Building Your Resume

1
Building Your Resume

• By
• Student WorkForce Readiness Project
• PHRMA/SWHRMA

2
Class Objectives

• Understand the purpose of a resume
• Product v. History
• Understand how employers read resumes
• Scanning v. Reading
• Understand how to build a resume
• Dos v. Donts
• Understand how to target a resume based on
  specific employer needs

3
Why Do Employers Want a Resume?

• Each job has different requirements
• When skills match requirements, Recruiters
  Hiring Managers pay attention
• Demonstrates a higher degree of interest and
  professionalism
• Links your Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
  (KSAs) and businesss needs.

4
Your Resume Is a Marketing Tool And You Are The
Product!!

• Your experience and skills have valueyour
  salary!!
• Do you know your value?
• Budgets are tight and cant be wasted
• Employers search for the Best Candidate
• What can you do for us?
• Can we get added value by hiring you?

5
Your Resume Is a Marketing Tool And You Are The
Product!!

• Your resume(s) should
• Grab attention of recruiters, hiring managers who
  are involved in the selection process
• Highlight why you are the best candidate
• Accurately market your Knowledge, Skills and
  Abilities (KSAs)
• Show information that will rule you in, not
  screen you out.
• Be visually easy to read and understand

6
Types of Resumes

• Chronological (70)
• Most widely used
• Emphasizes actual work history
• Highlights things, e.g., title, company,
  skills, duties, accomplishments
• Best format for getting a job in something youve
  done before
• Focuses on actual experience and accomplishments

7
Types of Resumes

• Functional (30)
• Emphasizes skills and knowledge not directly
  linked to a particular job or experience
• De-emphasizes chronology, gaps of time
• Focuses on similar functions or skills, across
  different industries or jobs
• Effective when beginning or changing careers

8
Types of Resumes

• Targeted
• Blends Chronological and Functional format
• Focuses on a clear, specific job target
• Matches the job target with your own job goal
• Lists skills and supporting accomplishments
  directly related to specific job target

9
Targeted Resume

• Dont
• Overdo the use of industry terms
• Indicate abilities that arent credible based
  upon your background
• Focus on areas that are not relevant
• Emphasize dates of employment unless experience
  is recent and relevant to job target.

• Do
• Begin with a specific job target or objective
• Use specific industry terminology
• Include relevant education/training
• Include volunteer/paid experience related to
  targeted job

10
Targeted Resume

• Advantages
• Employers understand what you want to do
• Employers can understand how your total
  experience make you a good candidate
• You can customize and emphasize your capabilities

• Disadvantages
• When you prefer to use one resume for several
  applications
• When you are not clear about how your
  capabilities match to the job target
• When your experience is light

11
How Employers Read Resumes

• Scanning v. Reading
• 10-20 second rule
• Seven Word rule
• Top to bottom, left to right, first v. second
  page
• Key words, phrases, in order of priority
• Job Goal
• Minimum Qualifications
• Relevant Skills
• Companies, Titles, Dates

12
Building a Resume

• Heading
• Name, Address, Telephone, Email
• Free email accounts
• Objective v. Summary Paragraph
• Potential v. Experience
• Professional Experience Section
• Company, City State, Dates
• Title
• Accomplishments
• Repeat for Each Company

13
Building a Resume, continued

• Education Section
• Training Section
• Technical Skills Section
• Volunteer Experience Section
• Other Sections
• Anything that is relevant to the job you are
  seeking

14
Building a Resume, continued

• Accomplishments v. Tasks
• The difference is accomplishments show results
• PAR Formula
• P Problem or Task
• A Action you took
• R Result you achieved
• Example
• Actively listened and responded customer
  inquiries which reduced the number of problem
  issues escalated to the manager and increased
  customer satisfaction.

15
Formatting Tips

• Use the same font throughout the resume
• Use easy to read 12 point font, e.g., New Times
  Roman, Arial, etc.
• 1 Margins, top, bottom, sides
• Use bullets instead of paragraphs
• Use spell check and have someone proofread
• Bold is ok, no underlines or italics

16
Targeting a Resume Exercise

• Find a job advertisement of interest
• Read the job advertisement thoroughly
• Use Highlighter and mark KSAs
• Make a list of key skills and requirements for
  the job
• Check off the skills you have
• Write accomplishments that match what the
  employer is seeking
• Include this information on the resume

17
Questions?