Resume Writing Skills: "The Power Is In the Details!"

We've all heard the saying, "The devil is in the details." Well, in effective resume writing you have to pay attention because, "The power is in the details."

First, it needs to be emphasized that typos, misspellings or grammatical mistakes should never appear in any written material you send out. From an email to your resume it all should be free from errors. Miss a mistake in grammar and your otherwise well written resume could never be seen again.

The second resume writing detail that you should pay particular attention to is how you list your employers. With no supporting information the name of your employer on your resume indicates nothing.

The goal of your resume is to create as complete a picture of your experience as possible. Failure to describe any of your employers diminishes the value of your resume and raises questions in the mind of the reader. The hiring manager is not going to connect the dots for you and questions leads directly to a rejection.

Don't assume one company knows what is going on in another company, even if both are in the same industry or are in the same general area. A customer service manager in one company may have 20 people working for them while in another similar sized company in the same industry may have outsourced the function.

You want the reader to understand your experience in the context of the size of the company, what business it's in and who are their customers. These details allow the hiring manager to understand your level of experience in relation to the needs of the position.

Even if you worked for a company with a household name, at a minimum you need to provide: How did your job fit in the employer's operations? Division or corporate? Size in sales or number of employees? Any subordinates? Their functions? Without providing details of the context of previous positions the prospective employer is left with questions, and your goal in writing a resume is to eliminate questions not create them.

Screening resumes is more of an art than a science. Rather than looking for reasons to put your resume in the interview pile more often the opposite is true. First it's skimmed. Hard to read with bad formatting doesn't make the cut. Don't immediately see needed skills another rejection. Questions are raised about your experience, depending on the job and number of candidates, you might move on but don't count on it.

In a competitive job hunting environment part of your overall marketing effort is to stand above the crowd of other candidates. Briefly describing the context of other jobs is just one additional way to stand out.

Another important detail that does not need to be included in your resume is the address of previous employers. Name and city will suffice in your resume. If you are required to complete a full application, store the information in your phone or blackberry so it can be easily retrieved.

A careful listing of previous employers is just one additional way to get your resume read. If your resume gets the hiring officials attention because you are paying attention to the important details you have a powerful document.

Read more ...

Resume Writing Skills: "The Power Is In the Details!"

We've all heard the saying, "The devil is in the details." Well, in effective resume writing you have to pay attention because, "The power is in the details."

First, it needs to be emphasized that typos, misspellings or grammatical mistakes should never appear in any written material you send out. From an email to your resume it all should be free from errors. Miss a mistake in grammar and your otherwise well written resume could never be seen again.

The second resume writing detail that you should pay particular attention to is how you list your employers. With no supporting information the name of your employer on your resume indicates nothing.

The goal of your resume is to create as complete a picture of your experience as possible. Failure to describe any of your employers diminishes the value of your resume and raises questions in the mind of the reader. The hiring manager is not going to connect the dots for you and questions leads directly to a rejection.

Don't assume one company knows what is going on in another company, even if both are in the same industry or are in the same general area. A customer service manager in one company may have 20 people working for them while in another similar sized company in the same industry may have outsourced the function.

You want the reader to understand your experience in the context of the size of the company, what business it's in and who are their customers. These details allow the hiring manager to understand your level of experience in relation to the needs of the position.

Even if you worked for a company with a household name, at a minimum you need to provide: How did your job fit in the employer's operations? Division or corporate? Size in sales or number of employees? Any subordinates? Their functions? Without providing details of the context of previous positions the prospective employer is left with questions, and your goal in writing a resume is to eliminate questions not create them.

Screening resumes is more of an art than a science. Rather than looking for reasons to put your resume in the interview pile more often the opposite is true. First it's skimmed. Hard to read with bad formatting doesn't make the cut. Don't immediately see needed skills another rejection. Questions are raised about your experience, depending on the job and number of candidates, you might move on but don't count on it.

In a competitive job hunting environment part of your overall marketing effort is to stand above the crowd of other candidates. Briefly describing the context of other jobs is just one additional way to stand out.

Another important detail that does not need to be included in your resume is the address of previous employers. Name and city will suffice in your resume. If you are required to complete a full application, store the information in your phone or blackberry so it can be easily retrieved.

A careful listing of previous employers is just one additional way to get your resume read. If your resume gets the hiring officials attention because you are paying attention to the important details you have a powerful document.

Learn more about effective resume and cover letter writing, job hunting strategies, changing careers and career planning at http://careersafter50.com/. Discover how others over age 50, built winning career plans and found the right careers by effective job hunting tactics and mid-life career planning.

Read more ...

Resume Writing Skills: "The Power Is In the Details!"

We've all heard the saying, "The devil is in the details." Well, in effective resume writing you have to pay attention because, "The power is in the details."

First, it needs to be emphasized that typos, misspellings or grammatical mistakes should never appear in any written material you send out. From an email to your resume it all should be free from errors. Miss a mistake in grammar and your otherwise well written resume could never be seen again.

The second resume writing detail that you should pay particular attention to is how you list your employers. With no supporting information the name of your employer on your resume indicates nothing.

The goal of your resume is to create as complete a picture of your experience as possible. Failure to describe any of your employers diminishes the value of your resume and raises questions in the mind of the reader. The hiring manager is not going to connect the dots for you and questions leads directly to a rejection.

Don't assume one company knows what is going on in another company, even if both are in the same industry or are in the same general area. A customer service manager in one company may have 20 people working for them while in another similar sized company in the same industry may have outsourced the function.

You want the reader to understand your experience in the context of the size of the company, what business it's in and who are their customers. These details allow the hiring manager to understand your level of experience in relation to the needs of the position.

Even if you worked for a company with a household name, at a minimum you need to provide: How did your job fit in the employer's operations? Division or corporate? Size in sales or number of employees? Any subordinates? Their functions? Without providing details of the context of previous positions the prospective employer is left with questions, and your goal in writing a resume is to eliminate questions not create them.

Screening resumes is more of an art than a science. Rather than looking for reasons to put your resume in the interview pile more often the opposite is true. First it's skimmed. Hard to read with bad formatting doesn't make the cut. Don't immediately see needed skills another rejection. Questions are raised about your experience, depending on the job and number of candidates, you might move on but don't count on it.

In a competitive job hunting environment part of your overall marketing effort is to stand above the crowd of other candidates. Briefly describing the context of other jobs is just one additional way to stand out.

Another important detail that does not need to be included in your resume is the address of previous employers. Name and city will suffice in your resume. If you are required to complete a full application, store the information in your phone or blackberry so it can be easily retrieved.

A careful listing of previous employers is just one additional way to get your resume read. If your resume gets the hiring officials attention because you are paying attention to the important details you have a powerful document.

Learn more about effective resume and cover letter writing, job hunting strategies, changing careers and career planning at http://careersafter50.com/. Discover how others over age 50, built winning career plans and found the right careers by effective job hunting tactics and mid-life career planning.

Read more ...

How to Flawlessly Capture the Right "Details" on Your Resume

If you follow our blog regularly, you know that we stress the importance of including detailed descriptions of your previous professional accomplishments in your resume. While this is a simple idea, understanding how to execute it effectively trips up a lot of people as they write their documents. With that in mind, let's play a round of "Good details vs. Bad details".

Good details

The types of information resumes should include - but often do not - are things like the following:

- How many people report to you?

- How much money did you make for your last company?

- How have you saved your employers money in the past?

- Were you recruited or promoted by previous employers?

- What special projects or tasks have you been chosen to complete?

- What have you accomplished that was above and beyond your job description?

Bad details

When people include too much information on their resumes, it typically falls into these categories:

- The verbatim name of the department and supervisor you reported to. Unless you report directly to Mark Zuckerberg or someone equally famous, you can use a general title like VP-Marketing or Director of Branding to convey your status in the company.

- Outdated details about your college experience. If you've been out of school for ten years, your college GPA is old news. Ditto the name of the specific school of your university that you attended, unless it's a highly ranked, nationally recognizable program, e.g., the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania.

- Personal details about your life. If gaps on your resume are due to something like taking personal time off to care for an ill family member, it doesn't matter what his or her diagnosis was. Keep your explanation as brief as possible.

An effective resume strikes the right balance between providing specifics that clarify how valuable you are as an employee, while at the same time generalizing your accomplishments in a way that makes sense to a wide audience. To be sure your resume doesn't include bad details, make it a point to let another set of eyes proofread it.

Jessica Holbrook Hernandez is an expert resume writer, career and personal branding strategist, author, speaker and President/CEO of Great Resumes Fast. She creates high-impact, best-in-class, resumes and cover letters that transform job searches into interviews and ultimately job offers. For more information about professional resume writing or to read more career and job search related articles visit http://www.greatresumesfast.com/ or call 1.800.991.5187.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jessica_M_Holbrook

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