Win over the Gatekeeper with your Resume
Feature by Co-Founder, Caroline Lim. With an iPhone in one hand and a pink planner in the other, she’s always on the go. Whether she’s working, gyming it up, or shopping, you can catch her on Twitter.
My last blog post, What’s your best 50 character pickup line?, includes a pickup line metaphor for email subject lines. To continue my comparison between relationships and Marketing, if you impress the Gatekeeper, you get the interview. Much like dating, if you impress the best friend, you typically get the date.
Note: People actually pay “professionals” to write their resumes for them. That’s ridiculous. You are fully capable of writing your own with these excellent resources at your fingertips:
Step 1: Brainstorm –Get that notepad out. If you already have a resume worksheet, you’re ahead of the game. If not, or you have no idea what I’m talking about, no worries, there are plenty of them out there like this one from uwrf.edu. If you’d rather just start jotting down your past experiences, major accomplishments, skill sets, ect, Grace Keh wrote a great article on building your own resume worksheet.
My #1 tip? Keep your career goals in mind. Once you have that figured out, your resume should reflect it.
Step 2: Write - Hopefully you already know to use positive, active words when writing your resume, to highlight accomplishments, not tasks, and to tailor your resume towards the position you are applying for. But do you know about the 5 p’s and the 7 secrets?
The 5 p’s of resume writing are Packaging, Positioning, Punch, Personality, and Professionalism. Each of these p’s are described in detail within Jay A. Block and Michael Betrus’ book, 101 Best Resumes.
The 7 secrets come from this completely brilliant article: 7 secrets of a successful marketing resume by Louise Fletcher. Happy reading!
Personal advice: Don’t go crazy with the professional jargon. It’s a sure sign if you are dependent on a thesaurus. Furthermore, don’t use superlatives when describing yourself. You may be a complete rockstar, but be sophisticated about your accomplishments through awards and numbers.
Step 3: Layout – My top 5 tips:
1. There are many ways to organize your resume. The layout can vary, but should always be consistent in regards to font, size, margins, ect.
2. Keep it simple and concise. Your resume is a synopsis of your abilities, not an autobiography. Rule of thumb: one page in length.
3. Emphasize your strengths and downplay your weaknesses.
4. Keep the reader in mind. Make sure your resume is appeasing to the eyes and not too “busy”.
5. Put some personality into it. Your resume should be professional but also stand out in the crowd. I personally like to add my LinkedIn and Twitter account so the reader can dig deeper into who I am.
For awesome formatting tips and hints, use the Mccombs School of Business Resume Writing Guide. For instance, you’ll learn how to maximize lines and space by avoiding the “orphans” or “danglers”.
Step 4: Examples: Look at some “great” examples. Yes, I know “great” is a very relative term, but that’s why you’re reading this blog post! Here are some of my favorite resources:
For the bookworm: Start on page 223 for the “Portfolio of Sample Resumes” portion of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Perfect Resume, 4th Edition. I would also recommend checking out the newest edition that was published this year. If that’s not enough, 101 Best Resumes, Chapter 10, gives you a plethora of examples as well.
If you’re completely against books: bestsampleresume.com offers Marketing resume samples in various Marketing positions. Awesome.
A duh moment: don’t plagiarize the resume examples you find. I mean, honestly, I just had to throw that out there.
Step 5: Checkmarks and Proofread: Time to dot the i’s and cross the t’s. Make sure you’ve got everything checked off this Resume Checklist from The University of Scranton Career Center.
Once you’re all checked off, it’s time to Proofread. Let’s be honest, some people can be real sticklers about grammar and the tiniest mistake can get your resume kicked out of the pile. Not only should you proofread your own resume at least 5 times, get someone else to proofread as well. (Hint: This is where a marketing mentor would come in handy.) Also, like all important writing material, get someone who will give honest feedback, aka not your mother.
So there you have it, the do’s for writing your resume. Happy resume writing, GoMarket yourself, and hopefully you’ll never make it on this list: 150 Funniest Resume Mistakes, Bloopers and Blunders Ever.