Submitted by CaptainKirk on
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I am trying to put together a resume according to the MT suggestions. My problem is how I should handle responsibilities and projects that overlap between more than one heading. Also I'm not sure if I should structure the resume based on job titles or projects that I've worked on.
I've worked at company X for five years. The first three years my job title was Engineer, and then Senior Engineer after that. The last year I have also had the role Technical Manager. Should these three be headings in the structure? E.g. Jan 10 to present: Technical Manager for product Z, division Y, company X.
During these five years I've worked on several projects, usually two or more at a time. When I've switched title or role, I've continued to work on the same projects. Should the responsibilities within these projects be listed in multiple paragraphs?
An example to illustrate what I mean (t indicates time):
t0-t1: Eng Project A
t1-t2: Eng Project A Project B
t2-t3: S.Eng Project B
t3-t4: S.Eng Project B Project C
t4-t5: T.Mgr Project B Project C
t5-t6: T.Mgr Project D
I'd be very grateful for any suggestions on how I should structure this.
there was a project-based podcast
There was a project manager podcast (something in there tied in to freelancers, too). You can find it here:
http://www.manager-tools.com/2010/09/writing-resumes-consultants-and-pro...
I'd say do three things (in addition to listening to Mike and Mark, of course)
1. You always keep at least two resumes. I call them your "closet" resume, and your "suit" resume. (Every day, you pick a suit out of your closet.) Your "closet" resume is TWO or THREEE pages long, it has complete details on every job you've ever had, and you don't show it to anybody. Your "suit" resume is ONE page long, and you make that "suit" by picking a few nice pieces out of your big closet.
2. Unless the job you're applying for is very, very similar to the job you're doing now, you probably don't need to list all four projects and all three job titles. When you get dressed in a suit, you don't pull out everything in your closet. Just mention the projects that will impress the interviewer.
3. You don't have to list every project you've worked on. Maybe Project A was what they handed you when you started there, and you never really got a chance to shine until Project B came along. Maybe you did standout work on project B, and the place you're interviewing does a lot of Project B-type stuff, and maybe it was your work on Project D that got you promoted to Technical Manager. Well, then I'd say just talk about Projects B and D on your resume.
So maybe something like this:
March 2005-Present: Technical Manager, ACME Engineering, Springfield, NY (promoted from Engineer). In roles of increasing responsibility, I tested Project A, drafted budgets for Project B deployment, and led a team of materials engineers investigating the durability of Project D.
I can't stress it enough: your big, two-page "closet" resume still has all the details on Project A and Project C. The closet resume still lists your time and accomplishments as a Senior Engineer. But you probably don't need to list every project and every job title on a one-page resume.
By title..
For project-based roles, we still recommend you list your roles by title. Whether you worked on 1 project or 50, you were still an engineer on all those projects.
t1 - t2 - Engineer: description of all the things you did which were common across the projects
*Great accomplishment on project 1
*Great accomplishment on project 2
*Another great accomplishment on project 1
The cast Afmoffa recommended will help you too.
Wendii
Thanks for the input. So it
Thanks for the input.
So it seems I should have one section for Engineer and one for Technical Manager. Should I then list being named Senior Engineer as an accomplishment, rather than a title with its own section?
During my time as an Engineer, the responsibilities have changed. E.g. during one time period I was responsible for document X, during another period I was responsible for system safety within a certain project. Would I mention this fact in the responsibilities paragraph?
Overlapping Titles
BLUF: I have a similar issue, except I have had overlapping titles and departments. How would I represent that on my resume? Would I do it differently on my CMD?
Detail:
I was hired as Director of X. Two months later, the Director of Y resigned and I was asked to run that department as Director of Y. Last month, I was asked to manage the Z department as Director of Z. I held all three directorships for about a month, and then we hired a new Director of Y, and I still have the other two departments.
The departments all have loose connections to one another (i.e., one can see how better collaboration would be useful). I have worked on taking advantage of the perspective one has when looking at them together, and they are three distinct areas of expertise so combining them under one umbrella is difficult.
Would I list all three titles with dates?
Director, X (3/2010 - present)
· Accomplishment 1
· Accomplishment 2
Director, Y (5/2010-4/2011)
· Accomplishment 1
· Accomplishment 2
Director, Z (3/2011 - present)
· Accomplishment 1
· Accomplishment 2
Or list them in the same line as they are all with the same company and overlapping time periods?
Director, X (3/10 – present) and Y (3/11 – present), Director, Z (5/10-4/11)
· Accomplishment 1
· Accomplishment 2
And thanks to Mark, Mike, Maggie, and Wendii (among many others) for helping me be in a position to get the job and the additional responsibilities in the first place.
mukamal
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