Leveraging Your Resume in the Application Process

Imagine your resume as the appetizer of the application process, the interview as the main course and a follow up as a delicious dessert. Your resume should not give away every detail about your work history, but it should be interesting enough that the hiring manager is looking forward to the interview.

We touched on resume formatting a few weeks ago, but what you include in your resume is just as important!

A big issue with resume writing is that you must consider the different audiences interpreting your wording. In short, be straight-forward, clear and consistently formatted. You want to catch the reader’s attention early to get them excited for the main course – meeting you!

Let’s say a menu offers mozzarella sticks. General assumptions can be made about what to expect. Similar to many job titles, the name usually carries a basic understanding of what you did at your job. If your job title is specific to your company or doesn’t describe what you do, you may want to add a bullet point or two to describe the general idea. If a restaurant offers Panko-breaded cheese strands with red Italian herb sauce, one could most likely assume this is a fancy version of mozzarella sticks. Similar with a job title, a recruiter or hiring manager can make assumptions based on your title, but a brief explanation is helpful in some situations. You do not want to be passed up because the hiring manager did not understand your position.

On the contrary, a full job description is not needed. Clarify what you did, but do not bore your audience. Job descriptions are too detailed for a resume and not what hiring managers want to know when reviewing your resume. Most positions include email correspondence, phone communication, utilizing proper grammar in verbal and written speech and similar skills and do not need to be included on your resume.

While some responsibilities and tasks do not need to be included, here are a few items to include for every position:

• Company
• Title (with promotions, if applicable)
• Month and year started and ended, 2016-2017 could be January 2016-December 2017 (almost two years) or December 2016-January 2017 (as little as a couple days)
• A few bullet points for each position

As far as your content, here are a few more tips on what to include:

1) How did you do the job differently than someone else?

• Were you the top performer for a point of time, if so, add numbers!
• Did you do something positive and lasting (redeveloped a department, created a training program that saved $xx.xx, improved widget process by decreasing time of moving widgets by xx%).

2) What if what you did is not different than another job?

• Explain the project you worked on, tell the reader why you were needed.
• How did you contribute more than any other candidate that was in consideration?
• For example, brought past customer services experience and employment law understanding to contribute to employee relations team.

Lastly, your resume should not be written in first-person. You are not telling a story to the hiring manager but should highlight your strengths and experiences. State your skills and achievements objectively. Your resume is a recruiter’s, hiring manager’s, colleague’s, etc. first impression of you. Ensure you are putting your best foot forward.

Kelsey Maurer, Recruiter