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.

Spring Makeover Series: Use Quantifiers to Distinguish Yourself from Others

View Before Resume
View After Resume

Client Background
Robert came to me with a very simple existing resume that neither showcased his broad skill set nor his career achievements. Despite having held significant responsibilities during each of his professional engagements, his resume did not capture the full scope of what he had performed or achieved. Additionally, his resume was not aesthetically pleasing to the eye and dated his candidacy by including work history back to 1968.

Résumé Strategies
In addition to making Robert’s résumé pleasing to the eye, information needed to be prioritized, and accomplishments had to be reviewed thoroughly in order to differentiate his candidacy from his competitors. Robert’s career overview, which appeared on his original résumé, was a good attempt to provide a brief summary of his most notable skills, but needed some crucial prioritization, focus, and reformatting. His new qualifications summary is much more appealing and engaging, and through strategic formatting and presentation, communicates his key qualifications to a hiring manager easily within the 10-15 second screening process. Additionally, to further support the screening process, a core skills list was included to explore Robert’s diverse competencies.

In the professional experience section, accomplishments were explored during the consultation and displayed in an engaging and eye-catching manner. Quantifiers were added whenever possible to distinguish his experiences and achievements from others with similar roles. Key challenges were also explored and presented in order to provide a clear picture of the significance of each achievement. Additionally, only Robert’s last two positions were dated in order to avoid unnecessarily aging his candidacy. Earlier engagements were presented without dates to showcase additional skills and experiences that still supported his candidacy.

Lastly, Robert’s professional development was presented to minimize the impact of not having a college degree, something that was missing from his original résumé.

Client Comments / Results
Shortly after receiving his résumé, the client called and stated:
“Samantha, I need to discuss a problem with you…” Robert said. “I have too many interviews and not enough time.”

Later, the client wrote:
“I was very pleased with the entire process with Ladybug Design. They did everything that they promised in a timely fashion. My finished resume is without a doubt one of the best résumés that I have ever seen. It highlights all my strengths and plays down weaker areas. The response has been remarkable. The first seven résumés sent all resulted in personal interviews. These people know what they are doing!”

Client update:
Robert recently reported that after 9 interviews in just 8 short weeks, he accepted a position with a new company and attributes his success to the new and improved resume.

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.

Spring Makeover Series: Shift focus to related career experiences when current position is not in your field

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View After Resume

Client Background
John’s goal was to return to the field of communications, media, and public relations. After admitting he was “burned out” after his last position in that field, he pursued other areas and had served as a delivery driver for the past three years. Now, after regaining his passion for what he felt he did best, he was ready to enter the job search and regain his professional status prior to 2003.

Résumé Strategies
First and foremost, John’s most recent experience had to be minimized and focus placed on his 15+ years of related experience. To do this, I opened his résumé with a strong qualifications summary which immediately positioned him as a Communications and PR Manager. I used this section to present key highlights from his career, noting names of employers as they would likely play a role in the success of his networking efforts.

In the professional experience section, very little space was given to his most recent role as a delivery driver. While we had to note this engagement to avoid a large employment gap, it did not need to be explained in its entirety. Almost immediately, focus was shifted to his related career experience, exploring his roles much more fully than on his original résumé. I took some time during our consultation to review the challenges of his engagements, where he had driven particular value, and the results he had generated for his employers. I also conducted extensive research on each organization, finding additional details that prompted discussions of other key points John hadn’t thought were important. His two main engagements were presented with an overview of his role, the challenges he faced and overcame, and the key contributions and results he drove. This presented a much stronger image of each of his positions, and provided the hiring manager with a clear image of the value he could offer his next employer.

Strategically, page one breaks immediately after his most recent communications position, leaving his director of athletic communications position to fall to page two. I did this as I wanted to focus on his broad-based communications role, avoiding positioning him as more experienced in working in college athletic departments (12 of his 15 years of experience). While he was interested in pursuing opportunities in this environment, he noted during our consultation that these environments were very unique, and he would be able to utilize his network to source opportunities similar to those previous to his most recent communications experience. It was therefore very important to focus on marketing his most recent related experience and ability to produce results regardless of the industry or setting.

Earlier experiences were presented in a byline so not to divert focus from his current career goal and related skills. It was important for the client to present these employers on his résumé, again, to facilitate networking opportunities.

John’s new résumé was also dramatically different in design. His original résumé was not engaging, appearing as paragraph after paragraph of information with no prioritization of information, highlighting of achievements, or focus on what he had done that positioned him for his current career goal. With a newfound focus, his new résumé positions him for exactly what he wants to do, engages the reader through a unique and aesthetically sound design, and through selective formatting, pulls the reader’s eye to the most important information supportive of his professional candidacy.

Client Comments
After reviewing his new résumé and embarking on his job search, John took the time to write to let us know he was, “…very, very satisfied with the new resume. My resume needed updating in many ways and your service exceeded all my expectations. Thanks for all your hard work.”

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 résumé writing firm to write your résumé, please visit www.ladybug-design.com or call 614-570-3442 or 1-888-9-LADYBUG.

Spring Resume Makeover - Portray experiences in the proper light

View Before Resume
View After Resume

Client Background
Steven’s goal was to secure a new and challenging Creative Director position. His original résumé, which featured a one-page, two-column design, was lacking in content and I feared would not hold the interest of a hiring manager seeking an executive-level candidate. I explained to Steven that while I liked the look of his original résumé, it seemed to position him more as a designer or entry-level candidate, and was not portraying his achievements, experiences, and skills in an executive light.

Résumé Strategies
Steven’s résumé was completely rebuilt primarily utilizing our consultation as a means to gather the information I needed to differentiate his candidacy. His original résumé focused on daily responsibilities instead of achievements, so it was my goal to spend our consultation reviewing where he had gone above and beyond. During the consultation, I realized that Steven’s original résumé was truly under representing him as a candidate and promoting form over function. It was therefore imperative that his new résumé accurately present and explore the contributions he had made during his career, particularly in his current Creative Director role.

Missing from his original résumé was a qualifications summary presenting an overview of his candidacy. This section is imperative on any résumé, but particularly important on an executive-level résumé where the hiring manager really does need to understand the candidate’s core offerings as related to the position of interest. In the summary I not only presented highlights of his career, but also noted some of the campaign honors and awards he had received.

In the professional experience section, responsibilities were explored fully and achievements were differentiated through a clear distinction in formatting. At a glance, I wanted a hiring manager to know exactly what to read on Steven’s résumé, and the use of selective formatting serves to pull the eye to this section of his résumé. What appeared as a paragraph on his old résumé was now expanded to reveal his full contribution as an employee, taking up almost two-thirds of a page to accurately present his most recent experience. Earlier experiences were also explored more fully, being sure to present key achievements to demonstrate a consistent track record of success.

Lastly, I presented Steven’s academic background, training, technical skills, and professional affiliations. In Steven’s original résumé, his education was given much more prominence, appearing at the top of the second column. In his new résumé, his experience was focused on much more heavily while using his academic qualifications to support his candidacy, a much more appropriate strategy for this executive-level client.

Client Comments
On the day Steven received news that he had secured a new position he was kind enough to write, “I just wanted to drop you a quick note to thank you for helping me SECURE my Dream Job...YES, I was offered the position today. I do not believe I could have landed this ‘opportunity of a lifetime’ without your help. From the resume to the interview coaching, everything was just perfect. The position is even more than what I was hoping for…thank you again.” Today, Steven enjoys his new position as Senior Creative Director with a full-service PR, public affairs, and marketing communications firm.

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 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.

Common Resume Questions

This week, I thought we would review some of the key areas for which I consistently receive questions, leading into April where we will be featuring our annual "Spring Makeover Series," proven very helpful in providing readers with visual representations of what I write about week after week, and of course actionable strategies to improve your own résumé.

Some FAQs include:

Q: I can do anything and everything and I want the hiring manager to know that. How should I organize my experience so they understand I can fit into multiple roles?
A: While this may seem like an effective strategy, it is actually quite the opposite. I cringe when candidates tell me they can do anything, they just like working with people, and don't have an idea of what type of jobs they will be applying for. While I certainly understand the need to not limit options in today's job market, a one-size-fits-all blanket strategy is rarely effective. Instead, one should really try to identify a primary objective, even if this means you have a secondary or tertiary objective requiring modified résumés. If you try to present yourself as a jack-of-all-trades you suddenly become a master-of-none; clearly not a good presentation of your candidacy. Defining your purpose is the critical first step in crafting an effective résumé, a step that facilitates your understanding of what your target audience is looking for and what keywords to incorporate into your résumé. While you may have thought broadening your scope on your résumé would yield more responses, it is likely it is doing the opposite.

Q: What are some of the common mistakes candidates make that can be easily avoided?
A: There are several areas on a résumé to which candidates don't really pay enough attention. I've found this isn't as a result of a lack of effort, simply a lack of understanding as to what can distract a hiring manager and disqualify a candidate. Some of these areas include:

Unprofessional or incomplete résumé headings
As simple as it seems, review your résumé heading! Never include a work phone number or your company's 800# as this could tell a potential employer that you do not value your company's resources (the hiring manager does not know if your employer is aware of your search or not, so don't assume they will think this practice is acceptable). Include your cell phone number only if you can answer it professionally every time it rings! Review voice mail messages for all the numbers listed on your résumé and ensure they are reinforcing your professional not personal image. Lastly, be sure you have a professional email address. Don't use email addresses with your graduation year, birth year, etc., these are very easy to spot and can destroy strategic efforts to minimize a candidate's lack or abundance of experience.

Spelling mistakes, typos, and poor grammar structure
Proofread, proofread, and then proofread again! Overlooked mistakes send a message to the reader of your attention-to-detail or lack thereof. Have someone else proofread your résumé to be sure you are submitting an error free document. Turn off the grammar checker in Word once you are sure your résumé is written effectively. This will avoid your résumé appearing with green wavy lines under certain sentences. Fragmented sentences will likely appear throughout your document, and there is no need to try to avoid this as it is a very effective way to write a résumé. Turning off the grammar checker will ensure that the reader is not distracted by the green lines!

Emphasizing job duties instead of achievements
Hiring managers are not as interested in what you were paid to do; they are more interested in where you went above and beyond and contributed to the success of your employer. While you need to include some information on what you were responsible for on a daily basis, emphasis should definitely be placed on the value you contributed to your employer, being sure to distinguish achievements from responsibilities through a separate subheading or formatting selections.

Selecting the wrong formatfor your résumé
When considering a reverse chronological, combination, or functional format, choose wisely based not only on your desire to present your experience a certain way, but also the knowledge that hiring authorities prefer reverse chronological or combination résumés, and traditionally dislike functional formats. I see a lot of functional résumés that really do not need to use a purely functional format, instead could have used a more savvy combination format which would have pleased the hiring manager while still achieving the focus the candidate was seeking. While combination résumés can be more difficult to write, the fact that they are a hybrid of the two other formats makes them a wiser choice if you seek to focus the hiring manager's attention on certain aspects of your career (possibly by pulling out related achievements and responsibilities in a Career Highlights section appearing before the Professional Experience section) while minimizing potentially disqualifying factors (such as limited related or recent experience, large employment gaps, frequent job hops, etc.).

Q: What are some tips and tricks of professional résumé writers?
A: When I first started to write résumés and would ask my mentor questions, she would often respond with a suggestion and the comment, "it's not rocket science, it's just common sense." At first I disregarded this statement until I began to understand what she was really saying - résumé writing strategies have to be tailored to each candidate's background, current objective, and key strengths; there are no set rules or maps to follow. As a candidate or a beginner writer this is not really what you want to hear. Instead, you want to know the "rules." Well, there are a lack of rules in the résumé writing business, and while some feel this is unfortunate as it makes résumé writing much more difficult and strategic, it stems from the need to craft individualized résumés based on the specifics of each candidate and their current career interests. So, to answer a question about the "tips and tricks" of a professional résumé writer is somewhat futile as each résumé is unique, built upon an individualized strategy to serve that client and achieve their career goals. Having said that, the fundamental efforts of a professional résumé writer begin with a clear understanding of what the client wants to do. Only when this is understood can one build an effective strategy to present, prioritize, and relate experiences, education, and strengths to garner the attention of the target audience. Similar to a brochure for a product, each résumé should reach out to the target consumer (the hiring authority), telling them why they should "buy" the candidate. To do this well you really do have to use common sense, performing diligence in identifying your objective, understanding the core skills sought for those roles, and incorporating value propositions to "sell" your candidacy.

Keep the great questions coming and when possible your question will be published in the column or answered personally. Best of luck to you this spring as you makeover your own résumés!

Spring Makeover Series: Graphic Design Résumé “shines” through use of performance reviews

In order to help you "spring clean" your resume, Dear Sam will be presenting client case studies all month to provide readers with actionable strategies to make their resumes more effective and yield stronger results in their own searches.

View Client's "After" Resume

Client Background
Jennifer, a graphic designer, was being downsized after 12 years with her current employer. She came to Ladybug Design without an existing resume, completing our client questionnaire to provide preliminary information on her experiences, education, and skills. Jennifer noted that she was "petrified" about the thought of conducting a job search after being employed by one company for so long as she was in a "comfort zone and was afraid of the change." She went on to note that she chose to seek professional assistance as she, "Hadn't thought about writing a resume for over 11 years, so was pretty much unsure about everything."

Resume Strategies
Through our consultation process, I used Jennifer's client questionnaire, a description of her current job, and 10 pages of performance appraisals and self evaluations to acquire in-depth insight into not only her daily responsibilities, but how she had contributed value to her employer over the past 12 years. Combined with an extensive phone consultation to review her background in greater detail, I set out to create an engaging and visually sound resume.

As a graphic designer, Jennifer's resume had to shine, not only in content but also in layout, typography, color selection, and overall design. I therefore started to develop a layout for her resume, knowing that I had to pull out some of the quotes from her performance reviews which were particularly stellar. After developing a unique design, I started to map her performance reviews, noting where her supervisors felt she excelled and selecting the best pull quotes to feature on her resume. I also used these reviews to fuel the accomplishments on her resume, asking Jennifer to provide a detailed list of key projects to ensure we were highlighting the most prevalent aspects of the past 12 years of employment.

My color selections were based on what I felt would accurately portray Jennifer's personality, using a sans serif font to present a clean, modern, and uncluttered look, combined with a crisp green color that would look great when printed or sent electronically. I also used a dark sage green color for specific text I wanted to stand out, highlighted awards and select key results in bold, and used a unique bullet point to reinforce the individuality of her resume and candidacy.

To open Jennifer's resume I used a profile section which featured an overview of her core skills and value, but instead of presenting this from the candidate's point of view, it was presented through her supervisor's comments found on recent performance reviews. Excerpts from performance reviews are a great way to give third party validation to a candidate's claims, and provide engaging content for a hiring manager. I also used a pull quote box to highlight what I felt was a particularly strong comment. This stated, "...been one of the go-to people when we've needed someone we can count on to do a good job and do it right, no matter how creative and complicated..." The pull quote intersects a left column which presents key strengths. These strengths were noted on Jennifer's performance reviews as areas in which she "exceeded expectations."

I then explored Jennifer's design experience with her last employer, using her job description, key project list, and performance reviews to develop a significant amount of information to accurately portray 12 years of employment. Jennifer had held a couple of positions previous to her current employment, but these were for a short period of time, so I chose to byline these experiences as they did not further enhance her candidacy. Following the design experience section, I presented Jennifer's degree and noted that her portfolio was available for review.

Client Comments
Jennifer noted, after reviewing her new resume, that she was entering the job market, "more confident and excited." She also noted that one of the key areas her resume helped her with was boosting her self confidence. She stated, "I've never been able to talk myself up very well. People would ask, 'What do you do?' and I would respond, 'Design ads.' The way Samantha wrote my resume gives me more detail and makes me realize I did a lot more than simply design ads."

Whether you choose to use a professional firm, find guidance from books, or enlist the assistance of your friends and family, be sure you are taking time to explore the "value" you contributed as an employee, accurately portray your responsibilities and achievements, and prepare yourself with engaging responses to answer those general inquiry questions. A good resume that explores all of these areas well, will better prepare you, not only for the rigors of a job search, but for the interviews where you really have to differentiate your candidacy from the pack.

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 resume writing firm to write your resume, please visit www.ladybug-design.com or call toll-free 1-888-9-LADYBUG.