The Elements of Resume Style

Essential Rules for Writing Resumes and Cover Letters That Work

Scott Bennett

• Publisher: AMACOM
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9780814433935
• eBook ISBN: 9780814433942
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Business General

There are so many vital questions when it comes to building a résumé today, but only one way to be assured you’re getting the right answers--by asking a hiring expert.

Building your résumé should be one of the easier parts to the job interview process, but it’s actually becoming one of the most stressful aspects. What kind of résumé will spark the employer’s interest? Which kind most often get passed over? How far back are we supposed to go? How can we best explain those time gaps in between jobs? Are the rules different for online résumés?

Scott Bennett has hired hundreds of people in a variety of industries, and he knows firsthand the insights that will catch an employer’s eye, as well as what dangers to avoid if you want to survive the first cut. Learn how to craft clear, compelling, targeted résumés and cover letters that actually work!

In The Elements of Résumé Style, you will be provided:

• More than 1,400 action words, statements, and position descriptions that help sell your skills and experience
• Hundreds of words, phrases, and vague claims to avoid
• Advice for handling employment gaps, job-hopping, and requests for salary history and requirements
• Sample résumés, response letter, inquiry letter, informational interview request letter, references,
• Surprising tips for acing the interview

In today’s competitive environment, competition is intense no matter the field or position. The often overlooked first hurdle to jump over is no doubt the résumé. The time-tested tools in The Elements of Résumé Style will make sure yours stands out--helping to get you the job you deserve!

ONE

Common Concerns

Everyone I know has a big “but.”

—Pee-Wee Herman, “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure”

If you break into a cold sweat, get woozy, or just feel a little uneasy when you think about writing your résumé, then rest assured: (1) You are not alone, and (2) there is hope. Here are common concerns and guidance on each.

ARE YOU SURE OF WHERE YOU WANT TO WORK?

Many candidates for whom the answer to this question is “no” will mistakenly send responses, inquiries, and résumés scattershot, with no clear plan. Such mailings are a waste of time because employers can detect mass mailings (junk mail), broadcast faxes (junk faxes), and junk e-mail (spam) just as easily as the rest of us can.

You will receive few or no responses even with an error-free, clear, and focused résumé if you send it to the wrong places. Sending an otherwise excellent but untargeted résumé is like sending an expensive box of handmade chocolates to people with diabetes who cannot eat sweets. Targeting increases the response rate.

Identify and evaluate targets before you send your résumé. Ideas are all around you. Talk to friends and family members. Look at the categories from A to Z in the yellow (and blue) pages. Read ads—not just the Help Wanted ads—in daily and weekly newspapers. Leaf through the ads in the magazines you read. Listen to ads on your favorite radio stations. See ads on television. Use the Internet.*

Mindful of the inescapable perishability of any suggested link, the following is, at the time of this writing, a list of examples of free sites you may find helpful in exploring prospective employers.

www.allexperts.com

www.amiando.com

www.answers.com

www.ask.com

askville.amazon.com

www.digg.com/reader

www.duckduckgo.com

www.eventbrite.com

www.feeddemon.com

www.feedly.com

www.feedreader.com

www.flipboard.com

www.google.com/alerts

www.loc.gov/rr/askalib/ (Ask a Librarian @ U.S. Library of Congress)

www.meetup.com

www.netvibes.com

www.news.me

www.newsvi.be

news.ycombinator.com/ask

www.99events.com

www.pulse.me

www.quora.com

reader.aol.com

www.reddit.com

www.refseek.com

www.rssbandit.org

www.rssowl.org

www.stumbleupon.com

www.theoldreader.cm

www.twubs.com

www.yahoo.com

www.zite.com

www.zoo.com

You can use these free resources to learn more about employers in whom you’re already interested, discover new ones, and see if any are targets for an inquiry letter and résumé. Doing groundwork such as this avoids the low response rates associated with inadequate targeting.

Once you have identified organizations where you might want to work, forget about whether they are hiring. Learn more about them, and if you see a potential fit (i.e., if you believe your skills and enthusiasm can add value), then send them a thoughtfully prepared inquiry letter (see Chapter 6) and résumé tout de suite.

When examining potential targets, evaluate the cultural aspects of each prospective employer. Different organizations are at different stages of existence. Consider the excitement of helping launch a start-up vs. the relative stability of working in an established enterprise. Which setting do you prefer?

Similarly, the size of an organization has a big impact on the level of financial and human resources, as well as the level of structure in place. Would you rather work in a small company without bureaucracy but with few resources? Conversely, are you willing to tolerate some red tape to have more resources in place?

The operating principles of an organization permeate every aspect of work life in that organization. For example, the shared ownership of a clear mission, responsibility with authority, an unambiguous reporting structure, an environment of mutual respect, innovation, integrity at the top, and other factors impact heavily on job satisfaction.

The style of an organization impacts work life, too. Dress code, work schedule, and perks (from pizza and Ping-Pong to cars, jets, and expense accounts) help shape our view of the workday and reveal a lot about an organization’s views on the work ethic and work/life balance.

Gain insights into these and other issues from newspaper, magazine, trade and professional journal, and online posts/articles; radio and television news reports; Internet message boards; employer home pages; and knowledgeable friends and family members. Doing so will allow you to make an informed selection of targets for your inquiry letter and résumé.

Targeted inquiry letters are so powerful that some candidates don’t bother with response letters at all! These people do their reconnaissance, decide where they want to work, then methodically fax, e-mail, mail, or hand-deliver an inquiry letter and résumé to each target and call judiciously—not too often—to follow up until they’re hired by one of the targets.

ARE YOU SURE OF WHAT YOU WANT TO DO?

Web tools,* books, assessment instruments (e.g., Self-Directed Search, Strong Interest Inventory, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator), and other items exist to provide food for thought but not answers. View all results as suggestions, ideas, and examples—and nothing more. Only you can choose the best path for you.

Many people hesitate to choose and focus on a specific career path because they fear they may make a wrong decision. If you feel this way, be gentle with yourself. Gather information, make the most informed decision you can, and then support your decision by pursuing it with vigor. Focus on it like a laser beam.

Learn the requirements for entering the field. Are you willing to meet those requirements? If not, move on. If so, do everything in your power to make it happen. Make the time. Ask your loved ones for understanding and support. Get the training. Look into available grants and scholarships and student loans. Earn the certification. Pass the exams. Get the license. Find successful organizations where you can pursue your chosen path and enthusiastically target them with inquiry letters and résumé. In short, be an active seeker.

What if I begin working in a new career and the quality of my work isn’t very good?

When we start something new, we’re not supposed to be very good at it. Babies (“toddlers”) typically fall down when they first attempt to walk. We view this as normal and natural. A healthy parent praises the child’s attempts and encourages more. However, when as adults we stumble just as naturally to learn new things, we can be so very unkind to ourselves. It doesn’t have to be this way. When you stumble on your new path, do a little self-parenting. Praise your efforts. Encourage yourself. And keep trying. In this spirit, the late British author Gilbert Chesterton wrote, “A thing worth doing is worth doing poorly.”

What if one day I discover the choice I made is not the ideal path for me?

There is no such thing as an ideal path. We can only make the most informed choices we can make. Over time, as we establish ourselves in a new career, we naturally continue to weigh the positives and negatives of our choices, and if there is enough good stuff, we progress/advance along the current path. If not, we investigate new paths. If instead you are frozen in place while waiting to make the perfect choice, then consider the old saying, “Perfect can be the enemy of good enough.”

Any career you choose is likely not the last career you will have between now and your demise. Lighten up. Give it your best shot, and if one day you choose to change paths, congratulate yourself on your efforts, the added experience and knowledge, and move on to your next adventure.

MOVE BEYOND YOUR DREAMKILLERS

Many of us have people in our lives I have dubbed dreamkillers—people who can be depended on to repeatedly assert with vigor and zeal some supposed/purported/alleged “reasons” we cannot possibly achieve our stated goals. I encourage you to, again and again, dismiss such talk and get plenty of time and space away from the people who engage in it. The most profound end-of-life regrets are typically not about having tried and failed; rather, they’re about having abandoned any solid, sustained attempt to achieve one’s goals.

RÉSUMÉ LENGTH

Anyone who tells you there is one hard-and-fast rule on résumé length is making it up. For obvious reasons, there is a bias among hiring managers in favor of a brief, clear, and compelling document. But this can take many forms. Many people with 20 years’ work experience have a successful one-page résumé. Some people with 10 years’ work experience require 1¼ pages to pitch their skills most effectively. The length of your résumé depends on the nature and number of positions you have held during your unique work life.

Do you need hard-and...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface to the Second Edition
• INTRODUCTION: WRITERS MAKE CHOICES
• 1.  COMMON CONCERNS
• 2.  PRESENTATION: THE READER SEES MORE THAN WORDS
• 3.  EVEN THE SIMPLEST ITEMS SEND MESSAGES TO THE READER
• 4.  SELL YOUR SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE–ALWAYS WITH THE READER IN MIND
• 5.  DELIVER YOUR MESSAGE THE RIGHT WAY TO THE RIGHT PLACES
• 6.  COVER LETTERS
• 7.  THE FINAL THREE PRE-INTERVIEW ITEMS: SALARY REQUIREMENTS, SALARY HISTORY, REFERENCES
• 8.  MARKETING TO YOURSELF
• 9.  BONUS INTERVIEW CHAPTER BY POPULAR DEMAND: SCOTT, MY RÉSUMÉ WORKED! NOW WHAT?!
• CONCLUSION: YOU’RE THE CARPENTER
• APPENDICES
• Index
• About the Author
• Free Sample Chapter from Acing the Interview by Tony Beshara