Content and Visual Appeal keys to Résumé Success
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Background
Anna enjoyed a 25+-year career in the workers’ compensation (WC) field and came to me hoping to position herself for more exciting opportunities in a generalist human resources role or the workers’ compensation field. She spent the past two years with an auction house performing a variety of roles spanning WC and human resources administration. Prior to her current engagement, she spent 23 years as a claims examiner and office manager for a private WC consulting firm.
Original Résumé Pitfalls
Anna’s original résumé was a carbon copy of so many résumés out there today, both in content and aesthetics. Anna used a common template that lacked visual appeal, included redundant content beginning most sentences with “Responsible for…” and did not effectively present the value she provided to her past employers. In addition, her content was not strategically placed, and as a result, employment in the 1980’s appeared on page one of her résumé. Also, unrelated educational pursuits including her high school diploma and cosmetology studies were listed before professional development in her field.
Makeover Strategies
To position Anna for the types of engagements she wanted, I needed to explore her roles much more fully, including where she had really contributed value to her past employers. I opened her résumé by replacing an outdated objective statement with an extensive qualifications summary positioning her as a human resources and workers’ compensation specialist. By doing so, I was able to diffuse the sole focus on a career in WC, and instead pull out core HR skills that would market her effectively for a generalist role in human resources. The summary was also made quite extensive to ensure her earlier employment spanning 1982-2005 fell to page two of her résumé.
Anna’s current position needed to be expanded significantly and explore not only what she was paid to do, but what she did above and beyond her job description. From what was described in five bullet points on her original résumé, is now explored through an introductory paragraph, a key initiatives and results statement, and seven bullet points marketing the accomplishments she achieved. In addition, the bulleted notes are separated into core skill areas to better facilitate the desired focus on her experience in both HR and WC. The thorough exploration of her current role ensured the appropriate value was placed on this experience, and would play a key role in positioning her for entry into a more general HR role.
One of the keys to success for Anna’s résumé makeover was positioning her early experience on page two. A résumé should typically include about 10-15 years of experience, but when you begin a position in 1982 and hold the same title until 2005, it makes it difficult to include less than 20+ years of experience. In order to not unnecessarily age the candidate, it was imperative to place this position on page two, leaving the dates of that assignment to play a much smaller role in the screening process. Additionally, on her original résumé, Anna had described this 23 years of experience in 4 very short bullet points. This presented a major disconnect as to what value she really contributed and what experience was gained through the majority of her career. Upon reviewing this position with Anna during our phone consultation, I was able to explore the role with the weight it deserved, presenting in the same manner as her most recent experience.
Anna’s education section on her original résumé included outdated and unrelated information. There was no need to include a high school diploma as it is assumed a candidate possesses that level of education. In addition, studies in an unrelated field such as cosmetology only showed an additional area of interest and could potentially distract the reader, making them lose focus on Anna being a HR / WC specialist. Instead of an education section, I presented a professional development section including only her related training in the field. Lastly, her technical skills were presented as it was very important to show she possessed knowledge of current applications in the field.
Keys to Success
Anna’s original résumé lacked visual appeal and would easily lose the reader’s interest due to the redundancy in content and presentation of unrelated information. Although Anna’s original résumé did little to showcase her abilities, she did have an extensive skill set in her fields of interest, and with further exploration of her background during our consultation, I was able to pull out additional details and accomplishments, which when coupled with an engaging design, would secure the attention of a hiring manager.
Reach Dear Sam at dearsam@dispatch.com. If you would like Dear Sam's résumé writing firm to write your résumé, please visit www.ladybug-design.com or call 614-570-3442 or toll-free 1-888-9-LADYBUG.
Background
Anna enjoyed a 25+-year career in the workers’ compensation (WC) field and came to me hoping to position herself for more exciting opportunities in a generalist human resources role or the workers’ compensation field. She spent the past two years with an auction house performing a variety of roles spanning WC and human resources administration. Prior to her current engagement, she spent 23 years as a claims examiner and office manager for a private WC consulting firm.
Original Résumé Pitfalls
Anna’s original résumé was a carbon copy of so many résumés out there today, both in content and aesthetics. Anna used a common template that lacked visual appeal, included redundant content beginning most sentences with “Responsible for…” and did not effectively present the value she provided to her past employers. In addition, her content was not strategically placed, and as a result, employment in the 1980’s appeared on page one of her résumé. Also, unrelated educational pursuits including her high school diploma and cosmetology studies were listed before professional development in her field.
Makeover Strategies
To position Anna for the types of engagements she wanted, I needed to explore her roles much more fully, including where she had really contributed value to her past employers. I opened her résumé by replacing an outdated objective statement with an extensive qualifications summary positioning her as a human resources and workers’ compensation specialist. By doing so, I was able to diffuse the sole focus on a career in WC, and instead pull out core HR skills that would market her effectively for a generalist role in human resources. The summary was also made quite extensive to ensure her earlier employment spanning 1982-2005 fell to page two of her résumé.
Anna’s current position needed to be expanded significantly and explore not only what she was paid to do, but what she did above and beyond her job description. From what was described in five bullet points on her original résumé, is now explored through an introductory paragraph, a key initiatives and results statement, and seven bullet points marketing the accomplishments she achieved. In addition, the bulleted notes are separated into core skill areas to better facilitate the desired focus on her experience in both HR and WC. The thorough exploration of her current role ensured the appropriate value was placed on this experience, and would play a key role in positioning her for entry into a more general HR role.
One of the keys to success for Anna’s résumé makeover was positioning her early experience on page two. A résumé should typically include about 10-15 years of experience, but when you begin a position in 1982 and hold the same title until 2005, it makes it difficult to include less than 20+ years of experience. In order to not unnecessarily age the candidate, it was imperative to place this position on page two, leaving the dates of that assignment to play a much smaller role in the screening process. Additionally, on her original résumé, Anna had described this 23 years of experience in 4 very short bullet points. This presented a major disconnect as to what value she really contributed and what experience was gained through the majority of her career. Upon reviewing this position with Anna during our phone consultation, I was able to explore the role with the weight it deserved, presenting in the same manner as her most recent experience.
Anna’s education section on her original résumé included outdated and unrelated information. There was no need to include a high school diploma as it is assumed a candidate possesses that level of education. In addition, studies in an unrelated field such as cosmetology only showed an additional area of interest and could potentially distract the reader, making them lose focus on Anna being a HR / WC specialist. Instead of an education section, I presented a professional development section including only her related training in the field. Lastly, her technical skills were presented as it was very important to show she possessed knowledge of current applications in the field.
Keys to Success
Anna’s original résumé lacked visual appeal and would easily lose the reader’s interest due to the redundancy in content and presentation of unrelated information. Although Anna’s original résumé did little to showcase her abilities, she did have an extensive skill set in her fields of interest, and with further exploration of her background during our consultation, I was able to pull out additional details and accomplishments, which when coupled with an engaging design, would secure the attention of a hiring manager.
Reach Dear Sam at dearsam@dispatch.com. If you would like Dear Sam's résumé writing firm to write your résumé, please visit www.ladybug-design.com or call 614-570-3442 or toll-free 1-888-9-LADYBUG.
posted by Dear Sam at Sunday, November 25, 2007
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