Five Steps to Building Your Resumee

Transcription

1 Five Steps to Building Your Resumee 1 ASSESS your interests, skills, and values and be able to articulate them 2 COLLECT details of work, volunteer, leadership and academic history 3 STUDY job descriptions for requirements, keywords and useful verbiage 4 RESEARCH potential employers & organizations to create a target list 5 CREATE a Master Resume to edit down for each application The function of your resume is to get you in the door and in front of a person, NOT to get you the job. Think of it as a brief but compelling advertisement, not as an entire inventory of your history.

2 Traditional Resume Formatt Your Name Phone Number; Location (); Summary of Qualifications Optional Objective statement to clarify if you are changing careers or have a varied background Your Skills Your Knowledge Your Abilities Professional Experience Most Recent Job Title Dates Company Name Concise description of your experience Concise description of your accomplishments Other Relevant Positions Dates Company Name Concise description of your experience Concise description of your accomplishments Education Degree or Certificate Institution Name Academic Honors Date earned or anticipated Additional Information Other relevant skills or abilities not shown above Professional associations or affiliations References available upon request Be sure address and phone message are professional If I were only able to illustrate 3-5 of my qualifications, which ones would I choose? Always start with an Action Verb Additional experience can include clinicals, internships, or leadership & volunteer positions Put Education before Experience if you are a student or recent graduate Include your GPA if 3.0 or over This can include language fluencies, computer & technical skills, other certifications Not necessary to say this it is assumed you will provide references when asked

3 Tailoring Your Resumee Study the job requirements and match your qualifications: Job posting requirements: Current CNA license with Arizona State Board of Nursing One to three months related experience as a CNA in a health care setting Punctuality a must with excellent communication skills Seek CNAs who aspire to make our work and our world a better place Current Auto Insurance; Current Arizona Driver's License Your qualifications: Current license on file 3 years of CNA experience in assisted living facility Perfect attendance record; skilled at communicating with patients and families Passionate about helping others, commitment to the healthcare field Own dependable vehicle with current license and insurance RULE OF THUMB: Lead with most relevant information. They will stop reading about here if they haven t already seen what they want to see! Use this checklist to create your Professional Summary section, and the employer will be compelled to read the rest of your resume. (Hint: this is also very useful for your cover letter!) A tailored resume shines light on qualifications the employer most wants to see And doesn t waste their time and attention on things that aren t relevant Weave the details of your qualifications throughout the body of your resume. Don t waste space detailing experience that does not support your fit for that position, no matter how important it was to you at the time. Make sure that you also include KEYWORDS that are specific to your targeted industry you can put together a list by studying the common phrases, skills and requirements mentioned in job descriptions. Here is a sample of a professional summary created from the information above: Highlights of Qualifications Certified and Registered Nursing Assistant with 3 years of experience Committed to providing compassionate care and advocacy for adults living in assisted living facilities Establish meaningful professional relationships with co-workers, patients, and families Bilingual in English and Spanish* Conscientious and dependable, with own reliable vehicle *This is not mentioned as a requirement but is a great selling point in this field so it should be included in the summary. Do your research and use your judgment!

4 Communicating Your Valuee The best way to show your value is to match your skills and experience to the specific job requirements and to demonstrate your productivity. The ability to be productive is transferable into any field and is especially critical for career changers. Create bullet points to describe the impact or contribution you made for your organization o Not just a list of your duties; do not use Responsible for o If you have little or no work experience, consider other types of experience, including volunteer and academic experience, and leadership experience with clubs and teams Start each point with an Action Verb. You can also use a Power Adverb to vividly describe the impact of your actions; see the attached list of verbs and adverbs for ideas to get you started One of the best things you can do is quantify o Adding numbers whether it be money, number of times you did something, or how much of something you accomplished shows concrete evidence of productivity Possible Measurements Money made, saved; amount or percent Time saved in efficiencies; met or beat deadlines Amounts sales, customers, patients, etc. Situations fast-paced, difficult economy Scope or Scale showing the dimensions of your impact BEFORE: Answer phones and provide customer service. AFTER: Immediately resolve issues between clients and providers with meticulous documentation for accurate incident record, resulting in a 46% decrease in escalated complaints. More Examples: Utilized sub-occipital stretches and Back and Neck School programs to enhance physical therapy and total wellness for 36 rehabilitation patients. Consistently recognized on evaluations as exceeding expectations in areas of orderliness, timeliness, patience and ability to communicate effectively to students, parents and administrators. Drove a series of process flow improvements within 12 sales offices that led to a 17% increase in revenue and created a cohesive team.

5 Design and Formatt Use concise bullet points instead of large text blocks and leave adequate white space to highlight each section. Use a single clean, easy to read font, in a point size (no smaller!) Be selective in your use of bold, underline and italics. Use the same font and heading for your resume, cover letter and other materials Aim to create a targeted one-page resume for each position. If you have 10+ years of relevant experience, you can go to two pages but be sure to format so that both pages are full. There are two types of resumes for complete details, see Resume Worksheets Reverse Chronological Emphasizes work experience and accomplishments Preferred by employers Functional Highlights skills, abilities & knowledge rather than work history May work for career changers or those re-entering the workforce It is also possible to use a combination of these two formats. The Career Center team will be happy to help you with any special situations. Finally, you will need several different formats for your resume: Format Use How Electronic version (.doc) Graphic version (.pdf) Text only (.txt or.rtf) Printed paper Attachment to application or networking (some companies firewalls may not accept); upload to some online job applications Attachment to application or networking (most systems will accept); upload to some online job applications Paste into online job application; paste into body of application Job fairs and in-person recruiting events; networking events; interviews save as a Word document save as a.pdf save as a text only document with no formatting, replace bullet points with or * Print on white or beige 8.5 x 11 paper