who knows about resume stuff?

“what is the current "right" way to do a resume?

I worked in this industry, went to school for about 4 years (studying natural sciences) and am back in this industry... I guess I'm looking for a similar office job, but with more money...”

“You now should have mail.
last edited: 10/14/04 11:53:13 AM”

“I'd tell you what I learned in my job placement class... but I didn't learn anything, more often than not we don't have class. We did do resume's, but he didn't tell us how or comment on the one's that we turned in... nevermind.”

“you are too funny simer!”

“Bullet points.

Address crap

Education crap

Past experience as bullet points


And, IMHO, the "goal" section is redundent, uneccesary, and maybe even a bit of sucking up. Your goal is to get the job, that's why you gave them your resume”

“that's college for ya”

“Di - drop me an email and I'll help you out! :-)

depends upon experience and how many jobs you've had... you may want to go with a skills-oriented vs. a chronological resume...”

“The person doing the hiring is looking for 3 things.

1. Can you do the work
2. Will you do the work
3. Will you fit in with the people they already have.

My son was asked for a resume and asked me what to write as he had never had a job.

Can you do the work - list your school grades for subjects that are relevant like math and Language.

Will you do the work - List your volunteer work, anyone who will collect garbage from a riverside for nothing is not afraid of getting their hands dirty.

Do you get along with others - list team sports, Scouting, stuff where teamwork was needed.

He got the job, has had no problem getting another job for more money.

I will differ from BM's advice slightly.

If you have significant experience - write a summary paragraph instead of a 'goals', you are good at what you do, no one else is going to tell the prospective employer how great you are, so how will they know if you do not tell them.

List work experience backing up the summary before the education as it is more recent and more relevant.

That first 1/2 page is your highway billboard, use it wisely.

If you are new out of school, or this is a new work direction you need the goals to explain what YOU see yourself doing in the future. Then the schooling to back up the 'can you do the work'.

Your work experience in a different field is now the secondary 'will you do the work'.

More on the summary or goals. The employer is busy, so busy that they have to get some help - you -. The last thing they want is someone who is just using this until they can get another job because then they have to waste more time interviewing, training all over again, or worse, you join and 2 experienced people leave so even more work does not get done.”

“I ususally tailor my resume for the job I'm applying for.... though I do have a "basic" one I send out to places I really don't give a crap if I ge the job or not. I've also gotten every job I've ever applied for... but that's just because I'm a farking genius... or maybe they were just really desperate for help. One page, and just list everything in your past which you think makes you suited for the job. It's been my foolproof approach.”

“I don't mind passing my resume your direction, if you think it might help. There are TONs on online sources out there though.”

“I had a career dev. class in college. They told us to do our resumes in MicroSoft Excel. Sounds funny but it's easier to control spacing, it will automatically resize to a page when you add more, etc.”

“Sure TD! Mr. Knee sent me his, but it is always good to have lots of variety and opinions, no?”

“Excel? Really? Weird.

I suppose I could always use Publisher to do something similar?”

“I would never do a resume (or any word processing) in Excel, but whatever.

Di - sure.. It's at home, but I can send it this weekend once I get home.”

“Ever read "what color is your parachute"? Good stuff.

And remember to show leg and cleavage at the interview. But not too much.”

“As one who gets about 50 resume's a week.

Keep it to one page and to the point, anything longer or verbose gets put on the bottom of the stack.”

“haven't we had this conversation? I typically dress pretty conservatively for work. :p That said, I have a short skirt on today. LOL!”

“1) your resume should be able to pass the "30 second test"... i.e. the employer will scan for pertinent info.

2) you can expound on your strengths in your cover letter.

3) make sure to tailor the resume to the job you are applying for


.... more later... busy at work right now.... ;-)”

“I figured I’d resurrect this thread rather than start a new one.

I’m in the process of updating my resume. I haven’t done so since I graduated from college 5 years ago. Here’s the question: Should I include my past jobs that have nothing to do with the field I’m in? I’m thinking no, but then I only end up with my current job on my resume.”

“Include the ones that you might use references from or that might have included skills (people, communication, tightrope walking), that you'll use in the future, those you had a higher level of responsibility at, and also those you were at for awhile so they can see you held down a job for x amount of years.”

“yes include them...your past jobs give more information than just what type of job you did...they show your commitment and if there are any gaps in employment, which by the way if there are be prepared to answer why...i think the general rule of thumb is your past 3 jobs...plus what sass said about the references...prior to going into the "business" world all i had on mine was restaurant management jobs”

“I guess the thing is, besides my current job, which I’ve been at for over 4.5 years, all of my other jobs were summer work from when I was in college where all I did was filing or pushing a rolls of paper onto a conveyer. They were nothing more than short 3 - 4 month jobs to help me get some money for college.”

“that's good, that shows that you didn't just sit around spending mommy and daddy's money and getting drunk”

“i agree, but i wouldn't go overboard and list more than the last 3 summer jobs. i had a guy give me a resume once that went back to his paper route when he was 15. i did not call him in for an interview.”

“I have most recently decided to start 'looking' for a new career. My company has been going through some major changes with mass layoffs and restructuring. Some think it is only a matter of time....So before I am called into the big office, I want to be prepared.

I paid to have my resume written for(just this week). I gave them all of my information and they compiled a pretty awesome resume that is geared towards what I am currently doing with hints about previous responsibilities. You see, I have been at this company now for twelve years and have forgotten how to 'interview.' I think it was money weel spent but I guess the value of it will out based on any interest it generates.

I think you should focus on your strengths, things you have accomplished during this current career that sets you apart from others in the crowd. You can include skills gained through previous employment but you really should focus on using key descriptive words to describe your skills.”

“all of my other jobs were summer work from when I was in college

I've been on hiring committees many times. From my experience, for a person in your situation, I wouldn't have given a crap less about your past summer jobs (and neither would've anyone else that I can think of). In fact, using someone from one of those old jobs for a reference after all these years looks BAD. Really - you can ignore that piece of bad advice from above posts.

You are moving on from your seminal foot-in-the-door job in your career field. If you were any good at all, you should have at least 5 references from that position, as you should've been working with many different people effectively during that time.

At most I would put a line about holding several summer jobs, with something saying more info upon request and leave it at that. It would be more important to detail what career direction you want to go and what experience and skills you can bring to that.

This advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.”

“My two cents - I've hired lots of people and worked as a professional recruiter for a while....

Generally on a professional resume you would only include work history for those that are relevant to your education and career. You might include a 'catch all' description of summer work and the like - ("while in school" type jobs) only to demonstrate work ethic and responsibility - but don't devote more than a couple of lines to it.

The hiring manager only cares about your relevant experience. the fact taht you've been at the same job for 5 years speaks volumes and makes you a very competitive candidate.”

“So much of this depends on unknown and sometimes unknowable factors. Does the HR department for that company do heavy duty screening of the resumes, or pass the coherent ones along to the department head who actually hires? Does the HR department conduct first interviews or is all the interviewing done by the person doing the hiring. Does the HR department have a secret litmus test that it applies to applicants? (This is no joke. I heard a horror story of a hiring manager who took all the applicants out to lunch and made sure they had pie for dessert. If they started at the point they went in one pile, if they started at the crust they went in another.)

From my experience, lapses in time can be critical and may need to be accounted for. But only if the person reviewing the resume cares. HR management seems to be more art than science when it comes to hiring. If possible get to know three things and tailor your resume to those items.

1) What are you specifically looking for?
2) What is the company specifically looking for?
3) Who does the hiring and what do they specifically look for?

Networking and information interviews are crucial to gathering this knowledge.”

“Really - you can ignore that piece of bad advice from above posts. Mutt
10:44:19 AM
4/04/07

good god, you even spread your vile on non fuego threads!!...i too have hired people, you know what they say about opinions?”

“I work for a behemoth organization. The HR department gets all of the applications and checks the experience for relevancy. Then rate them as not qualified, qailified and highly qualified. They also set hiring priorities like promotional priority (current employees), veterans, etc, and list minority types (not that we are supposed to look at that information, but if we don't interview the monority we are supposed to tell why).

Now, I don't know how they decide what experience they decide is relevant because they rarely make any sense with their ratings. I once had them rate someone as qualified for an engineering technician position who had a 4 year art degree, ran an art business for 20 years and had 2 semesters of drafting at a community college. Another person they rated highly qualified for an upper level engineering tech position that requires both surveying and the ability to perform and supervise design work and write proposals, specs, and draft plan sheets for contracts. The guy was a surveyor only. WTF?

So, like everyone else, my advice is based only on my own experiences. Put everything that seems reasonable, but don't make it a novel. My HR department sets pay scales by experience levels in years worked. If you forget to put something on your application that they can validate as related experience, you won't get that money, even if you mention it later in interviews.”

“I've had many jobs so I use bullet points. With one job for 4+yrs you should be able to expand beyond a bullet point or two. Your education is also relevant here.

I'm thinking summer jobs are not for your resume. As a general rule no job for less than a year should go on a resume. Along those lines, employers like to see someone whose had a job for well more than a year.

There are several online sites very helpful in "formatting" resumes based on all situations.”

“lol@thrifty”

“Thanks for the pointers everyone. I must have done things right, because I sent my resume out on Wednesday and I've already got an interview.”

“Now the real mind games begin....”