Spring Resume Makeover Series: Strong qualifications summary makes difference
View Before Resume
View After Resume
Client Background
Tony’s objective was to secure a highly coveted pharmaceutical sales position. Tony’s main concern, and one brought up in previous interviews, was that he lacked the preferred business-to-business (B2B) sales experience. He had however been engaged in B2B transactions throughout his career, but they were not highlighted prominently, instead there was a clear B2C focus to his original résumé. Tony also wanted to showcase the transferability of his career in the fitness industry to support his strong medical and health knowledge. Tony had also participated in an informal preceptorship, which added to his qualifications to begin a career as a pharmaceutical sales rep.
Résumé Strategies
Tony’s original résumé was not strong enough in content or presentation, so both areas were addressed in the development of his new résumé. Instead of an objective statement, I opened the résumé with an extensive qualifications summary highlighting his related experiences and education. Beginning the qualifications summary is a brief highlighted list of key qualifiers, a highly effective approach when a candidate needs to focus the hiring manger’s attention on the aspects of their background that qualify them for a particular engagement. Next, Tony’s professional experience section was expanded significantly based on information we reviewed during his phone consultation. His primary B2B experience was expanded from only 4 bullet points on his original résumé, to a full paragraph and 7 bulleted achievements on his new version. The formatting of this section pulls the hiring manager’s eye to the most important information in the section. Page two of Tony’s résumé continued to explore his experiences, highlighting B2B interactions whenever possible. I also highlighted his preceptorship prominently along with a personal training certification. Lastly, Tony’s education was presented with a complete list of all science and medical coursework he completed.
Client Comments / Results
After one week with his new résumé Tony wrote: I've been re-sending my new résumé out for a little over a week now and I've had one phone interview, I'm scheduled for a face-to-face (F2F) next week, and I've had many emails from recruiters who comment on how great my résumé looks and that I'm moving to the top of their list of people to call for some upcoming opportunities...all in the new field I'm pursuing. All I can say is "thank you, thank you, thank you" Ladybug Design! The finished product is awesome and turned out better than I even hoped for. It’s some of the best money I've ever spent and will pay for itself 100 times over.
Three weeks later Tony wrote: As of this coming Monday, I'm a new pharmaceutical sales rep for ABC Pharmaceuticals!! And this is all possible because of the awesome résumé that you created for me. Once I started sending out the updated résumé, the calls started coming in. I had a F2F interview with two ABC Pharmaceutical DM's that went extremely well, so they scheduled me for a F2F with the Regional Director. When I met with the RD, the first words out of her mouth were "who did your résumé for you?"...I'm not lying!! When I told her it was professionally done, she said that it was one of the better looking résumés she's seen in a long time! I went on to tell her about your column in the Dispatch and how I came to give you a call. She really liked the fact that I decided to "step up" and do what's necessary to make my résumé "stand out." Anyway, I'm finally in. Thanks so much for taking the time to give me an awesome résumé that catches the eyes of hiring managers. My résumé was worth every penny and more! I'll recommend your services to anyone who needs a résumé makeover. And I'll contact you again if I ever need to update mine. Best of luck to you!
To send your question to Dear Sam for possible publication, please email her at dearsam@ladybug-design.com.
If you would like Dear Sam's firm to write your résumé, please visit www.ladybug-design.com or call 614-570-3442 or 1-888-9-LADYBUG.
Samantha is a Certified Professional Résumé Writer with a graduate degree in Marketing and Communication, and owner of Ladybug Design, a full-service résumé writing and interview coaching firm.
View After Resume
Client Background
Tony’s objective was to secure a highly coveted pharmaceutical sales position. Tony’s main concern, and one brought up in previous interviews, was that he lacked the preferred business-to-business (B2B) sales experience. He had however been engaged in B2B transactions throughout his career, but they were not highlighted prominently, instead there was a clear B2C focus to his original résumé. Tony also wanted to showcase the transferability of his career in the fitness industry to support his strong medical and health knowledge. Tony had also participated in an informal preceptorship, which added to his qualifications to begin a career as a pharmaceutical sales rep.
Résumé Strategies
Tony’s original résumé was not strong enough in content or presentation, so both areas were addressed in the development of his new résumé. Instead of an objective statement, I opened the résumé with an extensive qualifications summary highlighting his related experiences and education. Beginning the qualifications summary is a brief highlighted list of key qualifiers, a highly effective approach when a candidate needs to focus the hiring manger’s attention on the aspects of their background that qualify them for a particular engagement. Next, Tony’s professional experience section was expanded significantly based on information we reviewed during his phone consultation. His primary B2B experience was expanded from only 4 bullet points on his original résumé, to a full paragraph and 7 bulleted achievements on his new version. The formatting of this section pulls the hiring manager’s eye to the most important information in the section. Page two of Tony’s résumé continued to explore his experiences, highlighting B2B interactions whenever possible. I also highlighted his preceptorship prominently along with a personal training certification. Lastly, Tony’s education was presented with a complete list of all science and medical coursework he completed.
Client Comments / Results
After one week with his new résumé Tony wrote: I've been re-sending my new résumé out for a little over a week now and I've had one phone interview, I'm scheduled for a face-to-face (F2F) next week, and I've had many emails from recruiters who comment on how great my résumé looks and that I'm moving to the top of their list of people to call for some upcoming opportunities...all in the new field I'm pursuing. All I can say is "thank you, thank you, thank you" Ladybug Design! The finished product is awesome and turned out better than I even hoped for. It’s some of the best money I've ever spent and will pay for itself 100 times over.
Three weeks later Tony wrote: As of this coming Monday, I'm a new pharmaceutical sales rep for ABC Pharmaceuticals!! And this is all possible because of the awesome résumé that you created for me. Once I started sending out the updated résumé, the calls started coming in. I had a F2F interview with two ABC Pharmaceutical DM's that went extremely well, so they scheduled me for a F2F with the Regional Director. When I met with the RD, the first words out of her mouth were "who did your résumé for you?"...I'm not lying!! When I told her it was professionally done, she said that it was one of the better looking résumés she's seen in a long time! I went on to tell her about your column in the Dispatch and how I came to give you a call. She really liked the fact that I decided to "step up" and do what's necessary to make my résumé "stand out." Anyway, I'm finally in. Thanks so much for taking the time to give me an awesome résumé that catches the eyes of hiring managers. My résumé was worth every penny and more! I'll recommend your services to anyone who needs a résumé makeover. And I'll contact you again if I ever need to update mine. Best of luck to you!
To send your question to Dear Sam for possible publication, please email her at dearsam@ladybug-design.com.
If you would like Dear Sam's firm to write your résumé, please visit www.ladybug-design.com or call 614-570-3442 or 1-888-9-LADYBUG.
Samantha is a Certified Professional Résumé Writer with a graduate degree in Marketing and Communication, and owner of Ladybug Design, a full-service résumé writing and interview coaching firm.
posted by Dear Sam at Sunday, April 29, 2007
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