Resume Tips

In the past few weeks I've been receiving a couple of resumes a day inquiring about summer internships/jobs here at Beholder Production. Honestly, many of these resumes leave something to be desired. Some tend to be very generic, other have very little thought put into them and some lack even the most proper grammar, and for anyone who knows me, it takes a lot for me to notice that. That being said it's time for me to give out some tips on what should be in a resume and how to handle submitting it. Also, bonus points for anyone who is planning on submitting a resume to Beholder and actually reads and follows these tips.

Let’s start with the last thing you do but the first thing a potential employer reads, the email. I say email because that has pretty much become the standard for resumes. Few and far between are resumes actually mailed out in this digital age and I’m not saying it's a bad thing.

Emailing

Two things are going to hit a potential employer within the first 5 seconds. The subject line and your email address.

Now, like most offices, the person receiving the resume has multiple responsibilities, along with receiving tons of emails daily. So how do you stick out? Well, respond with something they are looking for. Clearly state your purpose. For example, if you are applying for a summer internship position, try using: Summer 2008 Internship position. Seems logical right? I've received plenty of emails were the subject line just reads "Resume", "Job", "Summer", "To whom it may concern". Now that may not seem that bad to some people but the more information you can give the better your chances are of at least having your email opened.

hardcorekilla256@ or cutie400@ may have seemed like great email addresses when sending that new viral video links to one of your friends, but probably not so great in the eyes of your future employer. It takes all of two minutes to create another email account with a more professional sounding email address. I strongly suggest having your name in it to help reinforce your presence into the recipients mind.

These two simple steps will help ensure that at least your email gets opened. Remember, most likely your recipient is looking at tons of email a day and most get disregarded with nothing more then a simple glance. So by having information they are scanning for upfront is very important.

Ok, so you've gotten them to click on your email and begin to read. This has been the make or break point for a lot of emailed resumes for me. There are a few simple rules for this email that should be followed, but sadly are not.

First, keep it short and simple. A few sentences and be done with it. Your reader’s time is important so keep that in mind here and throughout the whole resume process. Simply introduce yourself, state the purpose of the email (summer internship, job position and such), where you found the posting and how you are looking forward to speaking with them in the near future about this opportunity. The last thing, which seems like a no brainer but happens to about a quarter of all resumes I receive, is attach the resume and cover sheet!

Now here are some big do's and don'ts when it comes to the email

1) Don’t simply copy and paste your entire resume into the email and hit send. Nothing will make me hit that delete button faster than being hit with that first thing in the morning.
2) Don't copy and paste your cover letter into the mail. Refer to number one for the repercussions to this action.
3) Spell check, Spell check, and Spell check also consider spell checking. (Getting the hint?)
4) Do a little research and see if you can't find out who is going to be getting the email. Nothing makes you stand out more then doing a little research.
5) Let your resume and cover letter speak for them self and don’t repeat what you have inside of them in the email.

Cover Letter

Now that you've gotten your email read it's time for them to read what you've attached to it, namely your cover letter and resume. We'll wait on the resume and hit the cover letter first since that's what your potential employer is most likely to click on first.

You will NEVER EVER use the same cover letter twice. That being said we can move on.

The cover letter should be broken down to about 4 paragraphs. Now this is a point that people will argue over but in my experience it's the best way to hand things. The first paragraph should simply state again what job you are looking for, how you came across the posting, and why you want the job.

The second paragraph should contain a few duties that the position requires and how your past experiences and personality makes you an ideal candidate for the job.

Get information from their job posting and work it into your resume. It shows that you took the time to write a personalized cover letter and actually want and are willing to work for the job position.

The third paragraph is used to sell yourself. Explain how your personality and past work experience let you bring something to the table, simply put, what you are offering them.

Now the last paragraph is what pulls it all together. Explain why you are the ideal candidate for the position, the best fit for the company, and how both will mutually benefit from the pairing. So now you may be asking, how do I know that I'll be a good candidate for this company? Well, this is a biggie that can put you above the rest. Do some research into the company. I don't know any company today that doesn't have a website. Read it, read it all and pull from it throughout the cover letter. What company doesn't like to be reminded that they've won awards, been featured in an article or had higher gross profits then their competitors? This is a sure fire way to get the readers interest.

Resume

Ok, you’re doing well, they've opened your email and read the cover letter so now onto the biggest part, the resume.

It seems that the average candidate has one very generic resume, old trusty, that they simply slap into the email with the cover letter (which personally, I feel should be a separate document) and send it off. They keep the same resume for each job they apply to. It never seems to click in their mind that they are sending the same resume to different job posting, which means they are not getting the job, which means there is most likely a problem somewhere. If they followed the other steps and kept rewriting the cover letter perhaps they should do the same for the resume?

Now, if you have a decent resume you won't need to totally rewrite it each time but simply adjust it to fit better with the job you are applying to. Now I'm not going to tell you how to develop and write your resume but I will give you some suggestions and incites.

Keep it to one page. This is very easy to do if you keep it sort, concise and to the point. Basically, keep the fluff and padding out. Use a strong, descriptive words or phrases that sums up what you did instead of a sentence or two.

Instead of
I worked at burger king where I made sure we always had 20 boxes of frozen hamburger patties on hand at all times.
Try
Burger King - responsibilities includes: inventory management.

This just makes the resume more organized and easier to read overall. Try to avoid full sentences where you could have used keywords instead. You don't want to fully explain every detail about your work experience. You want your reader to want to know more about what you've done. By them wanting to know more about you, it increases your likelihood for a meeting being set up and getting your foot in the door.

Section organization is also an important part. The average resume is broken up into parts including: Employment, Education, Experiences, Achievements, and so on. Now this part really depends on what field you are going into. If you are a student it’s ok to add relevant classes if you don’t have the work history yet. When organizing your resume try and put yourself in your potential employer’s shoes and ask yourself what the most important part of the resume is. If you are a computer programmer fresh out of college I would strongly suggest you lead with either an internship experience or education with relevant classes over your summer job at a grocery store stocking shelves.

Summary

Now that you have the complete package put together you’re ready to go. Keep in mind that with a resume you are selling yourself. How you present your resume is how you are going to be represented in the eyes of your potential employer. Keep this in mind, who would buy a car that was dented, poorly painted and smelled of old fish when a freshly painted sports car is sitting next to it for the same price? Sure, they both might run like a champ but who’s going to give the fish car a test drive to find out?