YOUR RESUME

After you’ve done the assessment, and before you start marketing yourself, you need to equip yourself with the appropriate tools. The most obvious of these is an effective resume.

As you prepare your resume, it is important to keep in mind where you plan to use it.  If you do not have a vision of your target market, it will be more difficult to create an effective resume.  For example, in the Information Technology field, there are typically two career paths—technical or management.  If you are seeking a management position, and your resume contains only technical accomplishments, you may not have the opportunity to be considered for management positions.  It is important to define your market and emphasize accomplishments that are important to that audience.

An effective resume is accomplishment-based. This is very different than a resume that just lists what your tasks and responsibilities were in a particular job.  A prospective employer wants to know more about you than just your job description. They want to know what you did with those responsibilities that would make you valuable to their organization.

Your resume should go back approximately ten years, with a fair amount of detail. Beyond that it should be summarized. It should be two pages in length, with the education listed at the end.

It is not necessary to list anything personal, and you do not need to indicate the references will be furnished on request—that is a given.

The professionals at The Schultz Group can give you helpful feedback about your resume. It is important that you create your resume so you have control and responsibility for what it contains.

Here is a summarized example of a good layout:

NAME
ADDRESS
PHONE & EMAIL

SUMMARY

This should contain three or four sentences that summarize your depth of experience and industry knowledge.  Outline those areas that are your strengths, and those personal qualities that make you valuable to an organization.

TECHNICAL SUMMARY

If your career path is a technical one, it is helpful to list your technical exposure. This should only be on the front page if you believe your list will be helpful in getting you where you want to go—otherwise list it at the end, before education.

EXPERIENCE OR ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Company one ----- to present

Job Title—Two lines of text describing your tasks and responsibilities.

--Accomplishment—this should be two to three lines defining, preferably quantifying, what you did that differentiates you.  Apply the question, "so what?" If you answered it as it relates to what you did for the company, you have a good accomplishment statement.

--You should have four to seven accomplishments listed that relate most closely to the positions you are currently seeking. Remember to think of your audience.

Company two. . . and so on

Education and/or Professional Designations

For more information, contact us.

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