Sunday, November 28, 2010

The Resume - Work Experience

Ok, now if you have been following this blog series, you should be up to the Experience section. Now this is very important. The reason this section is so important is because this is where you highlight your job duties from past jobs. When the employer reads your resume, they want to know, what you did at your last job. They might also want to know how you did what you did at your last job. 

For all those who don't have any previous work related experience, please skim to towards then end of this posting for assistance on your situation. 

When you get to the section for your experience, you must make it known that them employer is about the read the Experience section. This is what it start to look like:
Experience:
or
Work Experience:
or
Professional Experience:
For the following example, we are going to use just plain Experience.
"
Experience:

The EFZ Store                                                               New York, NY
Customer Service Representative                                 1/10 - 11/10                                 
  • Assisted customers with over the counter transactions.
  • Answered customer inquiries in regards to store sales, policies and merchandise.
  • Balanced registered at the end of each shift on a daily basis.
  • Opened and Closed store as required by store manager.
"
To be continued....

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Sunday, November 7, 2010

The purpose of a resume - To use or not to use an objective...

To continue off of the last post, which objective should you use? If you don't remember, here is an excerpt from the last post. 

"Which one should you use?

Objective: To obtain a position where I can utilize my skills and experiences.

or

Objective: To obtain a position as a Personal Trainer with Pump Yourself Up Gym Corp."

If you are looking to get into the job market for the first time after college or graduate school, we recommend that you use an objective specific to the employer and the position in which you are applying to. An objective can't be as general as stating that you want to utilize your skills and experiences for growth in their field. When you send out your resume to the employer, it has to be personal to the employer. The objective is the first thing that the employer reads when they want to get to know a potential employee and find out what he or she truly seeking. If you haven't guessed yet,  Objective: To obtain a position as a Personal Trainer with Pump Yourself Up Gym Corp  is the correct answer. 

For those who already have some full time experience in the job market: Today, the objective is an optional and rarely used part of your resume. Why do we say that? Today's professional job market is looking for those employees that can do the job and then-some. As you continue to read, you will learn what to use in place of the objective.

The objective has been replaced by a Summary of Qualifications and Skills. What is a Summary of Qualifications and Skills? A Summary of Qualifications and Skills is a very short summary of your resume with a mix of your skills inserted. This eliminates the skills section of the resume because it's included in the summary. The summary is located at the top of you resume right under your name and contact information. 

What does a Summary of Qualifications and Skills look like on a resume?
It looks a little some like this:


Summary of Qualifications and Skills:
  • 12 years of experience in banking. 
  • Proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook and Powerpoint. 45 WPM
  • Bilingual in English and Spanish
  • Experience with diverse populations. 
Do you get the "jist" of what the Summary consists of? You are pretty much combining the most important parts of your resume and summarizing them into a quick view for the employer. This assists the employer in looking through 50 to 100 resumes at a time. 


Your resume should start looking something like this:
John Doe

123 Happy Street
New York, NY 12345
212-555-1234
john.doe@mymail.com

Summary of Qualifications and Skills:
  • 12 years of experience in banking. 
  • Proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook and Powerpoint. 45 WPM
  • Bilingual in English and Spanish
  • Experience with diverse populations. 
Now, it shouldn't be exactly like what is portrayed because it is your resume and it is under your discretion what you put in you summary but it should look really similar to it. 

Remember if you have any questions about anything that is posted, please feel free to leave comments. 
Up next: Work Experience...