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 I'm looking to move to the Seattle area and get out of my current industry. I find it to explain on my resume and in a cover letter how my current skills are transferable, so my wife tried to help me. But to me, what she helped me write sounds like BS. It's all true, but it sounds like BS to me.

Pretty sure I've heard on the podcast that a resume should have a brief prose description of the actual duties of the job, followed by bulleted accomplishments.  I"ll post what I was using, followed by what my wife suggested. 

Here's what I was using:

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Employer
City of Evansville, Evansville/Vanderburgh County Central Dispatch 9-1-1
1999-Present
Communications Supervisor 

Supervise up to eight union employees; ensure adherence to SOPs; develop refresher training material; receive and prioritize emergency 911 calls, general information calls, and radio requests for police, fire and ambulance service; data entry and records maintenance.

- Spearheaded adoption of official department Twitter account
- Gave presentation on Law Enforcement Communications to the 2011 and 2012 classes of the Southwestern Indiana Law Enforcement Academy
- Developed informational brochure for printing
- Designed, deployed, and maintain department intranet
- Designed and administered initial training for intranet
- Member National Emergency Number Association (NENA)
- Designed and maintain department Internet website
- Represent department to area media, including broadcast interviews

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Here's what she helped me write today:
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Employer
City of Evansville, Evansville/Vanderburgh County Central Dispatch 9-1-1
1999-Present
Communications Supervisor
 
-Daily supervise six to eight union employees within the limitations of their contract and ensuring adherence to emergency dispatch procedures, receive and prioritize emergency calls as needed according to department policy, data entry and records maintenance, and develop and administer on-going training. Designed, deployed, and maintain department intranet to facilitate better information exchange and conducted initial training of the staff on its use.
 
-Responsible for community awareness of how Central Dispatch operates and providing other public safety information through the design, development, and maintenance of the department internet website, social media, and various media appearances. Served on the National Emergency Number Association’s (NENA) Public Education Committee, Social Media Workgroup, and the editorial advisory board for their magazines.
 
-Received Instructor Training Certification from the Center for Domestic Preparedness in Anniston, AL in 2010, and have attended other courses there. Taught Law Enforcement Communications course to the 2011 and 2012 classes of the Southwestern Indiana Law Enforcement Academy, and gave a presentation on emergency call-taking to the security department at the University of Southern Indiana in 2010.

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(My wife used this format on her resume, and has had several different interviews and job offers. But I'll bet that's less because of her resume, and more because she's awesome and has a great reputation in her field.)
 
Actually, she wanted me to write those long bullet points out in a first-person "In my daily routine, I supervise..." I put my foot down on that one.
 
Suggestions on which to use?
 
 

rthibode's picture

The basic idea of your version is easier to read and closer to Career Tools recommendations. Your accomplishment bullets are a good start. Career Tools advice is to follow a formula of verb, result, method.

For example, instead of

- Spearheaded adoption of official department Twitter account

try

- Increased efficiency of communication to 150 clients by spearheading adoption of official department Twitter account

VERB = Increased

RESULT = communication efficiency to 150 clients

METHOD = by spearheading adoption of official department Twitter account

Obviously the details are made up. Try to quantify your accomplishment in some way. Did it save money or time? Did you meet volume targets? Etc.

This is a very rough example. Check out the Career Tools podcasts from January 6 and 12 for lots of examples.

Good luck.

Rachelle

DataEraseRequest@Reacher158676.com's picture

 

Thanks! That what I thought I recalled hearing on the podcast.

 

Kevin Bayer
Communications Supervisor
Evansville/Vanderburgh County Central Dispatch 9-1-1

Owner/Reviewer
SporadicReviews.com

 

jrosenau's picture

They have an example resume here: http://www.manager-tools.com/downloadable-forms

DataEraseRequest@Reacher158676.com's picture

Looks "Wall-of-text-y" to me, but I'm not the professional here - so I'll definitely be revamping my resume! 

Thanks!

 

Kevin Bayer
Communications Supervisor
Evansville/Vanderburgh County Central Dispatch 9-1-1

Owner/Reviewer
SporadicReviews.com

 

jrosenau's picture

To let you know, I revamped my resume to match their format - I did buy the resume workbook to be sure.  I had excellent results using it.

John

DataEraseRequest@Reacher158676.com's picture

 

Good to know it works. Thanks. I have my work cut out for me ;-)

 

Kevin Bayer
Communications Supervisor
Evansville/Vanderburgh County Central Dispatch 9-1-1

Owner/Reviewer
SporadicReviews.com