avoid pronouns -- resumes never contain personal pronouns. Length Avoid more than one page – unless significant work experience, consolidate to one page for any entry-level position. If necessary, second page must contain name, phone number or email address in the header or footer. Content Research occupations and/or companies to which applying. Review job descriptions for your skills and abilities to incorporate into resume. Present data that is impressive to organizations based on your company research. Call attention to skills or abilities that a company needs. Produce an occupation-focused resume. If necessary create a resume for each occupation. Avoid using jargon, acronyms and abbreviations, unless standard within industry interviewing. Use presence tenses – past tense only on past experiences. Position bullet points in most significant order – ones with most impact. Read each bullet to determine conveyed added value, if not remove. Date gaps – provide some explanation within the resume Skills/Abilities Computer abilities are expected of today’s graduates – word processing, spreadsheet and database know-how are necessary. Languages are more important to international companies – ability to conduct business in another language is critical. *Comments directed to college or entry-level resumes. Experienced individuals focus less on education, usually have 2-3 page resume, focus on accomplishments and have a summary statement. The Bs of a Resume Be Boastful – Present your accomplishments – this is not the time to be timid or reluctant to take credit for an activity. Be Clear – Create statements that explain complex ideas clearly. Be Concise – Use as few words as possible to present each bullet. Be Conscientious – Make sure no typos, misspellings, or use of poor grammar. Be Factual – State only accurate information; this is not the time to embellish.