Resumes

You should consider your resume a career-builder. There are several styles of resumes and depending on the employer you will be interviewing with, you may want to prepare a resume in two or three different styles. This is called targeting. You want to know as much about the firm your are applying to as possible. Knowing more about the firm than any other prospective employee will give you the edge.

Here are the different styles / types of resumes:

• CHRONOLOGICAL (this is preferred by most employers). A chronological resume is organized by date of work experience, starting from the most recent and working back.
• FUNCTIONAL (this is good especially if you have gaps in your employement history). A functional resume is organized by skills, professional experience, and accomplishments.
• COMBINATION - obviously a combination of the chronological and functional resumes.
• ALPHABETICAL - this is a resume listing all of your information alphabetically. I.e. accomplishments; accreditation/licenses; education; experience; publications; strengths, etc. This type resume is used less often than the others, but for the right job opportunity, this could be quite affective.

Take a copy of your resume and cover letter with you to your interview. It helps you remember dates and what you've told this employer about yourself. Remember, you may be sending or presenting different employers with different information.

Who do you send your resume and cover letter to - not nearly all available jobs are listed in the newspaper or online. Network. Network. Network. The majority of jobs are filled by people who learned of the potential employer through word of mouth.

We will discuss interviewing later, but remember these two tips:

• Most important at an interview: be enthusiastic, be honest, and use your very best verbal communication skills.
• It is very important to send a thank you note following the interview.