Resume 101

If you take the "Brand" concept seriously, then you need to look at your resume as a marketing brochure.  

Who's going to read it?  Why would they read it?  What role does that document play in your "sales" effort?  

Your audience is likely seasoned recruiters and hiring managers.  They want to know your product's attributes: your accomplishments.  Let them decide whether your accomplishments fit the job they have.  You might be pleasantly surprised when they offer you an interview for a position you wouldn't have listed at the top of your resume. 

If you provide a brand slogan atop your resume, you may not get an interview that's good for you but not tightly brand aligned. 

Describing yourself can be done in your cover letter.   If you get the interviewing series (which is awesome) it includes a discussion of cover letters (and a host of other great stuff). 

John Hack

I agree with what John said and I'll add that when you read hundreds of resumes (professional recruiters are in the thousands) you see the same verbiage over and over again. I can't tell you how many times I've read "utilize my skills" in a resume objective. After awhile (a very short while) it all just sounds like BS. Tell me what you've DONE that makes you a great "corporate effectiveness coach." Don't expect me to believe that you're great just because you said you are (guess what: everyone else said the same thing).

Kate

 Hi all,

I'm new to manager tools.

I'm also polishing up my resume (basically starting from scratch).  I've been in the mechanical engineering field for about 15 years, exited (quit) in 2005 to stay home with my newborn daughter as a full time at home dad.  Now I'm looking to get my career up to speed again.

What's the most graceful way to account for this on my resume???

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Todd

I think you just explained a four-year gap perfectly.  You decided to stay home and spend time with a child.  No need to explain, its the honest answer so it doesn't need anything else.

I might ask how you will transition back to work, what if any difficulties might come up, but just to see if you have thought ahead about making such a transition.  Again an honest answer is all you need, there may be a challenge with day-care, but I would want to know what kind of support you would need.  I might not be able to accomidate on-site day-care, but leaving 10 minutes early twice a week for pick up a child, I could tolerate.

Good luck....

 Hello,

I have been working for the one company for 9 years and have changed roles 3 times from Technician to Design Engineer and Currently Operations Manager.

How should i display this change in my resume?

Do i list each role like a different Job, including start date and company information with its own responsibilities and accomplishments?

Or  list all of the accomplishments and responsibilities from all 3 roles under my current role?

Thank you for any advice,

Shane.

The answer to the first posted question is because we don't read that stuff.

The answer to the last question is to list them as three different jobs.  See our example.  Each paragraph on the example are shown as if they were in the same company (or different).

Mark