Alright,
you've decided to move on, now all you have to do is write
a resume,
then find somebody
to read it. All that before the difficult part… the interview!
Writing a
Resumé
length | structure | style | content | part
two: the interview
Generally speaking, most candidates
have tremendous difficulty starting a resume, and once they
start writing they have an equal amount of difficulty in finishing
it. Here are a few ideas on how to start (and hopefully finish)
your resume:
Length
Whether
you have two or twenty years experience, a resume should
be between two and three pages long. There are
no exceptions. As you go further back in your career,
the only value of noting some positions is in stressing
your achievements, and including them to show how it
became a stepping
stone to your next position. If you are relatively young
in your career, you don't have to tell the potential
employer about
every job outside of information systems. A long resume
just highlights a lack of experience because the potential
employer
dwells on it more.
top
Structure
A
resume should contain the following information, ideally
in the following order: Name, address, telephone number
and e-mail address. Educational history, including
dates and names of educational institutions A brief
synopsis of your technical skills if you are
in a technical area.* Current
place of employment, followed by other places
of employment starting with the most recent.
You should include your job title and a brief
outline of your
responsibilities and achievements. You may want
to include a brief outline of your extra-curricular
achievements and interests. Remember,
if you say that you are interested in Icelandic
folk art you may just get the interview because
your interviewer actually
is!
top
Style
Never
write your resume using fine and/or italicized
fonts. If this resume is faxed it often becomes
unreadable.
Try to avoid competency charts, flow charts and skills
ratings. Remember, your resume should be user
friendly - that means understandable. Follow
the structure outlined above and focus on content,
not on unnecessarily complex presentation.
top
Content
A resume is nothing but a sales
document, remember that at all times when
you are writing it. It is often
thought of as a presentation of your career history
and what you have done. It is actually a presentation
of what you have
achieved. If you follow
the guidelines above on structure, the next most difficult
part is telling
the employer about your
experience. Focus on your achievements, i.e. what
you did to move up the ladder. The key thing
here is to
avoid becoming
so specific that you highlight your shortcomings.
For example, if your job title is Programmer/Analyst
and
your resume clearly
indicates that you have never worked with any language
except C++, the first line of your experience should
not read "programmed
in C++". Typically, this tends to be the easiest
place to get writer's block. Don't worry. If this
happens, ask yourself what you did in that job that
you were
particularly
proud of. Once you write the first paragraph, you'll
usually find that it gets easier!
top
*Do
not list everything that you have ever worked with. If you
last worked with Cobol while in school five years ago and
have been working in a client server area ever since you won't
get a job as a Cobol programmer. It's a good idea to break
it down into the core skills and areas you have had exposure
to.
Lesson
2: The interview
Go
to Part 2...
