Your next career move – crafting your resume

Preparation

If you’re thinking of making a career move, the next few articles in this column will be of particular interest to you.

Over the next few issues I will look at the three key components that will help you achieve success in your search for the next great opportunity. They are:

1. Crafting your resume
2. Interview techniques
3. Negotiating an offer

At the outset it is important to establish what your ideal next position would be and what information would need to appear on your resume to make a head-hunter sit up and take notice.

Remember, most executive recruiters see hundreds of resumes every week, and you need to make your resume scream ‘I have something special that your clients need’.

Your resume is simply an advert for you - something to encourage the recruiter to want to meet with you.

Be realistic. If you are presently an assistant controller, or an audit senior, do not apply for positions at CFO level or for a Partnership position in a public accounting firm.
Over promoting yourself will end with and any ounce of credibility you could have built being shot down in flames.

Applications from those obviously not qualified to do the job in question drives most recruiters crazy.

Dealing with these responses is a huge vortex that sucks precious time away.

If the advert states: ‘Must have a university degree, 5 years experience and a recognized accounting designation (CA/CMA/CGA)’ then you must have these to be considered.

If you do not meet the requirements of the position, why are you applying?

It just eliminates you next time around when there IS a position that you are ideally suited for. Your lack of judgment would likely cost you an interview for something you could have had an excellent chance of moving forward on.

So, to start off let’s take a few minutes to lay the basic foundations.

Who am I really?

Part of your process should be a self-assessment exercise. This may sound long-winded but without a clear idea of your strengths and weaknesses, and a realistic idea of what you can expect to successfully step up to.

Remember, you can’t be all things to all people and your resume needs to be tailored towards a targeted sector.

Before you even go near your pc to create your resume, spend some time to think, and jot down a few notes about your professional profile to date.

Here are a few guidelines:

· What are my strengths?
· In which areas did I excel in my previous position?
· In which working environment would I thrive?
· How can I minimise my weaknesses?
· What are my mid to long term professional goals?
· Which areas of past experience are no longer of any relevance?
· Can I define exactly what it is I do, professionally?
· Do I have a proven track record?
· What personal attributes can I bring to the role?
· How motivated am I towards this change?

The basics

Your resume is a reflection of your professionalism. It needs to state quite clearly that you are the person for the job.

A good resume should contain:

· An attention grabbing summary page
· A clear, uncluttered layout
· Active and precise description
· Job specific information
· Articulate, concise language
· No spelling or grammatical mistakes
· No more than two/three pages
· Some appropriate ‘power adjectives’ – some examples of which would be: Achieved, Built, Created, Coached, Enhanced, Exceeded, Formulated, Generated, Implemented, Proposed, Recommended, Represented, Secured, Succeeded, Supervised.

The best way to approach writing your resume is to think like a recruiter does. What are the key elements that they look for?

Here are a few tips:

· The right technical skills, qualifications and experience
· Good interpersonal and communication skills
· The ability to flourish in the company’s environment
· The competence and confidence to adapt to the job
· Upward mobility

The modern resume

In recent years the visual impact of resumes has improved dramatically.

Attention to layout not only reflects your sense of professionalism but more importantly makes it easier for the recruiter to browse through.

Keep in mind that they may be shifting through dozens of resumes and may not take the time to notice the important details.

Cater to this important fact by highlighting key skills and achievements so that your resumes can be quickly skimmed by the reader and assessed for placing in the ‘yes’ or ‘maybe’ pile – for a detailed read later - instead of the ‘no’ pile.

Aim to impart a limited amount of key information, which will ultimately secure you an interview. Quality takes precedence over quantity.

A summary page is really useful for recruiters. This is the first selling point of the document. It outlines your professional profile, key skills, qualifications and experience, strengths and achievements.

If presented effectively, it could land you an interview; at the very least it will prompt the recruiter to look further at you.

And finally…

Here is a list of hard and soft skills which every employer looks for when filling a professional position, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to include as many as honestly possible in your new resume.

· Technical competence, qualifications and experience
· Relevant skills and the ability to adapt them to the new role
· Strategic thinking
· Creativity and problem solving ability
· Leadership
· Teamwork
· Dedication
· Intelligence (and common sense)
· Interpersonal, presentation and communication skills
· Personal management skills
· Integrity

Next time we will look at the next stage of the process – the interview.

© 2004, MFA Group.com