In today’s job market it is important to make sure you effectively present your skills and qualifications in your resume. Due to the rise of online career search platforms and recruiting services, the number of possible applicants has grown significantly which makes getting the interview even tougher. In some cases, search algorithms allow recruiters to quickly find possible candidates so how your resume reads and the words you use matter.
So is there a formula for writing the perfect resume? Not quite, but after reviewing hundreds of resumes myself, there are definitely steps you can take to make sure your resume stands out from the rest. In this blog, you will find the lessons I have learned from my own experience and research over the years.
The chronological, functional, and hybrid resumes are the three most popular resumes out there. Most of us are familiar with the chronological resume which highlights our experience in chronological order with the most recent work experience at the beginning of the resume and the remaining work experiences following thereafter. Because of its popularity and familiarity, this is the resume I almost always recommend to my clients. You always want to hedge your bets and sometimes being too different and out of the mainstream can backfire if you come across a recruiter or hiring authority who doesn’t like to shift gears in the middle of resume reviews. You also have to keep in mind that hiring panels and recruiters are also looking at dozens if not hundreds of resumes and familiarity helps with the review process and any formatting that calls anything into question or is too dramatic of a shift can back fire on you.
The functional resume is a resume that focuses on the skills and abilities for the job that you are actually applying for. This is a good resume to use if the job you are applying for is very technical in nature but your work history has portions where you worked outside of the functional area (IT, Finance, etc.). It is also a good resume for those applicants with limited work experience. By focusing the resume on your functional skills, the limited experience is less noticeable to the reviewer. The recruiter or hiring authority is also able to see that you have the necessary experience and qualifications to do the highly technical job without being distracted by the other work experiences outside that functional area. The functional resume is not recommended if you are applying for a leadership, management or supervisory job. For these jobs, the chronological or hybrid resume is recommended.
The hybrid resume is just that, a mix of both functional skills and work experience. This of course is not recommended for those applicants with limited work experience. But for those applicants with a depth of expertise in a functional area and a wealth of leadership experience, this could be the resume for you.
Your resume should be 1-2 pages. Any more than that, and you begin to water down your resume and you begin to frustrate the reviewer. Remember that the hiring authority or recruiter is looking at a lot of resumes so having an 8-11 page resume (yes…I have seen resumes this long) automatically starts you off in the “no go” pile. By keeping your resume to no more than two pages, you also eliminate the need for a staple. Besides, if you can’t convince a reviewer within two pages of your resume, you probably are not the most qualified for the job.
A good way to cut down on the length of your resume is to use bullet format versus narrative form in the work experience sections of your resume. You have to remember that the reviewer is looking at dozens if not hundreds of resumes and it is easier to demonstrate impact and highlight key words in bullet format. When you use the narrative format, the reviewer has to work harder to see your high impact actions and it is possible for them to glance over your key accomplishments. Even in today’s world of automated resume search programs, a human being is eventually going to look at your resume and the easier it is to read and understand, the better.
You have to know your audience. Depending on the job you are applying for, your first reviewer can be a software program that is looking for keywords. In other cases, it can be a recruiter who is looking at your resume on a computer screen. In other cases, the reviewer may not be an expert in your career field so the words you use matter.
I worked for the federal government so resumes for clients leaving federal service will look totally different if they decide to pursue jobs in the private sector. Spelling out acronyms and equating federal and military jobs to private sector jobs can mean the difference between getting the interview and being passed over.
For this reason, you want to maintain at least two versions of your resume. The first version is your base resume. This is the resume you will use to slightly modify as you find a specific job you are applying for. You don’t want to be in a position where you are starting from scratch. Create your base resume now and slightly modify when you apply for a specific job.
I now want to shift gears and focus on the actual sections of the resume. Once again, these recommendations are based on my personal experience sitting on hiring panels and my own research.
The “Objective” section of the resume was once a staple for so many years. It now dates resumes and to be honest is a waste of space. We already know that your objective is to get a job in the area you are applying for so that you can apply your skills. Remember that your resume is only 1-2 pages and you need to make an impression fast so get rid of the objective section and instead insert a 2-3 line career summary. In this career summary, you want to aggregate your accomplishments. You want that to be the first thing the reviewer sees right after your name and contact info.
Here is how you would build your career summary. Let’s say you had three previous work assignments where you managed 25, 50, and 125 people. In your career summary you would say, “Experienced supervisor with three challenging assignments leading 200 people.” This one sentence gives me context and tell me what you can bring to my organization. You would use this aggregation process within your career summary for any other criteria a hiring authority values. So if you managed various budget amounts, aggregate those positions, financial amounts managed, and so on and so on.
You can determine what an organization values by looking at the job announcement and/or their web site. Remember to keep your career summary short and to the point. The idea is to capture the reviewer’s interest and get them to look further down your resume. Most recruiters are looking at resumes on a computer screen so what you have on the top third of the resume will determine if they scroll down further or move onto the next applicant.
The most common mistake I see occurs in the work experience section. This mistake is that people cut and paste their job description into each work experience section. To make matters worse, these job descriptions are very lengthy which in turn makes for a really long and uninspiring resume. These job descriptions do not tell me or any other reviewer very much. What you want to be able to show the reviewer is what you can bring to the organization. You can partially do that by a job description but how you effectively executed that job description is what will separate you from the rest. Just think about it. If you were to cut and paste a job description into your resume, the next person who replaces you can use the same exact words because they too ended up having the same exact responsibilities. So the best way to describe what you can bring to the new organization is to use the CCAR method.
The CCAR method is an acronym that stands for Context-Challenge-Action-Result. This method was derived from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), “Guide to Writing Senior Executive Service Narratives.”
This is probably one of the most important pieces of advice I can give you. When you use the CCAR method, nothing is left to the imagination. The reviewer is able to see the scope of your responsibility (context), what you were up against (challenge), the steps you took (action) and the impact you made on the organization (results). These results are what can separate you from the rest. As a reviewer, there are times that I review resumes in career fields that are outside my immediate work experience. So the usual job description helps, but I can’t tell how well you did the job. The results part of the CCAR method is easily understood no matter what your background happens to be. Saving money, man hours, time, etc. means the same to everyone so if you said, “Led the largest ever organizational communication upgrade. Actions identified 52 deficiencies leading to $250 million in upgrades. These upgrades were completed two years ahead of schedule.” This statement tells me a lot:
Context: largest ever, organizational, 52, $250M, and two years
Challenge: communication upgrade, deficiencies
Action: Led, identified, and completed
Result: 52 deficiencies identified, $250 million upgrade, and completed two years early
I can immediately know the scope of your responsibility, what you were up against, the steps you took, and the impact you made on the organization. By using this method for every single one of your accomplishments, in every work experience section, you will begin to tell a story that you can take on big tasks and get results.
When it comes to education, I see four common mistakes. The first mistake is that if an organization values education, the individual does not have any education completed. In today’s world, how you bounce back from adversity is valued more than a degree or certificate but for those organizations that still value degrees and certificates; you need to make sure you have those completed or at a minimum in work. The second mistake is that the education is not aligned with the job they are applying for. The third mistake is that they fail to capture all of their job relevant education. Aligned and relevant education and training translates into dollar amounts saved for the organization so if you have it, make it known. The fourth mistake I see is that the only thing they have done to this point in their career is to focus on education. There is nothing wrong with having a lifelong learning mindset but a career student is a bad look. Experience is the best teacher so if all you have done is read lessons out of a book; you will find it hard to market yourself.
The key is to make sure you capture all your education and certifications. But don’t give up the opportunity to build upon your job experience for the sake of piling up additional degrees and certificates. You need to make sure you obtain the appropriate level of education and certifications (if required) for the job you are applying but don’t let that be the only thing you focus on. There is a balance.
Having that education or certification adds credibility to your ability to do the job. As stated earlier, it can translate into future financial savings to the organization because that is one less training program or certification they need to provide for you if they were to hire you.
If you are in the process of completing your degree or certification, there is nothing wrong with listing your “estimated completion date.” This at least lets the reviewer know that you are in the process of obtaining that degree or certification.
Lastly, if you are applying for technical jobs, it is really important to highlight all of your job related training and certifications. I see this a lot when I review IT related resumes. There are so many training programs and certifications required to work in this field and having those completed items highlighted may be the difference between getting the interview or waiting for the next job opportunity to pop up.
If you have ever received any awards or recognition, it doesn’t hurt to highlight those items in your resume. You can help your case by making sure you quantify those awards and recognition. Here is an example. Let’s say you won your organization’s employee of the year award. Most people would say, “Organization X Employee of the Year, 2020” on their resume. But let’s say there are 500 people in your IT firm. I would write the bullet this way, “#1 of 500 IT professionals–Organization X Employee of the Year, 2020.” You should immediately notice the scope (500 IT professionals) and effect the #1 ranking has on the bullet compared to the original version. It is minor changes like this that can help the reviewer remember your name in the stack of dozens or hundreds of resumes.
You should have 2-3 professional contacts listed on your resume. Some have said to leave your contacts off and instead put “professional contacts available upon requests.” All this does is delay the inevitable and when it comes to getting hired, why take a risk that the hiring manager doesn’t want to take the extra step and ask for your professional contacts?
Be sure that you let these individuals know that you have put them down as references. More importantly, make sure that these individuals will give you a good reference. You will be surprised how many times a reference is caught off guard and their less than glowing remarks caused the individual to lose out on a job.
Before you submit your resume to a hiring authority or service, be sure to send your resume to a professional consultant. The above recommendations are the major factors and steps to consider but there are many tips I did not mention that can make your resume stand out.
After reviewing hundreds of resumes, I have found that I can quickly spot a strong candidate or immediately see how a resume can better reflect a candidate’s knowledge, skills, and abilities. You want to leverage that skill to ensure you effectively present yourself to the hiring authority. Because what you know and what you present can mean the difference between getting the interview or waiting for the next job opportunity.
Self-awareness is not only important to your professional career but it is also important in your personal relationships. The next step after the resume review is the interview and knowing where your strengths and areas for improvement lie can help you shape the most important step during the hiring process, the interview.
Talent Generator® has a competency base assessment tool that will allow you to ask those who know you best to give their assessment of your knowledge, skills, and abilities in areas most important to the job you are applying for. Talent Generator® already comes with a few private sector competency models (Education, Medical, Non-Profit, etc.). You simply select the sector of your choice and then email out the survey. We even have a baseline leadership competency model you can use.
The best part of this survey is that you are in control and you can select people who will give you honest feedback. The number of evaluators is unlimited but we recommend you choose people who will give you honest and actionable feedback. The best part is that the survey has been gamified so you don’t have to worry about multiple choice or Likert scale assessments. You can have fun while getting the answers you need to display the best parts of your skills and abilities.
If you are an organization that wants to prioritize competencies you value most, the Talent Generator® tool is perfect for you. Whether you use one of the pre-existing competency models or build your own, the Talent Generator® Competency Assessment and Calibration Tool is easy to use and gets you the results you have been waiting for. To find out more, click here.
