Resume

Now that we have discussed how you must evaluate yourself, creating a powerful portrait of yourself, let's begin writing the resume. First, PLEASE do not begin your resume with personal information such as your age, height, weight, etc. This information does NOT go on a resume.

Your resume begins with:

YOUR NAME

YOUR ADDRESS

YOUR PHONE NUMBER / EMAIL ADDRESS

• As shown here, it is preferred that you center this information, bold, at the top of your first page. Some templates have this information flush with the left margin, this is okay too.

• Next, the first category of your resume: QUALIFICATIONS or EXPERIENCE SUMMARY or STRENGTHS or EXPERTISE / SKILLS. It depends to some degree to whom you are sending your resume as to which category heading you will want to use. Following are examples of each of the above categories:

QUALIFICATIONS: (the heading should be bold and flush with the left margin.)

Strong written and oral communications skills .. Excellent grammar and

vocabulary .. Ability to prioritize and manage time wisely .. Able to work

independently and as a team member .. Detail / result-oriented .. Dependable ..

Easily establish rapport and productive work relationships.

EXPERIENCE SUMMARY:

Fifteen years in retail sales management and wholesale marketing .. Design /

development of automated inventory control system .. Design and

implementation of creative marketing strategies .. Personnel hiring, training,

development .. Extensive liaison / customer service responsibilities.

STRENGTHS:

Establishment of effective communication and interpersonal relationships ..

Utilization of my comprehensive background and education in effective

remediation .. Speech, hearing, and language diagnosis .. Public speaking.

EXPERTISE:

Versatile ability to organize, manage, and solve problems .. An

international / domestic business perspective .. Thorough knowledge of

project management and facility planning, design construction, operation

and maintenance .. Fluent in French and Spanish.

• This FIRST CATEGORY is where you want to show the big picture, quickly. You want to whet the appetite of the reader so they will read on with interest. It is said, the first read of a resume may take as long as 30 SECONDS! WOW! If you grab the readers attention immediately, the reader may take a few more seconds with your resume.

• Omit experiences not relevant to your new goal. You might include (briefly) a special achievement, sales volume, a large budget figure, an article published, or the name of a show you produced.

• These first categories are interchangeable, do not use all of them on one resume. If you are aiming for a technical career position, the QUALIFICATIONS category might be the best first category, or the EXPERTISE category - expertise meaning - taught by use, practice, or experience; skillful; also proficient. This is a more powerful / attention-getter than qualifications, but your resume must back up this claim. The STRENGTHS category is always a listing of your personal qualifications, not your factual ones.

• Use short, meaty phrases for these categories. You don't need complete sentences here. Pick no more than four, possibly five, of your relevant strengths and list them effectively in the order of importance, regarding the job you are bidding for.

• MAKE YOUR FIRST RESUME CATEGORY A KNOCKOUT! Work hard on it. Make it powerful. Make the reader look down to the professional experience category, at least, for proof of what you are claiming or exclaiming about.