tips and strategies to writing the perfect resumeresume writing: tips and strategies to writing the...
TRANSCRIPT
RESUME WRITING: TIPS AND STRATEGIES TO WRITING THE PERFECT RESUME
David Lucey – Manager, Recruiting
St. John’s Prep, ’87/Boston College, ’91
20 years of recruiting experience
15 years of corporate recruiting
Over 1k hires, 3k interviews, 75k resumes reviewed
Introduction
Industry Hiring Stats
900 New Hires at Facebook in 2010
250,000 Resumes sent to Facebook in 2010
6,000 75,000 Resumes received by Google in
one week (2/21/11 – 2/28/11)
Estimated Google hires in 2011
Resume realities
15% of all US hires in 2011 were processed through Taleo’s applicant/resume
tracking system
The average corporate recruiter will view your resume for 15 seconds
upon initial review
Resume realities (cont’d)
Self-marketing tool
Personal ad
Showcase of job skills
One of the most important documents you’ll ever write
A Resume is a…
Target your resume to the job you are applying to. Don’t make it one size fits all
Use “active” rather than “passive” language (results vs. duties)
Be concise! Doesn’t need to be life story
Tell the truth and be accurate with dates
General tips
Chronological: Presents information on jobs and education in reverse chronological order
Functional/skills summary: Highlights skills, experience and abilities as opposed to focusing on dates
Most employers want a chronological resume
Resume formats & styles
Heading: Name/Address/Phone number/email address (no “unique” emails)
Objective/summary: Tailor to the job you are applying
Education: List schools in reverse chronological order. Include college major/minor and GPA (if above 3.0 and less than 5 years out of school
Resume format
Experience: Company name, location, dates of employment & title. List accomplishments and skills utilized. Internships, even non-paid, should only be listed in less than 3 years out of college.
Additional sections: Honors and awards Technical skills
Professional memberships (non-political)
Resume format (cont’d)
Try and use 1 inch margins on all sides and use 10-12pt font (don’t get creative with style or color)
Ideal resume length should be 1-2 pages
Center name in bold at top in largest font used
Avoid excessive use of capitalization and bold or italics
Resume layout
Resume example
Typos and Grammatical Errors
Don’t include reasons for leaving a job
No need for a photo
Don’t list references
No personal/family details needed
Resume Mistakes
Brief and in 3 parts:
Introduction (why are you applying?) Body (why are you a match?)
Closing (can I have a meeting/interview?)
No need to include as attachment if emailing.
ATS systems don’t search on cover letters
Recruiters looking more for reasons to disqualify
Cover letters
Questions?