Investing time and resources in résumé critical for successful job search
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Candidate’s Background
Bethany had not worked formally for 10 years and had sporadic experience previous to that spanning healthcare, sales, and proofreading roles. She wanted to reenter the workforce in an administrative or social work capacity but was finding it was challenging to present her dated experience in a manner that would attract a hiring manager. She was also finding it difficult identifying her core skills and marketing herself effectively, particularly as she had been out of the workforce for so long and wasn’t quite sure what employers were looking for in today’s job market.
Résumé Strategies
One of the keys to the strength of Bethany’s résumé was to pull out excerpts from a performance review attesting to her ability to excel in any environment and serve as an asset to any organization. Statements such as this serve as third-party validation of claims you make on your résumé and can add considerable value to one’s candidacy. Through the qualifications summary and core skills list, I positioned Bethany for the types of opportunities she wanted to pursue, presenting all the information the reader would need to know to thoroughly evaluate her candidacy. I also used a shaded box presenting comments from a former supervisor and a well formatted skills list to keep the reader’s eye at the top of her résumé (thereby minimizing the impact of her dates of employment). In the professional experience section, I minimized the appearance of employment dates as much as possible and highlighted accomplishments prominently, a strategy to draw the eye to the information that enhanced her candidacy. I also presented highlights that related well to the positions she wanted to pursue at this time in her life so the hiring manager could easily identify her transferable skills.
Cover Letter Strategies
Due to the strength of comments made about Bethany’s performance, I also opened her cover letter with pull quotes from her reviews. This sets the tone for Bethany’s candidacy, engages the reader, and minimizes any potential adverse reaction from having been out of the workforce for some time. The first paragraph of the cover letter only focuses on the value she has contributed, never mentioning the timeline of her career. It is imperative not to highlight disqualifying factors in a cover letter as if you handle your positive attributes appropriately, you can potentially prevent negative reactions from such factors as dated experience, frequent job hops, large employment gaps, etc. I used bullet points in her cover letter to focus the reader’s attention on where she had gone above and beyond in her career, really contributed extra value, and demonstrated her core skills. The cover letter closes with an actionable statement pertaining to her forthcoming follow up on the opportunity.
Keys to Success
Presenting someone for reentry into the workforce can be challenging, but with strategic inclusion/omission of experience, a focus on achievements, selective formatting, and a visually pleasing design, it is possible to create an effective résumé that facilitates reentry into the workforce. Additionally, one of the key areas a résumé can help someone reentering the workforce is in boosting their confidence and giving them a mechanism to outline their core skills and attributes that are marketable in today’s job market. In fact this is one of the items Bethany expressed as most helpful in her search. She went on to say, “Contemplating entering the workforce after many years as a full time homemaker, I felt that my skills were outdated, and had no idea where to begin in composing an up-to-date résumé. I now feel more confident and better prepared to enter the competitive job market with my skills and abilities well formatted, and certainly more organized…it is one of the best investments I have ever made.”
Samantha Nolan is a certified professional résumé writer and owner of Ladybug Design, a full-service résumé writing firm. Reach her at dearsam@ladybug-design.com, www.ladybug-design.com, or 1-888-9-LADYBUG (1-888-952-3928).
View New Cover Letter
Candidate’s Background
Bethany had not worked formally for 10 years and had sporadic experience previous to that spanning healthcare, sales, and proofreading roles. She wanted to reenter the workforce in an administrative or social work capacity but was finding it was challenging to present her dated experience in a manner that would attract a hiring manager. She was also finding it difficult identifying her core skills and marketing herself effectively, particularly as she had been out of the workforce for so long and wasn’t quite sure what employers were looking for in today’s job market.
Résumé Strategies
One of the keys to the strength of Bethany’s résumé was to pull out excerpts from a performance review attesting to her ability to excel in any environment and serve as an asset to any organization. Statements such as this serve as third-party validation of claims you make on your résumé and can add considerable value to one’s candidacy. Through the qualifications summary and core skills list, I positioned Bethany for the types of opportunities she wanted to pursue, presenting all the information the reader would need to know to thoroughly evaluate her candidacy. I also used a shaded box presenting comments from a former supervisor and a well formatted skills list to keep the reader’s eye at the top of her résumé (thereby minimizing the impact of her dates of employment). In the professional experience section, I minimized the appearance of employment dates as much as possible and highlighted accomplishments prominently, a strategy to draw the eye to the information that enhanced her candidacy. I also presented highlights that related well to the positions she wanted to pursue at this time in her life so the hiring manager could easily identify her transferable skills.
Cover Letter Strategies
Due to the strength of comments made about Bethany’s performance, I also opened her cover letter with pull quotes from her reviews. This sets the tone for Bethany’s candidacy, engages the reader, and minimizes any potential adverse reaction from having been out of the workforce for some time. The first paragraph of the cover letter only focuses on the value she has contributed, never mentioning the timeline of her career. It is imperative not to highlight disqualifying factors in a cover letter as if you handle your positive attributes appropriately, you can potentially prevent negative reactions from such factors as dated experience, frequent job hops, large employment gaps, etc. I used bullet points in her cover letter to focus the reader’s attention on where she had gone above and beyond in her career, really contributed extra value, and demonstrated her core skills. The cover letter closes with an actionable statement pertaining to her forthcoming follow up on the opportunity.
Keys to Success
Presenting someone for reentry into the workforce can be challenging, but with strategic inclusion/omission of experience, a focus on achievements, selective formatting, and a visually pleasing design, it is possible to create an effective résumé that facilitates reentry into the workforce. Additionally, one of the key areas a résumé can help someone reentering the workforce is in boosting their confidence and giving them a mechanism to outline their core skills and attributes that are marketable in today’s job market. In fact this is one of the items Bethany expressed as most helpful in her search. She went on to say, “Contemplating entering the workforce after many years as a full time homemaker, I felt that my skills were outdated, and had no idea where to begin in composing an up-to-date résumé. I now feel more confident and better prepared to enter the competitive job market with my skills and abilities well formatted, and certainly more organized…it is one of the best investments I have ever made.”
Samantha Nolan is a certified professional résumé writer and owner of Ladybug Design, a full-service résumé writing firm. Reach her at dearsam@ladybug-design.com, www.ladybug-design.com, or 1-888-9-LADYBUG (1-888-952-3928).
posted by Dear Sam at Sunday, December 09, 2007
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