1. Resume Development WELCOME Materials: Resume guidelines worksheets
resume samples
before/after sample
Word resume to convert to plain text
Facilitator Notes:
References to the Career 20/20 manual are on the bottom right of each slide.
Your office should remind candidates to bring a draft resume to this session.
Remind participants that once they complete their initial edits after class they should schedule time with their coach for a review session.
WELCOME

2. Learning Objectives Understand: The purpose of your resume
The key components of a resume
How to choose the best resume format
How to write clear, concise accomplishment statements
How to edit/proof your resume
Draft:
An accomplishment statement
A professional profile/summary statement
Review objectives

3. What do you know already?
What is a resume?
What is the key purpose of a resume?
What are differences of a resume today vs. a resume in the past?
Do you need a resume to get a job?
How many times will you rewrite your resume, and how long will it take?
How many pages should it be?
How much time does an HR person spend reading a resume?
What key information should be included in a resume?
What is a resume? A sales brochure for your product: YOU!
What is the key purpose of a resume? To get an interview!
3. What are the differences in a resume today versus a resume in the past?
Resumes in the past functioned as either an autobiography detailing every last bit of I
information about you or a Job Description listing every function you performed.
Today, It’s targeted to showcase your transferable skills and accomplishments.
Technology has also impacted on how resumes are received, reviewed and handled.
with on-line posting one job can potentially receive thousand’s of resumes.
Do you need a resume to get a job?
The answer is “No.”. A Resume is designed to get you the interview, the interview gets
you the job.
5. How many times will you rewrite your resume and how long will it take?
A powerful, targeted resume takes a lot of thought and serious concentration to prepare.
Once you have your resume written you will want to continually “tweak” it as you
complete new assignments and accomplishments.
How many pages should a resume be?
Most resumes can be fit into 2 pages.
Those people who are new to the workforce or with just a few years experience may
have 1 page.
Those people with publication and speaking experience often add an addendum.
7. How much time does an HR person spend reading a resume?
Typically about 30 seconds! It has to be concise and catch their interest in appropriate
ways!
8. What key information should be included in a resume?
Flip chart the key elements participants give.
(20/20, 2.4)

4. Preparation Phase Beginning Resume Career Objective Define Abilities
Review
Accomplishments
Resume writing and development is part of the Preparation Phase of the
Transition Process.
Preparation includes:
Self assessment ( Career Survey, Birkman, Values sort)
identifying your interests, accomplishments, strengths and your abilities.
Developing a career objective and job search focus.
Creating a marketing strategy and effective marketing tools – your resume,
letters, biographies, etc.
Strengths!
Match up
Interests
(20/20, 1.8)

5. Preparation Tips Gather/organize needed information
Complete assessments
Career Survey
Birkman
Values Sort
Write your own resume
1 – 2 pages
Keep the look simple
Avoid using personal pronouns
Gather/organize:
Gather all employment information, work samples, performance reviews, etc.
Complete assessments:
Create a clear job focus
Identify the required qualifications for your desired job.
Write your own resume:
The process of writing your resume will prepare you for networking and your job interviews.
Your resume is only as good as your ability to present it verbally.
Keep the look simple:
Reader needs to easily find information.
If the reader has to work to figure out your resume or find information, they won’t!
Don’t allow the format of the resume to detract from the content.
Don’t distract your reader by using too many formatting or typeface changes.
Don’t underline, bold and italicize the same word!
Avoid personal pronouns:
“I”, “we”, “me”, “he”, “she”…..

6. Preparation Tips Use the past tense Choose strong action verbs
Annotate and spell out abbreviations
Avoid colored paper, fancy folds, photos
Past tense
An accomplishment by definition is past tense, you have already done it!
Strong action verbs
Your resume should show strength and action. Don’t use weak verbs
like “Helped…” or “Coordinated…”. Use active verbs like “Led…”,
“Managed…”, “Taught…”, etc.
Abbreviations
If you use abbreviations, annotate them.
“Employee Assistance Program (EAP)”
Avoid colored paper…
Your resume will be copied, scanned and faxed. Basic black on white
or off white paper.
If you need to show your creativity you can provide a portfolio or other
samples of your work.

7. Marketing or Misleading
96% of HR professionals conduct reference checks
93% of those said they did not hire the candidate as a result of misrepresentations on applications/resumes.
The Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) found that 96%
of HR professionals conduct reference checks.

8. Common Misleading Information
Inaccurate dates
Degree inflation
Overstating roles and duties
Misrepresenting technical abilities
Claiming language fluency
Providing a fake address
Inflating grade point averages
There are ways to handle any challenges you might have with writing your
resume. Whether you didn’t finish your degree, employment gaps, etc. You
should work with your coach to find the best way to manage your particular
concerns.

9. Marketing You CANNOT change your dates of employment
You CAN, to some degree, change your titles
You CANNOT change your academic background
You CAN leave out irrelevant jobs and data
You CANNOT get away with lying just because your company no longer exists
Dates of employment
If you were a contract person or temp and then were hired on say so and indicate both dates.
Titles
If your company used odd or nonstandard titles you can use an equivalent title that others
would recognize.
Academics
If you are 2 credits short of a degree, say so.
Can’t change your degree from Chemistry to Marketing.
Irrelevant jobs
If you are willing to explain a several month job gap you don’t have to mention the job
as fry girl at Wendy's that you took while looking for your job as Director of Marketing.
Company no longer exists
With Linkedin and other professional networking sites employers can find others who
worked at that company.

10. A Resume Answers Three Questions
What do I want to do next?
Self assessment (Career Survey, Birkman, Values Sort)
Why can I do that?
Summary: Broad overview of scope of experience
What is my evidence that I can do that?
Professional experience
Key results/achievements
Education/certifications, etc.

11. The employer wants to know…
Can you fill my need?
Will you stay for the long term?
Are you professional?
Do you fit?
Can you fill my need?
Your resume should be targeted to your ideal job and match you to the
job/company requirements.
Will you stay for the long term?
A relative term in today’s world! Most companies would like to have you stay
at least two years.
Are you professional?
In other words will you perform quality work and deliver results
Do you fit?
Do your work in a way that is aligned with the companies work/management style and culture.
This question is usually addressed during the interview process.

12. What should be included?
Summary/professional profile
Professional experience
Companies
YEARS of employment
Job scope statements
Job titles
Accomplishments
Remember a resume is not a laundry list or an autobiography.
A targeted resume includes:
A summary of your current career focus.
Companies for whom you worked, and the years you worked there.
Job titles and job scope definitions.
Accomplishment statements.
Strengths linked to your contributions, knowledge and key skills.

13. What should be included?
Education
Professional development / training
Technical skills
Licenses & Certifications
Military experience
Professional affiliations / memberships
Everything on your resume should contribute to making the
strongest possible presentation of your unique qualities and contributions.

14. What Not to Include Months of employment
Personal information, physical characteristics
Hobbies and interests
“References available upon request”
Irrelevant Information
Months of employment. Simply use the years.
Personal information such as physical characteristics, marital status,
whether or not you have children, etc.
Hobbies and other interests unless they are directly related to your career
search objective!
“References Upon Request”. This is a given!
Is something irrelevant? Ask yourself what you are trying to show.
Does this item show that and is this the best way to show it?

15. Art and Science Guidelines not rules Many forms of a “best” resume
Work with your coach
Emphasize that we are reviewing basic guidelines and best practices for resumes. Each person’s resume requires determining the best way to present his/her information for their readers.
Everyone should work with their coach to determine the best: format, content, wording, etc. for their resume.

16. Resume Heading
Name
Contact information
Address, phone number, web resume site
(professional)
Abbreviated heading on subsequent pages
Save as a template
Use for all correspondence
professional address, no “grouchyoldbird, “brownsugar or
Consider having a separate account just for your job search.
Don’t create as a header, this can cause problems when posting on line. Save as
stationery. Use to create your “brand” and use this heading on all of your job search
correspondence.
A Web resume site could be:
an actual web site often with an URL that includes your name and the
word resume. E.g. Robinbrydresume.com.
- Linkedin.com URL that points to your Linkedin profile
(20/20, 2.5)

17. Career Profile/Summary
Follows heading
Outlines your qualifications and value add for an employer
Usually written last
Briefly mention the summary and point out that as it is usually written last,
we will cover it as the last part of the resume section.

18. Professional Experience
NAME
Street Address
City, State, ZIP Code
Telephone
SUMMARY
Purchasing Agent with extensive experience in domestic and international manufacturing. Solid background in logistics, procurement, material and production control. Broad…
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
ABC COMPANY, NYC, NY 19XX-200X
Major international widget manufacturing company with sales of $XB worldwide.
Senior Purchasing Agent
Purchased raw materials for the widget manufacturing operations. Supervised 4 purchasing clerks.
· Accomplishment #1
· Accomplishment #2
· Accomplishment #3
Makes and supports your case
Last job first
Detail last years, what you are, not what you were.
Company description is optional.
Include Job Scope Statements.
Strengths, contributions, and accomplishments are bulleted.
The Professional Experience section is a summary of your work experience and accomplishments that focuses on the past years. Work experience older than that may be summarized at the end of this section.
List the company name, city and state, and the dates (in years).
You may include a description of the company in terms of industry, size, location or position in the market.
Give your job title or job role, and then define it further with a job scope definition.
A discussion of the job scope should clarify the difference between job responsibilities and accomplishments, which will be discussed on the next slide.
(20/20, 2.8)

19. Scope Statements Answers the questions: What were you hired to do?
At what level?
For whom?
With whom?
This answers the question: What were you hired to do, at what level, for whom, with whom?
A job scope statement defines the dimension, range, level, staff size, budget and/or reporting relationship.
The scope definition helps the reader compare your experience with other candidates and their job opening. It can qualify you for a position.
A Project Manager who has administered a budget of $50M has had very different challenges and developed a different level of skills compared with a Project Manager who has administered a $50K budget.
(20/20 2.9, 2.10)

20. Scope Statements Demonstrates specific experience or role
Qualifies you for a position
Begins with an action verb
Includes dimensions, range, staff size, budget and reporting relationship, if relevant
Demonstrates general experience and responsibilities

21. Responsibility or Accomplishment?
Responsibilities: The tasks and activities you were hired to do Accomplishments: The results you produced and how you achieved them (20/20, 2.8 – 2.10)
Point out that responsibilities are described in the scope statement.
Accomplishments are bulleted below the scope.

22. Accomplishment Statements
Why should we believe you can do what you say you can do?
Support your career goal
Highlight actions which showcase your strengths
Appear in bullet form for easy readability
Based on your CAR’s
Challenge, Action, Result (CAR)
(20/20, 2.9)
An Accomplishment Statement is a specific example of the results of your work:
It had a positive impact
It contributed to the employer’s success
It added value
Accomplishment statements answer the question “How did you do your work differently and better?”
Where possible, quantify or qualify your accomplishment: “…by an average of 15%,” “…that realized $60K net savings.”
Think about: What would have happened if you didn’t do the things you did? What happened because you did do these things?
Select the accomplishments that best support your career objective and demonstrate your strengths and skills for your desired job.

23. Challenge not usually included on your resume.
Accomplishments
CAR
Challenge: What was the situation?
Action: What did you do and how?
Result: What was the impact?
Challenge not usually included on your resume.
Components of a CAR:
Challenge: circumstances that surrounded accomplishments
Action: how you executed it
Result: business impact of your action (quantified when possible)
Point out that the challenge is not usually included on the resume, though it would be discussed in a job interview.
Refer to Action Verbs by Skill Area in RfH Resources
(20/20, 2.9)

24. Accomplishment Statement Samples
Not specific
Conducted many training programs in several states which reduced problems.
Better
Conducted more than 45 service technician training programs throughout an 8-state region reducing customer complaints by 22% in a 6-month period.
Reduced customer complaints by 22% in a 6- month period by conducting more than 45 service technician training programs throughout an 8-state region.
Best

25. Accomplishment Examples
Improved support services 50% in 6 months by launching support program that improved the technical delivery of service co-provider.
Researched and recovered $25 million in out-of-balance conditions during bank systems conversion and post conversions.
Increased revenue $2 million by designing and implementing an automated customer follow-up program.
Reduced average customer call-waiting time to 30 seconds from 2 minutes by designing and implementing a call triage system.
Review accomplishment samples

26. Avoid Over Used Phrases
Instead of: Experience working in fast paced environment.
Try: Registered 120+ third shift emergency patients per 7 hour shift. Best?
Instead of: Excellent written communication skills
Try: Wrote jargon free user guide for 11,000 users. Best?
Instead of: Team player with cross functional awareness
Try: Collaborated with clients, A/R and Sales to increase speed of receivables and prevent interruption of service to clients. Best?
Give the above examples and ask what results might be added to make them “best”.
Below are some thoughts, add your own!
Third shift emergency; Streamlined check in process reducing waiting times 90%,
registering 120+…
Written communication skills: Reduced client inquiries regarding People Soft Training
Tracking feature by writing a jargon and error free user guide for internal staff.
Team player: Increased speed of receivables and prevented interruption of service to
clients by collaborating with clients, A/R and Sales, incorporating their feedback and
suggestions into billing processes.

27. Accomplishment Draft Using your Resume Guidelines Worksheet page 3
Job scope statement
One accomplishment
10 minutes to write
5 minutes to share with partner
Ask participants to draft a job scope statement and one accomplishment on page three
of their worksheet handouts.
Give them about 10 minutes to write.
Ask participants to share their statement with a partner and give each other feedback
about 5 minutes.
Ask for one or two participants to share their statements with the entire class and
provide feedback.

28. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Education
Further supports your case
Start with highest level of achievement.
Include College, Training, Seminars, Certifications, Professional Development.
Identify major if related.
Years are optional
NAME
Page 2
ABC COMPANY, NYC, NY 19XX-200X
Major international widget manufacturing company with sales of $XB worldwide.
Senior Purchasing Agent
Purchased raw materials for the widget manufacturing operations. Supervised 4 purchasing clerks.
· Accomplishment #1
· Accomplishment #2
· Accomplishment #3
EDUCATION
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
MEMBERSHIPS
AWARDS
The heading of this section can be called:
Education, Education and Professional Development, Education and Training, Education and Certifications, etc.
Include school even when less than a full degree was earned:
Credit hours of coursework toward a named degree
Percent/years completed
Ongoing/special training, certificates or educational achievements, if appropriate to support objective.
(20/20, 2.14)

29. Remember, “Is it RELEVANT?”
Other Sections
Affiliations and memberships
Military experience
Awards/honors
Technical skills
Licenses and certifications
Remember, “Is it RELEVANT?”
(20/20, 2.11 – 2.16)
Briefly review each section and what would be included. Discuss the importance of relevance.
An item is relevant if it supports the job objective and would be important to the reader.
Affiliations/memberships:
Professional organizations and positions held
Volunteer work and positions held
Military experience: list service branch, last rank and discharge status. May include area of focus if it is relevant to job.
Awards/honors: Usually the result of an accomplishment and may enhance the impact of an accomplishment if included with it.
Technical skills: List any specialized skills not listed in the summary. For IT professionals a listing of computer skills is usually given as a bulleted list following the summary.
Licenses/certifications: List any relevant to career focus. Security clearances should be listed along with their status - lapsed, active, inactive, etc.

30. Addendum Patents Published books/articles Presentations
Projects, consulting engagements, legal cases, and financial transactions
Client lists, where not proprietary to former employer
(20/20, 2.16)
Refer to Career 20/20 Manual, p. 2.16
Patents: If you were the creator you can name it, be sure to reference the owner
Published books/articles: by recognized publishers, not self-published or internal newsletters
Presentations: Key note speeches, trainings delivered. Not conferences you attended.

31. Professional Profile/Summary
Considered by many to be MOST important part of your resume!
600 managers surveyed: overwhelming majority agreed.
Only about 5% of resumes contain this key section.
Robin Ryan
(author of Winning Resumes and Winning Cover Letters)
A survey (Robin Ryan, Leading Career Coach conducted) of 600 hiring managers,
the majority said the most important part of your resume is your “summary
of qualifications. Adding this triples your impact and employers reported
that this was one of the very first areas they read.
If the stated summary demonstrates solid ability to fill the advertised job,
it catches their attention and they slow done and give the applicant
more careful consideration.
Hiring managers also reported that only about 5% of resumes contained
this key section.
(20/20 2.7)

32. PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Summary
State your case, what are your qualifications?
Positioning statement that highlights qualifications and areas of expertise, Unique Selling Points, Strengths and Deliverables.
Industries, positions and functions you’ve held, range and scope.
Narrative or Narrative followed by bullet points.
Usually written last.
NAME
Street Address
City, State, ZIP Code
Telephone
SUMMARY
Purchasing Agent with extensive experience in domestic and international manufacturing. Solid background in logistics, procurement, material and production control. Broad…
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
ABC COMPANY, NYC, NY 19XX-200X
Major international widget manufacturing company with sales of $XB worldwide.
Senior Purchasing Agent
Purchased raw materials for the widget manufacturing operations. Supervised 4 purchasing clerks.
· Accomplishment #1
· Accomplishment #2
· Accomplishment #3
The Summary or Profile targets your desired job and showcases your special skills and qualities.
It sells your expertise to grab the reader’s attention and piques their interest.
A summary highlights how you want to be known: your functional position and industry, not a specific job title, which may be too narrowly defined.
For example: Marketing Management Professional
Customer Service Professional
Health Care Account Executive.
Highlights your experience and differentiates you from other candidates. “Experienced in both line management and staff positions in the following areas: facilities management, operations and finance.”
Details the relevant functional expertise. “Customer and vendor relationship development, productivity reporting and quality control.”
Links your strengths to results, successes and contributions you enjoy.
You may include environment description where you do your best work and a personal statement about your work style: “Thrives in a constantly changing environment.”
Those in technical areas might include their technical skills as the
last component of the Summary (otherwise these go at the end of the resume.)
(20/20 2.7)

33. Summary Draft Using your Resume Guidelines Worksheet, page 9
Draft a summary for your resume.
Brand statement
Qualifies you for your desired position
Summarizes:
Industries
Key roles/responsibilities
Key strengths and skills
Unique value add
15 minutes to draft summary
5 minutes to share with a partner
Review the purpose and key content for a summary statement.
Should truly summarize your resume
Should be able to “stand alone” and qualify you for your desired position
May included a list of bulleted skills
This is only a template to ensure you cover these key areas in your summary.
Your summary may not include the words on the template.

34. Transferable Skills Key skills desired by employers
Critical when changing career focus
Includes:
Leadership - Teamwork
Interpersonal - Communication
Flexibility - Problem-solving
Organizational - Analytical
Quantitative - Others?
Review Resume Guidelines Worksheet, page 10, transferrable skills.
Point out how important these are to any employer and that they are critical when
Changing career focus.
When they have identified examples of these recommend they incorporate these
into their summary and accomplishments.
CEO’s have indicated their most desired skill in hiring is Problem-Solving.

35. Key Words What are “Key” words?
Do you know the key words for your profession?
Key words relate to your qualifications:
Technical expertise
Industry jargon
Product knowledge
Personality traits
Academic credentials
How to determine your key words
Review ads and job postings for your targeted jobs
Review company websites and how they describe their culture and employees.
Key words are what employers are looking for when scanning your resume
whether by person or computer.

36. Key Word Samples Administrative Web Designer Sales
Document preparation
Word processing
Special projects
Administrative support
Team player
MS Word 2007
Multi-line phones
Scheduling/ organizational skills
80 wpm
Excel
Web Designer
Windows
Internet servers
Page Mill
HTML
PDF
Photoshop
Project coordination
Sales
Exceed quota
Travel
Lead generation
Customer support
Inside sales
Presentation skills
Account management
Review samples of key words

37. Key Word Qualification Summary
Sales professional
Achievement oriented sales professional with 15 years of success in international trade and global marketing. Skilled in developing marketing programs, coordinating new product introductions and providing customer support. Experience includes cold calling, new business development and key account management.
Rather than…
Achievement oriented with 15 years of successful experience and proven ability to meet objectives, communicate with clients, and quickly excel in new industries

38. Using Key Words
94% of the top 500 U.S. companies use computer programs to evaluate resumes
Do not creatively try to “hide” your key words in your resume
Not just for on-line applications. People visually scan for these as well
Key words should be included in the various sections of your resume.
For on-line posting only, you may consider creating a key word list of terms that may
be used for search engines looking for someone with your qualifications but that may
not be included in your resume: CPA, Cert Pub Acct, Account, Book keeper, etc.
It is not necessary to hide these key word lists by camouflaging them in white type or
decreasing the font size so that the text is invisible to all but a computer.
Improved resume search software can now catch and flag arbitrarily inserted
keywords, lowering the resumes ranking and sending the offending candidates
application to the recycle bin.

39. Choosing a Resume Format
CHRONOLOGICAL
FUNCTIONAL
Name/Address/Phone/
Objective (optional)
Summary
Professional Experience (including selected accomplishments)
Selected Accomplishments (under specific functional areas of expertise)
Education
Professional Experiences
Company name, city, state, dates
Job titles
No job scope or accomplishment statements
Optional Sections
A watchword about resumes is: Keep it simple!
A chronological format is most frequently used and generally preferred by employers. It lists work experience in reverse chronological order, with an emphasis on areas of responsibility and accomplishments and focuses on your most recent career.
A functional format is designed to stress the qualifications of the job seeker with less emphasis on the specific employers and dates. The decision to use a functional resume should be carefully weighed against the reality that most employers prefer a chronological resume.
Start by developing a chronological resume. It’s easy to develop a functional resume at some point in the future, if you decide to do so.
(20/20, 2.17)

40. Choosing a Resume Format
CHRONOLOGICAL
FUNCTIONAL
A Chronological format calls the reader’s attention to your recent experience.
A Functional format directs the reader to your functional strengths and qualifications.
Continuing in the same occupation or industry
Making a significant career change (production to sales; financial planner to teacher)
Career shows steady growth with progressive responsibilities
Job objective is different from your experience
Job objective is similar to recent experience
Experience is gained in different, relatively unconnected jobs
Most employers and most recruiters prefer the chronological format.

41. Hybrid Purpose similar to functional
Combines both the key features of the functional and the chronological resume.
Key accomplishments listed right after summary
Professional experience written the same as chronological, including job scope and accomplishment statements.
Most recruiters prefer chronological with job scope statements or hybrid over functional resume.

42. Hybrid Resume Summary Key Accomplishments Work Experience
Job scope statement
Remaining accomplishment statements
Other Sections

43. Print and On-line Resumes
WORD VERSION
INTERNET VERSION
Smith-Mary.doc
Smith-Mary.txt
Used for:
Printing
Face-to-face
Attaching to
Posting on-line
Copying and pasting
into messages
Includes appropriate formatting for attractiveness
Unformatted for use in electronic or digital applications
Caution when working with newer Windows versions: .docx files

44. The “Internet” Resume Tips Create and save plain text version
- No italics, lines, graphs, columns or underlining
- Limit to 60 characters or 6 inches wide
- Include Keywords
Proof, edit, proof
Cut and paste into on-line posting sites
Print out selected areas to proof before posting
When ing a “Word” resume, consider saving it as a PDF and then mail
Saving a plain text version will keep you from having to rewrite your resume each time, and will
reduce the likelihood of entry errors.
Saving a resume as a “pdf” will ensure it doesn’t accidentally get modified
on the other end. This also prevents unwanted information from going along
with your resume: revisions, edited by, company name, computer name, etc.

45. Professional Bios To Introduce Yourself to a Broader Audience
Marketing tool for consulting assignments
For speaking engagements
To confirm credentials
To add to a business proposal
In lieu of a resume
No more than three-quarters of a page
Conversational tone – third person voice
And the Number One reason to use a bio---If someone asks for your resume before you go to an info/referral meeting. This is a great way to introduce information about yourself without leading with your resume.
Guidelines:
Expresses qualities and achievements in a succinct manner
Written in the third person, “most recently she ….”
¾ to one page in length
Components:
Describe your “WOW” factor, that sets you apart from others.
Outline your general background and emphasize special skills
Cite education, professional designations, awards

46. Possible Concerns Gaps in work history
Little or no experience in the field you are targeting
Almost all experience is with one employer
Lack of consistency in job history
Job hopper appearance
Lack formal degree
Jobs held many years ago
Age
Work history and education from another country
Others?
Your coach will help you manage your concerns.
Gaps: functional resume, in interview give positive statement about what
you were doing during the gap.
Lack of experience: hybrid/functional resume, highlight accomplishments that demonstrate s
skills that are highly effective in chosen field.
One employer: show positions of increasing authority, responsibility
Lack consistency: hybrid/functional resume, emphasize accomplishments in skills areas that
are relevant to your current objective
Job hopper: functional resume, emphasize functional skills and accomplishments,
may not want to list all previous jobs
Lack degree: List relevant job training, special seminars or workshops, state college
courses and credits you have earned.
Jobs held many years ago: More than 15 years, may not be as relevant as more
recent (unless you helped invent the internet with Al Gore!)
Only list jobs relevant to current job search, no need to include your time as Fry Girl at Roy Rogers.
Age issues: use phrases such as, “more than 15 years”, don’t include all your work history
History/education from another country: give foreign degrees and their U.S. equivalent,
state positions held in terms that are familiar to most U.S. employers, may need to provide a
description of the company.

47. A great networking opportunity!
References
A great networking opportunity!
Contact:
Now/soon
After the interview
After the expected call
Thank you
(20/20, 2.27)
Ask: What is a reference? Solicit responses.
Call your references and ask them if it is OK to use them as a reference. Don’t take them for granted. Let them know what positions you are targeting. Describe your strengths and why you are targeting these options. Send them a copy of your resume and your value proposition.
Immediately following an interview where they have requested your references, get on the phone and tell your references about the meeting. Prep them on the position for which you are interviewing and the types of questions you have been asked.
3. Ask your references to let you know when they have been contacted. If you have not heard from them wait a couple of days and then call to see if they have been contacted.
Finally, when you have landed a position, write to them and thank them for all of the help that they provided to you during your search.
Networking: this gives you a reason to contact anyone you have ever worked with and let them know you are on the market, give your 30 second commercial, ask for advice, contacts and information!

48. Help your references help you!
Consider the key skills, knowledge and abilities (KSA’s) and experience for which you need references.
Share with your references what you would like them to emphasize.
Consider developing a master list of references sorted by your KSA’s
You may consider keeping a master list of your references. You can even keep two lists:
one alphabetical by last names, the second list by competency area.
Mediation/conflict resolution
Training delivery
Training design
Career Coaching

49. References Reference for Mary Smith: Jocelyn Hartman
Vice President, Sales and Marketing
ABC Manufacturing
Contact Information:
120 South Main Street
Anytown, ST 74209
(777)
Relationship: Former Supervisor at company name.
Here’s a sample format for providing your references to a prospective employer. Refer to 20/20 page 2.27.
More and more employers are focusing on thorough referencing, yet candidates often give them insufficient attention. Always be prepared to provide solid references.
Ask: How many are needed? Solicit responses. (3 to 6)
Ask: Should they be from business or personal relationships? Solicit responses. (Business references are much more powerful. Give personal references if they are requested.)
Relationship: As you may be providing references other than supervisors – key customer, key vendor, project leader, etc. You may need to identify the relationship you had with each reference.
What if the person is no longer in the position they held when you knew them?
List their current contact info and under the relationship give the company name where you worked together and your relationship with them.

50. Final Thoughts Is all the information relevant? Is it true?
Is it positive?
Is there “white” space?
Is it clear, correct, and concise?
Have you considered search engine marketing?
Did you use the editing checklist on page 2.21?
Greatest emphasis on most recent work?

51. FINELY Have you mad doubly sure there sure no typos?
Have you used the right sintax?
Have you used proper puncturation?
REMEMBRE
Its got to be letter purrfect
Have your resume “proof read” by at least two people!

52. Tools and Next Steps
Tools:
8eResume Basics including on-line Resources: Resume Examples, Resume Checklist,
Resume Development Tips, Action Verbs by Skill Area
Next Steps:
Develop Keywords, Resume Editing, Coaching,
Post to Right’s Resume Bank on RfH
Next steps:
Develop Keywords, Resume Editing, Coaching, Right
Resume Bank on RfH
Your Participant’s Manual includes a Resume Checklist
and Critique questions to assist you in finalizing your resume.
Happy Writing!
Remind the candidates how the process works in your office for Resume Editing.