Resume help -any good websites/templates?

[thyme4change]

As a hiring manager, I like the really clear chronological ones. What I do is put a nice formatted box at the time with 6-8 bullet points and I change it for every resume submission to match the first 8 things on the job description. The bullets look like this:

* 10 years experience budgeting and forecasting for international consumer products company
* 12 years experience internal management reporting, with focus on customer profitability and sales analysis
* 8 years experience monthly profit and loss analysis, including variance reporting
* 18 years experience with Excel, including pivot tables, macros and whatever skill
etc.

Then, below that I list my history in reverse chronological order. I rearrange all the bullets for the last 2 or 3 jobs to cover the job description, every time.

I have my education way at the end - because I'm old.

[nittanycheme]

I actually have some good books that highlight this type of thing (I know, so old-fashioned) for both resumes and cover letters (i.e., "cover letters that will get you the job you want", etc). For changing careers, it recommends highlighting the skills from your old job(s) or activities that show you can do the new job, since the hiring people may have no idea what you did in your old job. Just make sure everything is correct. We are trying to hire a new person at my company, and I am getting to look at the resumes. I have a really large vocabulary, and have been taught to be a punctuation nut, so I got a kick out the resume we just got that said the person did some things that helped to "overt a product recall." I would've thought that was something the company would have tried to keep on the down-low, and not come right out with it. However, if they had averted it, that would be something.... Unfortunately, there isn't anyone left that I work with who would get that "joke".

[thyme4change]

wrong - I've (sadly) never changed careers, but anything you can do to highlight initiative, flexibility, teamwork and follow-thru is good. You might want to use a bullet section to highlight key projects and use those exact words

* Took initative to reorganize line work which shaved 8 minutes of time off every 10 hours worked
* Participated in team that did XYZ, which created ABC benefit for the company

etc.

[thyme4change]

My favorite was the guy whose email was "[e-mail]." This wasnt' for interviews, but he would give this out to clients - ALL his clients. He was obviously/openly gay - so the whole thing was pretty creepy and unprofessional.

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

Jul 5, 2012 13:44:25 GMT -5 Nazgul Girl said:

I do know that he should have a serioius email address on the resume', such as "[e-mail]" versus " [e-mail]" or "[e-mail]". I've read that lot of otherwise qualified candidates don't get called in because the email address is "[e-mail]." (By the way, that's not my email adress LOL ). I remember seeing a good resume' for a medical biller when there was a position open at a little hospital where I worked. Unfortunately, the applicant's email was pretty much "[e-mail]. She didn't get an interview.....

When I moved jobs, my first move was to go to my personal email provider and have a sub-account set up that used simply my name as an email addy. It auto-forwards the mail from that name to my regular email, so I got a nice professional address for resumes and it doesn't even require me to actually get a new account. I now use that for all professional but personal email.

[Pants]

No websites, but general tips (from my MBA career advisory service)...

Resumes should be in a single person (preferably third person or no person, i.e., no pronouns anywhere in resume) and a single tense (preferably past tense).
Where possible, start your sentence using "action verbs" - E.g., Made, Led, Created.
Avoid saying things like "Helped create" even if you were not the sole person responsible for the outcome - "Collaborated" or something that emphasizes teamwork rather than assisting is better and more powerful.
Focus on achievements rather than tasks wherever you can - "Led project that resulted in $200k gain for company" rather than "Led project by organizing team, creating spreadsheets and deliverables, etc." unless those tasks specifically speak to the tasks called out in the job description.

Good luck!

[Rocky Mtn Saver]

Jul 5, 2012 17:14:10 GMT -5 Pants said:

Resumes should be in a single person (preferably third person or no person, i.e., no pronouns anywhere in resume) and a single tense (preferably past tense).

Just out of curiosity, how do you put a resume in third person?

[movingforward]

Jul 5, 2012 17:17:03 GMT -5 Rocky Mtn Saver said:

Jul 5, 2012 17:14:10 GMT -5 Pants said:

Resumes should be in a single person (preferably third person or no person, i.e., no pronouns anywhere in resume) and a single tense (preferably past tense).

Just out of curiosity, how do you put a resume in third person?

Ha! I was thinking the same thing and all that popped in my head was that Seinfeld episode where the guy at the gym keeps referring to himself in the 3rd person and Elaine thinks he is talking about someone else - "Jimmy likes Elaine."

[TheOtherMe]

Jul 5, 2012 17:14:10 GMT -5 Pants said:

Focus on achievements rather than tasks wherever you can - "Led project that resulted in $200k gain for company" rather than "Led project by organizing team, creating spreadsheets and deliverables, etc." unless those tasks specifically speak to the tasks called out in the job description.

I belong to a Yahoo group and the owner of the group is an hr professional. She suggests using the approach of researching the company and finding out their needs and writing your resume with the kinds of achievements that will help them.

She definitely says to focus on your achievements and not just do bullet points.