Week 3 Flashcards
Most career coaches over some variation of the following services:
- Resume writing services: You design and create a targeted resume for the client based on questions you will ask them about their objectives, experience, and transferable skills, as well as your own research of job descriptions and their target companies.
- Resume editing services: You revise an existing resume that the client provides to you. This can be a resume they have written, or updates to a resume that you wrote for the client previously.
- Resume writing instruction: More commonly offered by career counselors, but some coaches will also walk the client step by step through the process of writing their own resume.
There are three common resume formats:
chronological, functional, and combination
Chronological Resume
It lists work experience in reverse order, starting with the most recent. Employers sometimes prefer chronological resumes because the format makes it easy for them to quickly weed out candidates whose previous experience doesn’t precisely match what they’re looking for.
Functional Resume
the functional resume organizes your experience to highlight your skills and accomplishments. In a functional resume you create headings for each skill you want to demonstrate (such as writing or web design), and summarize your previous experiences and accomplishments using those skills.
Combination Resume
Good for career changers. The combination resume (also known as a hybrid ) combines elements of both the chronological and functional resumes. It includes a section with headings of relevant skills and summaries of your client’s in those areas. This section is followed with a summary of previous jobs similar to what you might include in a chronological resume.
For career changers, it is good to look at transferable skills that can be utilized in the job they are applying for:
people skills, communication, technical, marketing skills, management skills.
Dos - Resume writing
- DO put contact information (name, address, phone number, e-mail) at the top of the resume.
- DO include an objective or summary statement that is relevant to the position being applying for. Mention the value the candidate will bring to the employer, not just what your client wants to gain from the job.
- DO include professional affiliations, certifications, or educational programs attended.
- DO show that you have the necessary skills. Include both paid and volunteer accomplishments and experiences.
- DO include accomplishment statements that quantify where possible (e.g. “increased sales by 20%” is more effective than just “increased sales”) and show cost savings, increased quality or productivity.
- DO organize resume sections to highlight the most relevant experience near the top. For clients with a lengthy employment history, this is especially important as earlier accomplishments may get lost. One way to do this is by beginning the document with a professional summary or key accomplishments list.
- DO proofread. Spell check programs are great, but they do not catch all errors and are never a substitute for careful editing and a good eye. If possible, have someone else read it, too; you’ll be surprised at how many mistakes someone else can pick up that you missed.
- DO create several versions of the resume in different formats including Microsoft Word, PDF (which preserves formatting), and an ASCII or plain text version for scanning or cutting and pasting into online application forms.
- DO save an electronic resume with a filename that uses the candidate’s full name or first initial and middle initial and last name. This will allow employers to easily locate their document rather than wading through hundreds of files simply named “resume”.
Dont - Resume writing
- DON’T go overboard and use too many different fonts on one resume. This can be disorienting and disrupt the flow. Make sure the design matches the industry culture (e.g. is it a conservative or creative industry?).
- DON’T list references on your resume or the unnecessary space-wasting phrase “References available upon request”, but consider including quotes on your resume from people who have worked with you.
- DON’T go back further than 10 years on your resume unless you have done something exceptional. Some employers believe what you learned or did more than a decade ago is outdated. If you do list earlier employment, include only a couple of bullet points about each and describe more current accomplishments in greater detail.
- DON’T include irrelevant information. Some employers make a decision about a resume within seconds, so a resume containing information about age or number of children could be rejected before the employer has even finished reading it.
Types of references:
Colleagues who have worked with or for the client
Supervisors
Vendors
Clients
Volunteer coordinators
Professors
Sample reference list
APPLICANT NAME
Address
City, State, Zip
Phone
E-mail
References
Reference #1 Name, Title
Company Name, City, State
Phone
E-mail
(…repeat for each remaining reference.)
Cover letter should contain the following:
The position being applied for.
A brief summary of relevant experience
A statement about why the client wants to work for this particular company.
How the employer would benefit by hiring them.
A request for an interview.
Contact information.
Advertised positions:
company websites, job websites, industry job sites, recruiters.
Unadvertised positions:
referrals, direct contact
What are the costs for hiring a new employee:
salary
benefits
resources needed to do the job (e.g. computer, supplies)
time of other staff members to train a new employee
supervisor’s time to oversee employee’s work
Examples of things that employers may see as valuable:
increasing profits by getting more sales
increasing profits by reducing the company’s costs
freeing up the boss’s time so he can do more important work
reducing the boss’s frustration by doing tasks she doesn’t like doing herself
