As many of us equate professional development with personal growth, the loss of a position can be a serious blow to your psyche as well as your checkbook.  When you reach the final stage of acceptance, in order to gain clarity with respect to your situation and summon the inner resources needed to pound the pavement and/or the Internet job boards daily, you may still be looking, rather sourly, at that load of lemons and wondering how to begin to make that all-important batch of lemonade.

Terminated from a company in which you had held an executive or mid-management position, you may be forced, in light of a looming mortgage and car payments falling by the wayside, to accept a job carrying responsibilities that you feel you have outgrown.  After several months in this new position, you have stabilized your financial situation and are enjoying a shot of renewed confidence.  Thus fortified, you determine to craft a new job search targeting duties for which you are better suited, offering a salary commensurate with your expertise and years in the work force.  You now face the conundrum of adding that job to your resume and appearing to have “stepped back in time”, or leaving the position off the resume altogether and risk creating a gap in your employment history.  What is the solution to this dilemma?

Honesty: the best policy (???)

If you decide to present your employment history in toto, including the most recent position of lesser authority, establish your strategy for discussing this on an interview or via a telephone screening call.  Determine that you will portray the interim position as exactly that:  a short-term position that enabled you to meet your financial obligations while simultaneously seeking a more ideal situation for your background.  Go forearmed, understanding that the interviewer will probably probe you to ascertain your mindset at having had to hold a position of less authority.  Although the questions may be phrased cordially, they will be designed to assess how you view and conduct yourself as a member of a larger team.  Again, turn this into a positive.  Advise the potential employer that the job provided you with the valuable perspective of an employee charged with the execution of duties, as directed by a manager.  You can relay that, from this firsthand perspective of returning to “the trenches,” you are even better equipped now to understand and address the concerns of employees in a manner that promotes morale and assures that objectives are achieved.

Subterfuge: the better strategy?

If you feel genuinely disheartened by having had to perform job functions that did not mesh with your level of skill and knowledge, your feelings will probably translate themselves to the interviewer across the desk or the phone line.  Unless you are a consummate actor, in a case such as this and if the job only lasted a few weeks or months, you could be better off not mentioning the job on a resume, application, or interview.  The firm exception to this tactic is the job in any industry that is heavily regulated.  In such instances, prospective employers will conduct a thorough background investigation that is likely to uncover such employment, and its omission from your resume or application may negatively impact your hiring prospects.

Each job seeker’s circumstances and background are unique.  By applying the guidelines above to your own situation, you can best resolve the question of “to tell or not to tell” when seeking to recapture a management position.

When writing a resume, it is imperative that job seekers bear in mind that the sole purpose of the resume is to secure interviews.  Understanding the resume’s mission, candidates must then confront the task of writing a resume that capitalizes on and balances their strengths and accomplishments against their career objectives.  This undertaking determines not only the content of a resume but also its style or format.

The two most widely accepted styles of resumes are the reverse chronological and the functional.  As its name suggests, the reverse chronological consists of a listing of jobs, with the most current position appearing first and the earliest position, last.  The content of a resume of this nature demands that applicants describe the responsibilities and achievements associated with each position.  When writing a resume in the functional format, the presentation is different.  Alternately known as a skills-based resume, the functional style presents the employer with general skill sets or areas of proficiency.  These are then followed, in most cases, by a listing of the candidates’ employment histories.  In both styles, the resume content should include education or professional training, associations with industry organizations, computer skills, and special abilities, such as fluency in another language.  Within these blog pages, Objective: Resumes provides further information concerning the comparative advantages of these two styles of resume writing.

After determining the optimum format for their particular circumstances, applicants would do well to understand the other key guidelines of writing a resume.  Chief among them are resume keywords.  In flavoring career synopses liberally and accurately with resume keywords, candidates will ensure that their resume content will appeal to potential employers asking, “Why should I hire this person?”  In addition to verbs denoting action and inferring a proactive work ethic (i.e.; “contributed,” “designed,” “coordinated”), resume keywords can appear as terms specific to the target industry, division, or department.  If appropriate, the content of a resume should contain both forms of resume keywords.

In writing a resume, candidates must also consider the length of the resume content.  The old “rule” of one page is not, in actuality, a rule; neither is it necessarily advantageous.  A candidate possessing a brief employment history, such as a recent college graduate or an individual with one or two years of practical experience, can benefit from writing a resume of a single page.  However, job seekers with more detailed employment histories, facing stiffer competition, need to highlight and market their skills to their fullest potential.  In cases such as these, resume writing should be expanded to two pages (or, in some cases, more).  Candidates whose backgrounds are highly technical or scientific in nature, or whose work has been published extensively, often have resumes of three pages or longer.

Appearance of the document is also important.  For ease of reading, the resume content should be presented in bullet form, not paragraphs.  Although a plethora of fonts exists for resume writing, job candidates should avoid elaborate or unusual fonts; resumes should reflect applicant’s acumen and professionalism.  Arial and Times Roman are attractive, “clean,” and widely used fonts.

Adhering to these principles will simplify the resume writing process and deliver an end product considerably more likely to open doors to interviews and ultimately, career advancement.

The prevalence of Managed Care and the trend of integrating smaller medical facilities into larger institutions are but two of the factors contributing, in recent years, to major shifts in the healthcare industry: changes that have created an extremely competitive environment for job seekers.  Confronting increased competition, healthcare practitioners in nursing are challenged to respond with well-crafted resumes for nursing professionals.

In structuring resumes for Registered Nurses (RN’s) and Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN’s), applicants must provide employers with more than their employment histories and credentials encompassing education, licensure, and, when applicable, certifications.  While many RN’s and LPN’s share the same general responsibilities concerning the assessment, treatment, and education of patients, resumes for nurses must highlight the factors that set candidates apart from their colleagues.  Nursing resumes should therefore include elements such as the type or types of healthcare environments in which the nurses have maneuvered, the patient populations to which they have ministered, and the number of beds in the institution or unit.  Information such as this establishes the overall tone for nurse resumes, indicating the level at which the applicants work and excel.

If possible, nursing resumes also should emphasize tangible accomplishments.  In preparing resumes for nurses, it may be possible to include references to, for example, a specific initiative designed to improve unit efficiency or patient satisfaction.  Although applicants may not have conceived programs or trained others in new policies and procedures, they may have served as integral members of teams charged with implementing new initiatives, in accordance with the institution’s mission and standards of quality.  In “making or breaking” resumes for nursing professionals, this is the type of information that will prompt employers to schedule face-to-face interviews, leading to greater opportunities for employment.

In writing a sales resume, the job hopeful will want to indicate product knowledge, if applicable, as well as presentation skills, aptitude in establishing customer relations, and the ability to close.  Provided the information is accurate, applicants possessing specific achievements and awards will find it advantageous to include such data in a resume for sales.

Performance metrics are of critical value in a well-prepared sales resume.  Depending upon the nature of the candidate’s background and types of organizations targeted, numbers provided may be indicative of gross sales produced, percentage increases, or percentages of objectives achieved.

By incorporating these key elements into a resume for sales, the potential employee can best showcase his/her abilities to hiring authorities facing a myriad of applicants.

As a software application released several years ago, Resume Maker appeared to offer salvation to job seekers with no notion of how to present themselves to potential employers.  Providing a fundamental template or layout into which job candidates typed their most basic information, the software was beneficial in getting applicants started on the process of resume making.   Essentially a form to be filled out with dates of employment, names and addresses of employers, job titles, and education, once this information was input, Resume Maker’s job was effectively done.  The applicants themselves were responsible for creating descriptive material that would properly market them to those with the authority to hire.

A resume maker is also a person proficient in crafting documents that will optimize job applicants’ backgrounds and accomplishments.  Although the end product is the resume, there is more to this crucial process than writing.  A professional resume maker must be keenly aware of what employers want to read, and what they don’t, in a resume.  The resume maker must thus be skilled in extracting and analyzing data from the job applicant, understanding what to utilize and what to discard against the candidate’s objective.  In addition to these critical factors, the resume maker must determine which style of resume is most appropriate to the needs of individual clients.  At that point, the resume maker begins the process of writing, editing, and distilling the information into a tool useful in generating interviews.

Clearly, this is a very specific type of writing.  Considering that a future career hinges, in part, upon the quality of one’s resume, the savvy candidate would do well to thoroughly research his or her choice of resume maker.  For more than thirty years, Objective: Resumes has demonstrated knowledge of a myriad of industries and job functions and maintained the utmost standards of professionalism.  With a satisfied client base spanning virtually all walks of life, testimonials from actual clients can be found on this site, confirming the quality and integrity of our work.

Such a resume service can provide:

A job resume with the right balance between objectivity and conceit

Under pressure to produce the job resume that must open doors for you, you can easily lose your objectivity and under-sell or over-sell yourself.  The former error will prevent you from competing with others demonstrating the same qualifications as yours; the latter will present your accomplishments as unrealistic and therefore, unbelievable.  An impartial professional understands how to extract the right information from you and use that data to craft a valuable job resume.

Expertise in writing job resumes that work

How far back into your employment history should you go on your job resume?   Should you put forth every single detail concerning your job functions or omit some things?  If so, what should you omit?  If you were terminated from a position or have gaps in your background, how should you handle these things on your job resume?  What if you don’t possess a college degree, knowing that your competition does?

Unless you have the answers to these critical questions, don’t play Russian roulette; your livelihood hangs upon the quality of your job resume.  Leave the details to the professionals, whose expertise ensures that you enter this aggressive market with a job resume that piques the employer’s interest and compels him/her to grant you the interview.

Much like packaging on a product, a thoughtfully prepared, properly formatted resume attracts attention and generates a positive image of its subject.  In today’s dynamic employment marketplace, the resume is the first and, in many cases, the only means through which the applicant can gain the attention of the prospective employer and distinguish him/herself from other highly qualified applicants.  For this reason, it must accentuate the positive aspects of one’s background, tell the candidate’s unique story, and eliminate or camouflage potential liabilities.  The resume format will determine how this is accomplished.

Proper Format of a Resume

The proper format of a resume can vary.  Among the most common resume formats are the chronological or historical resume, functional or skills-oriented resume, curriculum vitae, and narrative profile or biography.

The chronological – or more precisely, reverse chronological resume is the most common resume format.  At its heart are the listing and description of positions and their accompanying responsibilities and accomplishments.  This approach is best employed by an individual whose career is characterized by a well-defined career path including frequent promotions to positions of increased responsibility.

The functional or skills-oriented resume is a document that focuses on job functions, skills, and accomplishments.  This resume format enables the writer to more broadly articulate background and skills within a structure that is a significant departure from that employed by most applicants.  For this reason, the skills-oriented resume format has become a popular option for those changing careers, students, and others seeking to gain an edge on their competition.

The curriculum vitae, or CV, is the resume format option of choice for physicians, attorneys, scientists, academicians, and other professionals whose credentials provide clear evidence of their respective qualifications.  CV’s usually include complete listings of publications, appointments, research projects, and professional licenses, certifications, and affiliations.

By contrast, the narrative profile or biography, while not technically a resume format, is a promotional piece written in third-person that is often used as a brief introduction to a job candidate with a more detailed resume to follow.  Profiles or biographies are also used in conjunction with formal business proposals, marketing or public relations materials, and online networking sites.

Proper Format of a Resume – Content

While the proper format of a resume may vary, all resume formats will contain information in some or all categories including “Name,” “Contact Information,” “Objective,” “Profile” or “Summary of Qualifications,” “Core Competencies” or “Skills,” “Selected Accomplishments,” “Experience,” “Education,” “Professional Development,” “Licenses,” “Certifications,” “Publications,” “Affiliations,” and “References.”  While many of these categories are self-explanatory and either necessary or superfluous dependent upon the background and qualifications of their subject, some are worthy of elaboration.

“Contact Information” should be complete and include residential address, landline telephone and mobile phone if both are applicable, and email address.  Residential addresses should include number, street, and apartment or unit if applicable.  Avoid using P.O. box addresses if possible, as these addresses often indicate transience on the part of their holders.  Similarly, always include a personal email address with an appropriate user name, even if you must establish one for the sole purpose of inclusion on your resume.  Absence of an email address on your resume format conveys a lack of computer literacy that will, in most cases, be detrimental to your employment search.

While a well-written resume should convey a sense of purpose, inclusion of a statement of “Objective” is dependent upon the subject’s job-hunting focus.  Once a staple in resumes, the statement of objective has become less popular among those seeking opportunities within a broad array of careers and industries.  If specific, a statement of objective illuminates the reader regarding the background and aspirations of the candidate for employment.  If general, the objective is a largely meaningless assertion adding nothing of substance to the resume.  Given the changing nature of employment in today’s economy, a statement of objective at the outset of a resume is too restrictive for most job seekers and can be replaced by a “Profile” or “Summary of Qualifications” detailing the nature of the applicant’s background and scope of experience.  The applicant may then use his/her cover letter to express job focus and aspirations.

Given the fact that many companies use talent acquisition management (TAM) applications like Taleo, Kenexa Brass Ring, and PeopleSoft that automate and manage their initial resume review process, all resume content areas including “Profile” or “Summary,” “Core Competencies” or “Skills,” “Selected Accomplishments,” and “Experience” should be developed using a keyword approach.  Incorporating all of the appropriate keywords for your desired position into your resume will optimize it for automated review and, thereby, enhance your opportunities to secure interviews.

Perhaps most importantly, any and all “Accomplishments” incorporated into your resume should detail the situation, issue, or challenge faced, the strategies and actions you instituted, and their quantifiable results.  Uncovering and articulating these “Accomplishments” tells the prospective employer your story and demonstrates your value to any hiring organization.

Your Key to Success

Will prospective employers readily perceive the full value of what you have to offer?  They will only if you create a persuasive, distinctive resume capturing the optimal expression of you and your potential contributions to their organizations.  The proper format of a resume, combined with compelling content, is the most significant tool enabling you to secure employment or advance your career.

And, since the experiences of one candidate largely mirror that of her competition, how does one “waitress resume” differ from another “waitress resume?”  Or, for that matter, how can any of these candidates distinguish themselves from their job market competitors?

The answer is surprisingly simple.  It is in the way that the job candidate articulates his/her knowledge, skills, experiences, and accomplishments.  No two candidates for a position are identical.  Each candidate has a unique employment and educational history and different life experiences.  If constructed in the right way, a “waitress resume,” a “laborer resume,” or a “nanny resume” can reflect and promote the unique contributions of the particular job candidate to their respective employers.

Make no mistake:  whether you are a waitress, a limo driver, or the president of a major corporation, you are unlike any other job candidate.  The challenge is to uncover and appropriately express your unique and transferable skills to prospective employers.

Waitress Resume: Where to Start

To do so, some careful consideration of your background and experiences is the best starting point.  For a “waitress resume,” consider the type of establishments at which you have worked and describe them (i.e., fine dining, family dining, café, etc.).  Then, list your core competencies and skills, listing characteristics such as communications skills, relationship management skills, detail orientation, and other skills and attributes that you possess.  Consider what you do in a typical day and the value you have added to the establishments at which you have been employed.

Waitress Resume: The Proper Format

Then, after you have assessed your background, determine the proper format of resume that will best present your background and develop articulate, persuasive content promoting it.  Or, you might engage a professional resume writer who can assist you in uncovering what you have to offer prospective employers and presenting the best expression of you via your resume.  In either event, a “waitress resume” or a resume for virtually any trade or occupation can establish your uniqueness and enhance the probability of your securing the job or position deserving of your talents.

The English poet John Donne expressed this sentiment almost four hundred years ago.  Yet, it seems particularly appropriate today.  Bad economic news abounds across the globe.  And, since domestic business in every nation is dependent upon global markets for significant portions of their revenues, the American sub-prime mortgage crisis has spawned a worldwide economic meltdown of epic proportions.

Recently, in the U.S., CitiBank announced plans to lay off more than 50,000 employees nationwide while senior executives of the three major domestic automobile manufacturers pleaded their cases before Federal legislators, desperate to obtain funding that would enable their corporations to stay afloat.  Added to the unprecedented federal bailouts of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Goldman Sachs, and AIG, these more recent developments indicate that as the “bell tolls” signaling layoffs and unemployment for millions of Americans, it also “tolls” an alarm for the rest of us who are still employed.

As the value of stocks plummet and consumers curtail all but the most vital spending, the axe continues to fall on the American workforce.  How solid is the company in which you are employed?   How safe is your job?

Like the early bird that catches the worm, the proactive job seeker stands a greater chance of securing employment than those who adopt a “wait and see” approach.   Armed for a targeted job search, a current resume and persuasive cover letter will enable you to get a head start on your competition.

As the economy spirals downward, don’t despair, act!  Develop a resume and cover letter that will maximize your strengths and entice potential employers to grant you interviews.  In that way, if the “bell tolls” for you, you will be prepared.

For that reason, your resume should be constructed in a way that eliminates mention (if possible), camouflages, or mitigates the impact of such liabilities.  Let us consider some of the major liabilities of prospective job candidates and what might be done to minimize their effects.

1.  Age

If you are a seasoned employee, references to your age, including graduation dates and an employment history that extends beyond fifteen to twenty years, allow the individual reviewing your resume to establish a clear sense of your age (at least to the extent of calculating a minimum age).  While age discrimination is illegal, most employers view more youthful applicants as being more desirable for a variety of reasons.  Don’t give the prospective employer the opportunity to use your age against you.   Provide only enough information about yourself in your resume to interest the prospective employer in you and your qualifications.  Leave the remainder for discussion at the interview.

2.  Current Unemployment

Current unemployment, no matter what the duration, is almost always viewed negatively by a prospective employer – the longer the period of unemployment, the greater the liability to the job candidate.  If you have been unemployed for more than a brief period of time, the potential employer can view your marketability as suspect, making the assumption that companies are unwilling to hire you for whatever reason.  Since most people (employers included) are influenced by the thinking of others, a job candidate unemployed for a prolonged period of time is viewed the same way as a house that has been on the market for an extended period – “there must be a problem.”  Avoid, if possible, putting a terminal date on your most recent employment, or prepare an alternative style resume that does not display so prominently your dates of employment.

3.  Gaps in Employment

If your resume displays significant gaps between previous jobs, then your marketability and potential value come into question.  Either you are taking extended vacations between jobs or are having difficulties in finding new opportunities.  Neither of these scenarios enhances your image as a job candidate.  If you are displaying month and year dates on your resume, you may want to consider eliminating the months and using only the year dates.

4.  Lack of Educational Credentials, Certifications, or Licenses

Depending upon the field you are targeting, you may be required to hold certain credentials.   If you do not possess these qualifications, you prospects for securing an interview for an available opening will be severely hampered.  If, nonetheless, you have done the job before or believe that you are in some other way qualified for the position, prepare a resume in a style that accentuates your experiences and qualifications.  If the issue is lack of a degree, a listing of professional development courses, seminars, and programs that you have completed may bolster your educational credentials.

5.  Lack of Career Progression

Longevity within a company, highlighted by attainment of positions of increasing responsibility, is indicative of focus and drive on the part of the job candidate. Conversely, prolonged existence in a particular position depicts you as non-ambitious and/or ill qualified for promotion.  Often, candidates who have been with an organization for an extended period have, indeed, taken on more responsibility with no corresponding change in job title.  If that is the case, the increases in responsibility need to be incorporated into the resume to provide the prospective employer a more accurate picture of the candidate.

6.  Too Many Employers

Although it is certainly possible that one might have valid reasons for changing jobs rapidly (employers going out of business, etc.), listing a number of employers within a short span of time on your resume is another reason why someone reviewing your resume might discard it, rather than contacting you to setup an interview.  Many employers perceive job-hoppers as individuals lacking the skills or emotional and psychological stability necessary to maintain employment.  If your resume lists a number of short-term employments, consider eliminating some of them.  Even if some gaps remain, the overall impression created by your resume will be more positive.

7.  Incorrect Spelling, Grammar, and/or Punctuation

A single word misspelled on your resume can signify disaster for you.  We once had a client who, in rushing to prepare his own resume, intended to type the word “warehouse”.  The copy he handed to the potential employer actually read “whorehouse!”     Similarly, infractions of grammatical rules and improper punctuation, including capitalization and run-on sentences, can mean the difference between job interviews and a phone that does not ring.  Of all the potential liabilities, this is the easiest to correct.  Make sure you carefully review your resume and any other documents you send to employers.  A perfect resume dramatically enhances your potential for job-hunting success.