Don’t be afraid... be creative!

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View After Resume

Dear Sam: I am struggling with the design of my résumé. I’m trying to make it look a little different than the standard templates, but I’m scared it won’t be well received if it looks too different. How do I know if what I want to do is okay and will support, not hurt, my chances of getting an interview? – Linda

Dear Linda – First, I applaud your willingness to do something different. Can you imagine how bored hiring managers must get when so many résumés virtually look the same? Infusing your résumé with personality can go a long way to differentiating it from the hundreds of others. In order to know whether the more unique look to your résumé will be well received, just think about whether it is appropriate for the type of job you want and the audience reviewing it. You’ll see from the example I am presenting this week, this client’s goal was retail management or merchandising. Both professions require a certain amount of creativity and design skill, and as she was applying for positions in the apparel industry, a creative and trend-right look was appropriate. Look at the “before” résumé, does it do anything to showcase her creativity? Instead, her original résumé is void of any creativity and is simply a narration of job duties. Now, look at the “after” version. Her new résumé makes her look fashionable and creative before anyone even reads the first word.

Creating the right “look” for a résumé is really vital to its success. I am a firm believer that the most successful résumés are both great to read and great to look at. Think about it, if your résumé looks like the “before” version, it doesn’t attract the reader, so even if your content is superb, who will read it? The “after” version is stronger in content and design, propelling the recipient to read more. In addition, instead of opening with an objective statement, her new résumé opens with a summary positioning her for retail management and merchandising roles. Overall, the design of the résumé is visually friendly, appropriate based on the candidate’s background, and fitting to the target audience. If you make your decisions in terms of how creative you should be based on these three criteria, your résumé will be sure to be more effective and yield additional time in front of the hiring manager. Good luck!

Dear Sam: I read your column most every week and need some help handling something that has just happened to me. I had been in a position for almost 10 years and was terminated 2 weeks ago. I have never had a poor performance appraisal and never been reprimanded for anything. The reason for the termination was due to absences. Last year was not a good year. You name it, it happened! Family issues and illness, and four family deaths. I also suffered from depression and almost had a nervous breakdown. I did provide my employer with doctor and counselor's letters. When interviewing or sending out résumés how do I address the reason for leaving a job of almost 10 years? – R.G.

Dear R.G.: I’m so sorry to hear of the year you have had. One good thing is that you don’t have to mention any part of this on a résumé. Your résumé does not need to present the reason for leaving a position, nor is it wise to introduce potentially disqualifying factors before you have an interview. Use your résumé to sell the value you provided for the company during your 10-year tenure. Use your performance reviews for inspiration when writing your résumé. Possibly even place excerpts from your reviews on your résumé to validate your strong performance. Presenting the value you provided to the company over the past 10 years will make the reason you left your employer (which will be discussed during an interview) much easier to swallow. In an interview, remain positive when asked why you left your last employer. Simply state that you had a series of unfortunate events in your family, including four deaths, and while your performance had been and continued to be exemplary while on the job, the time off required during the past year was more than the company was willing to provide. Go on to mention that you had provided the company with notes along the way explaining the reason for the absences, so the termination was unexpected and unfortunate. I’m suggesting you mention the latter as I want the hiring manager to know you were being proactive and communicative this entire time. I’m also not mentioning your own health concerns as this could raise a red flag that you could be battling that in the future. I wish you a speedy return to a great job!

Avoid rejection, think strategically

Dear Sam: 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? - Georgia

Dear Georgia: 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.

Dear Sam: What are some of the common mistakes you see on resumes? - Steve

Dear Steve: There are several areas on a résumé to which candidates don't pay enough attention. Some areas include:

1. Unprofessional or incomplete 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! 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.

2. Spelling mistakes, typos, and poor grammar structure - 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 check 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 check will ensure that the reader is not distracted by the green lines!

3. 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.

4. Selecting the wrong format for 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 while minimizing potentially disqualifying factors (such as limited related or recent experience, large employment gaps, frequent job hops, etc.).

5. Using a cookie-cutter design - Try to create a unique look for your résumé, avoiding templates that hundreds of other candidates have used. Think about a hiring manager reviewing their 50th résumé of the day, if your résumé looks like 20 others, it won't stand out from the crowd regardless of the content. Try to develop a unique and professional design, doing so will go a long way in compelling the reader to spend more than 7-10 seconds on your résumé during the screening process.

Dear Sam: What are some of the tips and tricks of professional résumé writers? - Sharon

Dear Sharon: When I first started to write résumés and would ask my mentor questions, she would often respond with the comment, "it's not rocket science, it's just common sense." At first I disregarded this statement, but then 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.

Demonstrate flexibility despite career-long tenure with one employer

Dear Sam: I have been working for the same company for 18 years. Through mergers and buyouts, the company name has changed three times. During these 18 years, I worked for one department for the first 7 years and another for the last 11 years. I have been promoted two times while working in each of these departments, thus a total of six different titles. How do I display this on my résumé? Steve

Dear Steve: When having worked for the same company for a long period of time, it is especially important to show progression throughout your tenure. I would therefore suggest presenting each department and the positions held, but presenting under one company heading. To communicate the company name changes, underneath the current company name make a brief italicized statement such as, "Previously worked for ABC, Inc. and XYZ, Ltd., being retained and promoted each time employer underwent a merger or acquisition." By stating this, you are not only providing the names of your previous employers, which may or may not be notable and therefore important, but also stating you have provided value throughout, so much so that it has resulted in continued promotions despite constant restructuring. If your positions within each department were very similar to one another, consider listing your titles together (and years you held each), followed by an explanation presenting the highest level of responsibility you held. In other words, present one employer followed by all three positions explained in one section per department. By following this approach you will reinforce your ability to remain flexible (often demonstrated by changing employers), accept heightened levels of responsibility, and provide significant value resulting in ongoing promotions.

Dear Sam: My daughter will be graduating this fall with a BBA from one of the few "working" colleges in the U.S. At this school, all of the students hold jobs and are responsible for running the college. The only non-student employees are the teachers and administration. The students are graded for their work and required to complete so many hours. Their work pays for their tuition. My question is how to put this unusual experience on a résumé. It is both work and educational experience. When you enter as a freshman, you are given jobs that are not necessarily connected to your major, and then you move up into more related positions. My daughter started out as a dishwasher operator, moved to life guard, head life guard, and is now an assistant student coach for the volleyball team. How do you suggest presenting this? As a senior, she has significant responsibilities on and off the court. - Richenda

Dear Richenda: What fantastic experience your daughter has been able to accrue, all while studying to achieve her degree. To present this and give it the weight it deserves, place this experience in a professional experience section. List, as you would any professional position, the core functions of each position and the key contributions she was able to make. In the qualifications summary, make a note to explain she was able to balance the rigors of a full-time undergraduate curriculum with an intensive work-study program, allowing her to play an integral role in the operation of the athletics department. Depending on what type of position she is seeking on graduation, you could focus on the sports aspect of her background, but if she isn't seeking a position in that industry then you would focus more heavily on skills such as operations management, leadership, teambuilding, organization, and multitasking. She could also take the opportunity in her cover letter to better explain a little about what a "working" college is, putting the positions displayed on her résumé into context.

Dear Sam: I have been employed for just over three years in a clerical / accounting capacity. Previous to this I was a stay-at-home Mom for 15 years. I'm attempting to update my résumé to seek a new position, but I'm confused about whether I should go back any further than my current position. Is there a time limit on experience you should include on your résumé? Also, how much detail should you give about your responsibilities? I currently have a very diverse position and have many things that I'm responsible for. Where or should I draw the line? - Susie

Dear Susie: Presenting your experience previous to your sabbatical is a decision that has to be evaluated based on whether those positions enhance your candidacy at this juncture in your career. You risk aging yourself as a candidate by including dated experience (1980s), but if you are applying for positions requiring 7-10 years of experience, it would serve you well to include earlier information. I'd suggest using a combination résumé format which presents a career overview or highlights section before the professional experience section, allowing you to focus the reader on what qualifies you most for the position of interest. If done strategically, a combination résumé can overcome a multitude of potentially disqualifying factors, one of which would be your 15-year absence from the workforce. In the highlights section, you would present your experience by functional area (the areas of experience that would attract your target audience - administrative support, accounting, recordkeeping, internal communications, etc.), meaning no dates would appear in this section, just a presentation of what you have done that is important based on your current objective. Then, in the professional experience section, present each employer with the dates of employment. Strategically, you will want to end page one with your most recent employer, making sure your early experience, and the dates of that, fall on page two. This last point is imperative in minimizing the impact of this disqualifying factor during the screening process.

Regarding how much information to include for a diverse position, it might help if you create a list of your responsibilities organized by importance. This will provide you with a clear picture of the scope of tasks with which you have been charged. It is advantageous to save less important items for discussion during an interview. Listing only those most important experiences and skills on your résumé will allow you to introduce additional supporting information during the interview. Keep in mind that a hiring manager doesn't want to see a laundry list of your responsibilities, they are much more interested in where you have gone over-and-above your job duties and contributed towards the success of the business. Try to focus on those areas in order to demonstrate the value you bring to an employer.

Unique qualifiers win over obligatory credentials

Dear Sam: I have been struggling for the last four years to find a teaching job. I know the market is saturated and there are hundreds of people competing for the same job. I want to find a way to make myself stand out over the rest of the crowd and I was hoping to be able to do that with my résumé. I would love suggestions you have to make these more powerful. – Kendra

Dear Kendra: Let me ask you a question. If almost everyone competing for the same jobs have the same licenses and educational qualifications, then why open your résumé, and spend half of the first page, presenting qualifications that do nothing to differentiate you from your competitors? I see this all the time and while those credentials are some of the most important qualifiers for the jobs you want, it would be much stronger to open your résumé with a summary presenting all your key qualifiers in addition to information about what makes your background unique.

In the summary present a blend of your core qualifications, highlights of your teaching experience, and some information about the skills you possess that facilitate your ability to do the job well. By presenting this executive summary type section, you can highlight all your most notable qualifications without wasting very valuable real estate on page one basically stating the obvious.

In your professional experience section you have a good start on explaining what you did in each role, but I’d like to see more complete thoughts. I detest four and five word bullet points as they appear as incomplete statements, which due to their brevity, hold little weight on paper or in the mind of the reader. A lot of your bullet points can be combined to create much stronger statements.

For example, consider the following four bullets appearing in one section of your résumé: “Collaborated with teachers & therapists; Wrote IEP progress reports; Involved in IEP goal writing and IEP meetings; Created weekly parent newsletters.”

Now, let’s rewrite: “Fostered open, proactive, and productive communication amongst teachers, therapists, and parents by creating weekly newsletters, updating progress reports, and developing IEP goals.”

The rewritten statement is more complete and instead of taking up four very valuable lines on your résumé, will now only consume two.

I’d also recommend taking a look at the design of your résumé. You truly have almost limitless possibilities to be creative in the design of your résumé when you are in the early education field. Your résumé, while uncluttered and clean, has no personality…and isn’t that part of what you need to “sell” as a teacher? Open with your teaching name (Ms. Kendra?), a tasteful graphic (ABC blocks, a chalkboard, etc.), and a fun (could even be colorful) design. Check out the teaching résumé samples in the case studies section of my website for some inspiration!

The great news is you have a fantastic background to present. I don’t see any disqualifying factors, just qualifications that aren’t optimized solely based on the choices you have made with your résumé. Rework and I think you will yield much success.

Dear Sam: I’ll be really brief, I hope you can help. I have had two jobs in my life and I’ve never had a job interview or required a résumé. Now I find myself in need of a job. I was a police officer for thirty years, with a variety of assignments. I have been a private investigator for eight years. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice, decent computer skills and I’m reliable, dependable, and honest. Where do I begin? – Tom

Dear Tom: The first and most important step at this juncture in your career is to determine what you want to do. While that may be a gargantuan task, it is critical to setting the stage for effective résumé development. Once you do that you will be able to ascertain what transferable skills are most important to highlight on your résumé. If you are staying in the law enforcement/investigation field it will be much easier of course, a standard reverse chronological résumé will likely suffice. If however you decide to make a significant career change, a combination résumé would be best in highlighting related skills over positions held. If the latter is the case, you’ll also want to be a little more careful about presenting the amount of experience you possess, minimizing the potential of unnecessarily aging your candidacy by including maybe only 15-20 years of experience. You can note earlier experiences, or your progression as a police officer, as accomplishment statements (i.e. “Quickly promoted through the ranks, accepting increased levels of responsibility as a patrol officer and detective, heightening case management, investigation, fact-finding, and communication skills.”) without including dates back into the 1970s, thereby not aging your candidacy and potentially disqualifying you from opportunities for fear of you being overqualified and expensive. Hope that helps!

Dear Sam: I left my previous employer and took a temp-to-perm job offering better career and financial opportunities. After four weeks, with things not working out, I was released from my new job. So, during interviews, when asked why I left my last job, I’m answering based on the job I held before the temp position, not mentioning I was since let go from a more recent job. When answering this question I state that the hours were too demanding for my family and myself as I worked non-stop and was on call 24/7 365 days a year. If they ask if I have been doing anything since, I mention I did some temporary contract work last month, which is not noted on my résumé. Is my response to the question, "why did you leave your last job?" a good answer? – Ed

Dear Ed: I think your omission strategy is correct in that you are not mentioning a very brief engagement that did not end well, and of course that would translate to the interview in that you wouldn’t be focusing on that engagement but instead the position you held previous. I’m not in love with your answer though as I’d start to wonder about how much work is considered too much for you and your family. I’d instead say something like, “I really enjoyed my position, evidenced by the value I contributed during my tenure, however I felt the potential to turn my position into a career was limited. Additionally, while I have been fully vested in all of my positions, the 24/7/365 on-call schedule grew tiresome as I am sure you can imagine. I therefore felt it was time to step into a new position, and a new company, where I could build a career, and with my background and proven contributions, this opportunity was a perfect fit.” I think an answer like that (tailor as you wish) is much more positive, focuses more on what you offer now, and doesn’t suggest a family or personal situation precluding full engagement. I wish you all the best.

Overcome not having a degree

Dear Sam: I read your column often but I have never seen anyone's question that hit this topic… maybe I just missed it. I am 49 years of age and for the past 7 years I was a senior plant manager of a small food processing plant in the area. Recently, I had the pleasure of being replaced, and not because of my inability to do my job (but I won't go into that). My focus now is to find a new job and I haven’t had any success to this point. I think that there are 2 major issues confronting my quest: I am near 50 in age, and what I feel is the biggest drawback, is that I don't possess that coveted trophy called a "degree." Don't take this the wrong way, I am in no way criticizing those that do have degrees, but it frustrates me to no end that so many employers require it with positions that I know I may qualify for. For example: I did all of the hiring for inside operations at our plant. I hired in time, several employees with Associates, a few with Bachelors, and even one with a Masters degree. Let me tell you, just because one might have their degree doesn't always mean that they are the best ones for the job. There wasn't one of those people that I mentioned that had any of the demands that my job called for. I am certain that my replacement pulls his hair out just as I did. Certain positions many times call for specific types of personalities or talents or attitudes, which a degree just will not supply.

I guess I'm rambling getting to my question. When I read over the qualifications in a particular ad thinking to myself while reading, I have experience with all of that, I could qualify for this position, then I read the requirements for the job and the dreaded “degree” word takes the wind out of my sails. What advice can you offer here? Am I wasting my time and those expensive postage stamps sending a résumé anyway? I loved my job. I want to believe that there is someone out there who is in dire need of my unique background and personality. I think surely that there is a need for a strong leader with hands on talents, many years of experience, and I do have approx. 60 credit hours of college work completed. Any advice? - Jim

Dear Jim: Absolutely, there are a number of strategies you can employ to minimize the impact of not having a degree when one is required for a particular opportunity. Let’s touch on a few:

Never mention that you don’t hold a degree: The worst thing you can do is to explain on your résumé or cover letter that you do not hold a degree. There is a possibility that if you present a strong enough image of your past, a hiring manager could qualify you for an interview before even noticing you don’t hold a degree. I always tell my clients not to mention disqualifying factors, particularly in their cover letter, unless of course by not doing so you don’t stand a chance of being brought in for an interview. Only then is highlighting a disqualifying factor worth the risk.

Define unique skills/strengths gained through hands-on experience: You possess a unique background and skill set, and your challenge is to sell that to the hiring manager. Review your background and identify what makes you different from candidates that hold a degree but may have less experience. Use your qualifications summary to promote your value to the hiring manager, never mentioning that you don’t hold a degree. This is really of key importance, as if you are brought in for an interview and are competing against those that have degrees, you will have to sell yourself by articulating how you are more qualified for the job.

Highlight professional development and training: When you don’t have a degree it is imperative that you highlight all of your related training and education. Whether these are classes that you were sent to by your employer, training programs that you pursued personally, or even more informal seminars you attended, highlighting these showcases your continued development in the field, and goes a long way to minimizing the impact of not having a degree.

Highlight the college education you do have: When a degree is required I tell my clients that it is best to highlight the college education they do have versus omitting the education section entirely. The latter strategy is often best when a degree is not required or simply preferred, as by placing an education section on your résumé in this situation, and the incomplete degree, you only highlight the fact that you do not possess that qualification. In your case however, and in most cases where degrees are required, it is advantageous to communicate that you completed some college. Simply present this as such:

Columbus University, Columbus, Ohio

Completed 60 Hours Towards a Bachelor of Science Degree, 1985-1987

If you completed your college further back than the amount of years of experience you are including on your résumé, then consider omitting the dates to avoid unnecessarily aging your candidacy.

Enroll in a degree program: I’m not sure if it is a possibility or not, but if not having a degree is a barrier to entry back into the jobs you want, then enrolling in a degree program might be a good option. As soon as you are enrolled you can place the college name and anticipated degree and graduation date on your résumé. This would appear as such:

Columbus University, Columbus, Ohio

Bachelor of Science, anticipated 2007

You may be lucky enough to get in the door to a company that offers tuition reimbursement, and is willing to fund the remainder of the degree.

Lastly, in response to your question of whether to apply for these positions when you lack the degree required, I’d answer yes every time! Most of the time you will be able to apply via email which costs just a few minutes of your time. While I always recommend sending a hard copy of your résumé too, if you want to save the price of a stamp then at least you have applied and have the prospect of an interview. It is always better to have more possibilities rather than less, so I’d take any opportunity to apply for a role you feel qualified for, regardless of not having the required degree. After all, you’ll likely also be competing with candidates who lack other qualifications, so the playing field may be more even than your think. I hope these strategies help get your résumé and your job search on the right path. All the best!

Dear Sam: I have over 10 years experience working in IT as a programmer, and also recently graduated from college. My career goal is to obtain an IS Management position and was wondering how I could, or if I should, put my experience as Trustee Chairman at my local church on my résumé to highlight experience with budgeting and management? If so where on the résumé? – Anonymous

Dear Anonymous: Great question. There is often confusion over whether engagements more on a personal level should be included on a résumé. The rule I use to evaluate whether these types of positions make it on a résumé is to review whether they add “value” to your candidacy. For example, if you are a sales person and have extensive involvement in your local community, the same community to which you will be selling, then your personal engagements will reinforce your likeliness to succeed based on your extensive network. In your situation, as you are trying to break into management, then yes, this position will likely add validity to your general and financial management capabilities. To incorporate this into your résumé I would be sure to make a note of the skills you possess due to this engagement within the qualifications summary on page one. Then, add a section at the end of your résumé titled, “Professional Involvement” or something similar, and detail this position as you have those appearing within the professional experience section. Remember that if you give this section some weight, then the hiring manager is also more likely to do so; hence it is key that you showcase the value of this opportunity and the skills if has allowed you to develop. All the best!