Rsum Preparation for Chemical Professionals

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Résumé Preparation for Chemical Professionals
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Importance of Résumé

• A résumé is your chief marketing tool
• Making it through the first screen of applicants
  in a job search is most dependant upon the proper
  format and content of your résumé
• Documents accompanying your résumé can also
  impact your chances of getting an interview
• Maintaining your résumé is important to your
  employability

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Résumé Purposes

• Get an interview, not a job
• Quick read of skills and qualifications
• Guide during interview
• Reminder after the interview
• Example of your communication skills
• Good self-assessment tool
• Does not take the place of the application
• Is not an autobiography

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Résumé Challenges

• Of all the résumés I have seen, why should I
  consider yours?
• Managers are looking for a way to exclude
  résumés!
• 1001 résumé-to-job ratio!
• 30-45 seconds reviewing each résumé!

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Characteristics of a Good Résumé

• Emphasize Results
• Factual, not subjective
• I perform my job with effortless efficiency,
  effectiveness, efficacy, and expertise.
• Provide quantitative information whenever
  possible.
• Developed a novel method that allowed the
  analysis of twice the number of samples/hour.
• Dont overstate capabilities and/or
  accomplishments

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Common Résumé Mistakes

• Wordiness
• Its a résumé, not an autobiography
• Difference between a résumé and a curriculum
  vitae (CV)
• Sloppiness
• Little attention to formatting
• Grammatical and spelling errors

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Résumé Format

• Neat, well-organized, mistake free
• Easy and quick to read
• Key information highly visible
• Usually 2 pages
• Include brief but complete job descriptions
• List major accomplishments
• Include key words for electronic searching
• Email your résumé as an attachment

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Proofread Carefully!!

• A recruiter received a résumé with an unusual
  work history. According to the document, the
  candidate, who had stressed her reputation for
  accuracy in a cover letter, had held one job from
  1998 to 2013.
• (She didnt get an interview.)
• Wall Street Journal, August 5, 2003

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Personal Data Formats

• Be sure to use the data format best suited for
  your employment sector

This workshop will focus on the résumé format.
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Résumé Format for Recent Graduates

• Chronological format
• Shows career progression without gaps
• Expected format for recent graduates
• Most commonly used
• Emphasizes most recent accomplishments

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Résumé Format for Experienced Chemists

• Chronological format as before, or
• Functional format
• Highlights relevant accomplishments, regardless
  of when
• Allows grouping of skills by category, not
  when/where acquired
• Can highlight older or unusual skills
• Must still include chronological listing of
  employers
• Ideal format for those transitioning to a new
  field

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Where to Start?

• Create lists of
• Degrees (dates place earned)
• Employers (names, addresses and dates)
• Publications, Presentations and Patents
• Awards and Accomplishments
• Inventory your skills and accomplishments
• Leadership
• Innovation
• Communications

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Sections of the Résumé

• Heading
• Objective and/or Highlights
• Education
• Skills and Accomplishments
• Experience (especially research)
• Awards
• Professional Affiliations
• Publications, patents, presentations
• References
• Résumé PreparationTips for Chemical
  Professionals
• available online through chemistry.org/careers

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Résumé Heading

• Name, address, phone email
• Srinishvashikan (Sri) Doe, Ph.D.
• Sandia National Laboratory
• Chemistry Division
• Albuquerque, ME 87175
• 505-555-1212 chemist_at_yahoo.com

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The Great Résumé Debate

• Question 1
• Should I state a Career Objectiveon my résumé?

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Arguments For Career Objective

• A career objective
• Clarifies professional objectives
• Who are you?
• What do you do?
• What can you bring to the organization?
• Can be tailored to fit the position you are
  applying for
• E.g., scientific communication vs. research,
  narrow expertise vs. broad challenges

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Arguments Against a Career Objective

• A career objective
• Can turn into an exercise in creative writing!
• To participate in and lead a group of talented
  people in an institutional/industrial set-up to
  reach new horizons through productivity and
  growth.

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Arguments Against a Career Objective

• Can close doors, rather than open them
• By sending the wrong message
• E.g., seeking management vs. research scientist
  position
• By unnecessarily narrowing your options
• E.g., organic chemist for drug discovery vs.
  other types of organic chemist positions

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Recommend Using a Career Objective

• Recommendation
• Use a Job Objective if it clearly and succinctly
  meets your career needs
• This works most of the time
• E.g., A position as on organic chemist on a
  drug-discovery team that takes advantage of my
  skills in synthesis and medicinal chemistry.
• Be very aware of the risks of a poorly focused or
  poorly written Job Objective
  

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Highlights Section (optional)

• Highlight 3-5 key accomplishments/areas
• Be brief and action-oriented
• Support by details later in your résumé
• Conveys the essence of YOU as a Professional!
• The objective and highlights sections provide an
  excellent opportunity for you to use
• key terms used in database searches.

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Sample Highlights BA/BS

• Adept at operating and interpreting the data for
  a wide range of analytical instruments
• Excellent problemsolver
• Adept at multi-tasking
• Proficient in both written and oral
  communications
• Excellent attention to detail

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Sample Highlights Ph.D.

• Extensive experience in the investigation of
  photochemical reactions
• Developed new techniques for the analysis of
  previously undetectable biomolecules
• Elucidated synthetic pathway for the first
  ß-hairpin ß-helix peptide
• Developed method to trap enzymes in silica gel
  beads allowing for timed release in detergents as
  well as extended shelf life

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Sample Highlights Experienced Ph.D.

• Skilled at working in a GMP environment
• Adept at using a wide range of synthetic organic
  techniques
• Highly skilled analytical chemist with practical
  expertise in operating a wide range of modern
  instruments
• Proven track record of publications
• Proven problem-solver - 7 patents granted

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Education Section

• List in reverse chronological order
• Include degree, specialization, institute,
  location and date of graduation
• Ph.D., Organic Chemistry, Private Polytech
  University, Collegetown, ST, 2005.Advisor J.H.
  Hopkins.Dissertation Novel Synthesis of 15
  Taxol Derivatives
• For masters or doctorate include advisor and
  thesis title

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The Great Résumé Debate

• Question 3
• Should I put my gradeson my résumé?

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List My Grades?

• Undergraduate grades
• Yes, if they are relatively high (3.5?)
• No, if they are relatively low (
• Otherwise, it is a gray area
• Graduate grades
• Generally no, unless they are very high
• It is okay to list undergraduate grades but not
  graduate grades the other way around is not okay

Once youve had a job or two, do not list any
grades.
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Build a CAR

• When stating an accomplishment or skill, use the
  CAR principle
• Context State the where, when and how
• Action Using an action verb state the action
  taken
• Result What was the outcome of your action?

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Some Useful Action Words
Use action verbs avoid the passive voice

• Verbs
• Created
• Developed
• Established
• Directed
• Influenced
• Produced
• Demonstrated
• Managed
• Led

• Adverbs
• Effectively
• Quickly
• Successfully
• Reliably
• Aggressively
• Actively
• Productively

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Types of Skills

• Technical (laboratory, analytical)
• Business (leadership, management)
• Teamwork (initiation, facilitation,
  collaboration, flexibility, coordination)
• Communications (writing, editing, presenting,
  reporting)
• Management (project direction, team leadership,
  laboratory supervision)

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Exercise Identify Your Skills

• On a piece of paper
• List three of your accomplishments
• Below each, list the skills used
• Use bulleted key words or phrases
• Start with action verbs
• Provide results, quantify if possible
• Compare your list with people sitting near you

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Research Experience Section

• State title, institution, dates of employment and
  key accomplishments
• Research Fellow, ABC State University 2003-2004
• Developed novel procedure for plating copper with
  zinc.
• Modeled the kinetics of heterogeneous
  photochemical atmospheric reactions.
• Developed a new, highly sensitive technique for
  the measurement of photochemical reactions on
  heterogeneous surfaces.

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Tailoring the Résumé

• Your résumé should be tailored to the position
• Where is the résumé going and who will read it?
• Recruiting manager
• Hiring manager
• Recruiting team
• Electronic database
• Consider multiple versions for different jobs
• But be carefully not to send different versions
  to the same company

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Focusing Your résumé

• Stay on target
• Clearly elucidate educational or work history
• Provide objective evidence of technical skills or
  training
• Focus on results instead of duties and
  responsibilities
• Studied the synthesis of new compounds
• vs.
• Designed and executed the total synthesis of
  three new heterocyclic amine compounds in less
  than four months, with results leading to two
  publications

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The Great Résumé Rebate

• Question 2
• If I am not a U.S. citizen,should I list my
  visa statuson my résumé?

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List My Visa Status?

• Only if it is to your advantage
• If you are foreign-born but a permanent resident
  (green card) or U.S. citizen, list this in the
  heading
• If you are on a J-1, F-1, H-1B, or other
  nonresident visa, you should generally not list
  this if you are applying for a position in the
  U.S.

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The Great Résumé Debate

• Question 4
• Should I list all of mypublications and
  presentationson my résumé?

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List All Publications and Presentations?

• Generally yes, with authors and full titles
• Departmental seminars are not very impactful
  generally not included
• If listing all publications and presentations
  pushes résumé beyond two pages, consider
  shortening by
• Using the heading Publications and Selected
  Presentations or
• Attaching the whole list as an Appendix
• Include articles submitted or in press
  manuscripts in progress are more problematic

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The Great Résumé Debate

• Question 5
• Should I list the names and contact information
  for references or say References available upon
  request?

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List References by Name?

• Recommendation Yes
• Include contact information for references
• Name, title, employer, phone and email
• Employers will contact references, especially
  your thesis advisor, before offering a job (and
  maybe even before talking with you)
• References should have a strong academic or
  business relationship to you

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Etiquette for References

• Visit with potential references before asking
  them to write for you
• Ensure that they will be true advocates for you
• Give information about yourself and the position
  for which you are applying
• Ensure that they have the background information
  they need
• Keep references informed of your progress,
  especially if they should expect a call

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Putting You Into The Résumé

• Stress Action Tell what you did, beginning each
  accomplishment with a power verb
• Stress Results Quantify the results of your
  action
• Employers arent just interested in what you did
  ... they also want to know how well and how much
• Highlight leadership, awards, and accomplishments

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What Not to Include on Your Résumé

• Dont include your
• Salary history or requirements
• References to age, race, religion, sex, health,
  marital status, or national origin
• However, it is okay to include information that
  discloses the above by inference (e.g.,
  membership in an organization)
• Hobbies, unless they are relevant to the job or
  reflect a skill or accomplishment
• Reasons for leaving your previous job

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Formatting Résumés for Scanning

• Hardcopy résumés are often scanned into a
  database
• As a result, simple is better to
• Use a standard font (at least 10 pt, 11 pt)
• Avoid underlining, graphics, shading
• Avoid putting information into columns
• Use black ink and light-colored 8.5x11 paper
• Avoid folding on a line of print
• Avoid faxing your résumé

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Electronically Submitted Résumés

• Keyword searches of résumé database
• Used by most larger companies
• Software ranks résumés by keyword presence and
  frequency of hits
• Therefore, need to make sure all key words that
  describe your technical background are in the
  résumé at least once

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The Curriculum Vitae (CV)Course of Life

• For new PhDs, a CV will be little different from
  a résumé
• A CV is a living document that is constantly
  updated without eliminating information
• Length is not a concern
• An encyclopedic inventory of a persons work
• Uses reverse chronological order
• Important differences between a résumé and a CV
• A CV should not have an Objective section, but
  should have a list of references
• A CV should provide an exhaustive list of
• Publications and presentations
• Research interests
• Research grants and proposals submitted
• Courses taught (including each TA assignment and
  any tutoring)
• Students mentored and where they are currently
  located

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Additional Documents

• Cover Letter
• Research summary
• List of publications, presentations and patents
• References

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Research Summary

• Optional addition to résumé, as an attachment
• Very helpful in describing your research
• Different from an abstract
• Objective
• Results
• Conclusions/next steps
• Limit to about 1 page
• Include a mechanism or graphic
• Probably not warranted for undergraduate studies

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The Cover Letter

• Should always accompany your résumé (hardcopy or
  electronic)
• Personalize the letter to suit the organization
• Make it brief and to the pointless than 1 page
• Explain why you are applying and what you can do
  for the organization
• If replying to an ad, reference that ad (where
  published, date, position reference/code)
• Highlight your skills but dont duplicate
  detailed information in your résumé

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Structure of Cover Letter

• Try to address the letter to a specific person in
  the organization.
• Opening paragraph Explain the purpose of the
  letter, what job you are applying for, how you
  heard about the job, when you will be available.
• Middle paragraph(s) Explain your skills and how
  they will benefit the company. Try to
  demonstrate that you have done your homework on
  the company.
• Closing paragraph Reiterate your desire to work
  for the company and thank them for their
  consideration. Tell them your résumé is
  enclosed. If you are sending the letter to a
  specific individual, say you will follow up to
  ensure receipt of the résumé.

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Remember

• Your résumé provides a first impression
• If its not really good, its also the last
  impression

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Maintain Your Résumé

• Track the different versions of your résumé
• Keep your lists of skills and accomplishments
  up-to-date
• Set an anniversary date to update your résumé
• Many people use Groundhog Day, Feb. 2nd
• You never know when you might need your résumé
  again. It is easiest to keep it up-to-date.

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Summary of Presentation

• Your résumé is your chief marketing tool make it
  work for you!
• Use the right format to get the right results
• Make allowances for electronic prescreening
  methods
• Include keywords
• Keep format simple
• Update your résumé on a regular basis

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Related chemjobs.org Resources

• Workshops
• Targeting the Job Market
• Effective Interviewing Techniques
• Critical Steps to Success
• Services
• Resume Reviews
• Mock Interviews

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• Thank you
• for your attention!ACS is here to help
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  and more.
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• 800.227.5558