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JOHN SUCCESSFUL
1234 Camino Real San Diego, CA 92000 Home: (619) 555-1213 Work: (619) 678-1234 Home email: j_successful@homeisp.com Work email: successfulj@presentcompany.com SUMMARY: Experience, education and leadership in all areas of electronic packaging and product generation, including conceptual design, interconnection technology, ergonomics, aesthetics, production and vendor liaison. Infield customer service, as well as personnel and budget management skills. EDUCATION: MSME, Mechanical Engineering, San Diego State University, 1975 BSME, Mechanical Engineering, University of Bridgeport, Connecticut, 1970 EXPERIENCE:
1980-1987
Senior Engineer (1980-1983)
1977-1980
Professional: Tips on Developing a Powerful Resume FOCUS - When you compose your resume and cover letter, demonstrate how the product (you) can benefit the customer (the company). The purpose is to convince an employer to spend the time and money required to interview you. Your resume should show how you can either make money or save money for your company! RED FLAGS - Personnel administrators form opinions quickly when screening large numbers of resumes. Consequently, hiring is a negative process of "screening out" and "narrowing down." Red flags that weed out candidates include inappropriate qualifications, frequent job hopping, incompatible expectations or attitudes, implied problems or missing information. COVER LETTER - The cover letter is an important sales tool. It should be used to emphasize certain aspects of your background that are applicable to a particular employer, to overcome red flags in the resume, and to make the employer aware of important attitudes. When composing your cover letter, focus on the employer's needs and how you can contribute to solving problems. APPEARANCE - Visual appeal is important! Use bold headings and brief paragraphs for easy reading. Remember to keep it simple and allow for ample white space. White space invites the eye to read, and your goal is to make them want to read about you. Also, don't use tiny fonts! Many Human Resource personnel and hiring managers have difficulty reading print below 10 points, so keep your font size at 10 or above. 12 point is optimal. Also, avoid "script" or other "decorative" fonts. Again, these are hard to read and their "artistic" value will be lost in the world of overworked, rushed, often elderly, readers! Job candidates who overlook the importance of their rTsumT's appearance sabotage their future career success. We strongly recommend you put special attention on this area. If you opt for a professional resume preparation service, do not let them sell you a showy resume or overstate your qualifications. Simplicity and accuracy are more effective. LENGTH - Focus your attention on the most recent ten years of experience. A resume is a synopsis, not an autobiography. One or two pages are generally sufficient and qualifications should NEVER be presented on more than three pages. Conciseness significantly adds power! CONTACT INFORMATION - Be sure to include your address with ZIP code, home AND business telephone numbers, all with area codes. In today's Internet world, an email address is nearly a requirement! Include both your work and personal email addresses. PERSONAL INFORMATION - Current formats completely omit this section. Pictures are NEVER appropriate! POSITION OBJECTIVE - Optional. If included, use broad terminology such as "challenging engineering position offering significant opportunities for growth" rather than specific terms, such as Principal Hardware Engineer, which might preclude an employer from interviewing you for a different position that fits your qualifications. EDUCATION - If you have an undergraduate degree, state the year of graduation, the school, and the type of degree. In this age of computer searching, abbreviations without periods are better than those with periods. E.g. MSEE is better than M.S.E.E. Unless your degree is unusual, do not spell it out. In other words, "BSME" is better than "Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering". However, "Master of Science in the Art of Geometric Gyration" is better than "MSAGG", which is not a standard degree program in this country. Cumulative average or class rank, when high, may be included for recent graduates. Professionals with limited experience (three or fewer years) should also include student activities and part-time jobs that indicate leadership skills, responsibilities and professional interests. EXPERIENCE - Describe your experience in reverse chronological order, listing the most recent jobs first. Identify employers and dates (month and year) of employment. Company size and operating nature stimulate interest. Include position titles, dates positions were held, a brief description of your function, and your specific accomplishments. The way you describe your experience influences decisions more than any other part of the resume. Your work experience should be applicable to the new employer's needs and problems. Make sure to be specific. Don't assume that by saying you're an analog engineer, the reader will know you've worked in phased lock loops. Besides, computer searching will pick up these specific job skills, whereas "implied" skill sets are not recognized in searches! ACCOMPLISHMENTS - This is the heart of your resume! Use action words such as "directed, established, installed, designed, reduced, saved, analyzed, conceived, controlled, developed, implemented, motivated, solved, streamlined or re-organized." Action works paint a picture of you as an achiever. They are powerful sales tools. Use them often! CREDIBILITY - Avoid using approximate statements, such as "around 40 percent", to describe your accomplishments. If a specific program resulted in a 38.2 percent increase, say so. It's important to be accurate, and you'll appear to be more credible! SALARY - NEVER include your salary in the cover sheet or resume; its inclusion could cause you to be left out of an interview! You could aim too high or too low. Appropriate compensation can always be negotiated later. TITLES - Titles enable the reader to quickly classify an individual and discard the resume without reading any further. Use titles that accurately describe what you did. Don't just give a standard job description or emphasize formal titles. Big titles held at smaller companies can be misleading and can eliminate you from consideration because you are perceived as being too strong. FREQUENT JOB CHANGES - Reasons for making a career change should usually be included in the resume. However, if you have had numerous changes, include the reason following each position. FORMAT - Functional resumes that separate achievements from the specific company have become more popular recently. Our experience has shown this type of resume to be less successful because your accomplishments are more effective when connected to the place where you achieved them. TECHNICAL TERMINOLOGY - As a general rule, it's acceptable to use only the most common technical terms without any explanation (UNIX(r) operating system, "C" language, ADA etc.) Less common terms should always be explained. For example, "EDA tools" should be described as electronic design automation tools. COMPUTER EXPERIENCE - your computer experience should be broken down into hardware, operating systems and systems software, and languages. Relate your computer experience to each position where computer usage was significant. Describe non-standard computer systems where possible by relating them to standard brands. For example, describe "Generic Brand Computer Corp. Model 320 with a RATS operating system" as a "32-bit Motorola(r)-based CPU with a UNIX(r)-like operating system." Remember, your track record
is important! In the final analysis, every hiring is a financial decision!
To stimulate an employer to interview you, the resume should reflect
the fact that you can make a positive contribution to the bottom line
and provide a significant return on the employer's investment. |
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