Finding a Job: The Resume

by Lee Hudspeth
(This article appears in The Naked PC #6.03, January 30, 2003)

** 04. Finding a Job: The Resume (by Lee Hudspeth)

This article is not a listing or analysis of all the components, 
styles, bells, and whistles related to a resume. It is a sharing 
of my observations about resumes, some valuable tips, and some 
online resources that I've found helpful.

In my experience, a resume is certainly a necessary document in 
the process of finding a job, but a common mistake folks make is 
in figuring they are somehow done once they get their resume 
typed up and spell-checked. The resume is a tool for putting your 
name, objective, background, and accomplishments into 
circulation, but there are many other key milestones in any job 
search campaign. The resume itself is never done, you can always 
improve it (but don't over-tweak), and your search isn't done 
until you get way past the resume stage into the interview, 
negotiation, and acceptance stages.

I recommend that you get your resume finished to a level you're 
comfortable with, carefully proof it yourself, offer it to at 
least five other diverse people for review, revise as appropriate 
based on reviewer feedback, and only then begin to circulate it. 
Guess what? You're still not done. You need to get feedback from 
more people as you go along (that's part of networking and 
interviewing: getting explicit feedback about various aspects of 
your campaign, including your resume). As you gather that 
feedback, if you feel your resume can be improved, then change 
it.

Tip: Although eventually your resume will "settle down" I 
recommend you keep each version of your resume as a separate Word 
document so you can quickly compare and contrast the versions as 
you go along. There are various ways to do this, the simplest one 
is to just append an easily sorted date string like "_2003-01-30" 
to the filename (the yyyy-mm-dd format sorts best), e.g., "Fred 
Smith's resume_2003-01-30.doc". You can add other text to the 
filename to distinguish one type or style of resume from another. 
Once you've moved to a newer version, set the prior version read-
only so you don't accidentally delete it: in Windows Explorer, 
right-click the filename, Properties, check the Read-only check 
box, OK.

Be merciless about typographical and grammatical errors; there's 
absolutely no excuse for an error in a resume.

Part of what you'll need for your resume is the type of factual 
and historical information I described in my #5.26 article 
"Finding a Job: The Application". Equally, if perhaps not more 
important, is a list of your accomplishments so that you can seed 
them tactically into the resume. There's an art to scratching 
your head to recall your best work, and how to present it in such 
a way that the listener gets excited and begins to see how you 
can and will be a positive contribution to her/his organization. 
More to come in future installments on this topic... the first 
step is to write everything down in a brainstorm "memory jog" 
format, starting with the projects and experiences that represent 
your best work. Once you've got a complete list, for each item 
write a short story that tells the concrete things you did to 
cause change and improvement on dimensions that are measurable 
and have impact to an employer. You can ask close friends and 
colleagues to describe they have observed in you, either traits 
or concrete accomplishments, to help jog your own memory and get 
the creative juices flowing.

Here is an assortment of helpful resume tips I've run across:

* Don't display the year for a degree earned. That information 
isn't necessary and tips off your age.

* Don't waste space by putting "Resume" at the top of your 
resume. Put your name at the top.

* Probably no surprise here: shorter is better. If you really 
need a second page, fine, but make two pages the limit.

* If you feel you need to display employment dates, only show the 
years.

* Don't list hobbies. Irrelevant.

* Leave references off of your resume. When requested, you can 
provide them separately from your resume. Don't write "references 
available upon request" because it's obvious and the comment 
wastes space.

These are some good resume resources:

* "Documents (Resume, capsule bio, letters)" by Gary Ames, 
Managing Director, ActiveJobSearch.com (see the related table of 
contents for Ames' compelling and informative content about how 
to conduct an effective job search campaign). I highly recommend 
this material.
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/603/tr.cgi?lee1

* JobStar--Resumes & Cover Letters:
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/603/tr.cgi?lee2

* Resume writing services:
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/603/tr.cgi?lee3

* Resume distribution:
http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/603/tr.cgi?lee4

(c) 2003, Lee Hudspeth
You can reach Lee Hudspeth at:
mailto:LeeHudspeth@TheNakedPC.com

You can reach Lee Hudspeth at:
leehudspeth@TheNakedPC.com

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