I am a Third Party Recruiter (Headhunter) specializing in finding employees for the Plastics Industry. In today’s buyer (employer) driven market, well written resumes are even more important than ever. Unfortunately, I continue to see many poorly written resumes. In order to help job seekers write better resumes, I am relisting a Blog I wrote a couple of years ago. This is a basic chronological resume in an outline format that you can use to develop your resume. The Chronological resume is good to use for mailing, hand delivery or sending to recruiters. This assumes you are using a word processor, which should be Microsoft Word 97 or more recent. Adobe .pdf files are also acceptable.
I. PERSONAL INFORMATION
A. YOUR NAME IN CAPITAL LETTERS WITH BOLD PRINT.
a. Use Ariel, New Times Roman or Courier. Nothing fancy.
B. Your Mailing Address in slightly smaller type.
C. Your Telephone Numbers.
a. Home telephone number
b. Cell phone number
c. No work number. Just too dangerous if working.
D. Your email address.
a. If you are still working, do not include your company’s email address because the company has access to it.
II. OBJECTIVE – This is the most controversial part of this type of resume, and I recommend that you do not include it.
A. Provide an objective only if you know where resume is being sent and it matches the job.
B. Probably better to attach a cover letter to the resume and leave off the objective.
III. WORK HISTORY
A. List every major position since starting your career in descending order (military service is optional but should be include if it relates to the position you are appling for).
a. If you have worked for many years and can bunch some jobs, do so.
B. Show dates that jobs were worked starting with most recent.
a. If you had several jobs at the same company, make sure the
first date covers entire time at the company.
b. Then provide dates for different positions held within the company.
C. List company where you worked in bold print.
a. If company name has changed, reference the new name.
D. Write a single sentence telling what the company manufactures or sells, this is very important.
a. In today’s market, this is one of the most important things you can write because companies want people who have experience in their industry.
E. Job title or titles
F. Write a brief statement of job responsibilities, do not provide a job description.
a. The key here is brief so you have room for accomplishments.
G. List your major accomplishments!
a. This is the most important part of your resume.
b. List accomplishments using specific accomplishments, i.e. saved $2
million on project xxxx.
c. Make sure to list your accomplishments, not a team’s. Estimate your
part of team savings.
d. Do not be afraid of looking like you are bragging.
e. If your list of accomplishement do no make you look like you are bragging, write more accomplishments.
H. Mention any significant awards the company may have received.
IV. EDUCATION
A. List Degrees with the most recent first.
a. If you list part of a degree, make sure it does not look like you have a
degree.
b. If you have a A.S. degree and you received a B.S. in the same field,
do not list it.
V. SKILLS
A. Try to chose skills that relate directly to the job you think you might
be applying for.
a. Do not list skills that everyone is expected to have these days.
i. Microsoft Word.
ii. Excel
B. Technical skills that relate to you degree(s) are best, i.e. product design, injection molding, etc.
VI. PERSONAL INTERESTS OR INFORMATION
A. Never, never list personal interests, even if you think they relate to the
job.
a. An exception might be if you know the company supports
Junior Achievement, etc.
B. Do not mention your family on the resume.
C. Never list Church or Secret Society affiliations on a resume.
D. Never mention any physical or mental problems on the resume.
E. Even though it is easy to figure out, do not list age.
VII. LIST PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
A. This is not a requirement but it is a good thing to do.
IIX. DO NOT LIST REFERENCES
A. Just state that references will be supplied upon establishment of mutual
interest.
Finally: The optimum length for a resume is probably two pages so expect to do several re-writes. Also find someone that can be brutally honest and ask them to critique the resume. This is very important.