My first resume

In My Humble Opinion
41

I’ve read hundreds of resumes over the past three years, mostly from application developers but also a fair number from nontechnical types. The good ones are good because they let me know very quickly that they are selling what I am buying. With your resume, I can’t really tell what you’re selling. Your summary and top two accomplishments tell me you are good at bridging some kind of technical communications gap between different constituencies. I think. But “technical” in this case is vague to the point of meaninglessness. Do you work with students, academics, archivists, linguists, biochemists, chiropodists? I can’t tell. And if a quick glance at the next resume in the stack tells me that guy is closer to what I need, because he specifically says so up front, then he’s very quickly going to take my attention away from you.

Even if you want to change careers, be specific about why you have been awesome up until now, then sell me on why your skills are transferable and why you will be even more awesome in the role I’m looking to fill.

Remember, I need to hire someone – I’m not posting jobs for the fun of it. Be clear, concise and compelling on why that someone should be you.

And I could not care less about the format if the resume tells me what I need to know.

42

The skills-based resume might be okay…if you know exactly what skills the hiring company is looking for and most importantly, what skills they’re using to screen out applicants. The problem is a lot of times you don’t know what skills separate the wheat from the chaff. It seems as if you’ve identifed some accomplishments and then cited some examples in your job history as supporting evidence. I’m not saying that’s horrible, but it does limit you to only talking about stuff that kind of fits under these categories.

Also, by summarizing the accomplishments using the headings you’ve used, you’ve given the reader permission to skim over stuff that they’ve decided might be irrelevant to their interests, when in fact this stuff might be very relevant. For instance, under “Train both groups and individuals”, in addition to training competence, you also provide evidence of having expertise in analysis and mathematics. But if I were a hiring official with a short-attention span, I could easily see myself missing that detail because it’s lumped under “training”…a skill that I might not find all that impressive if I already have trainers.

I’ve served on interview panels and IMO, resumes that deviate too far from the average format tend to fare worse than those that conform. Sounds bad, but it’s true. Seeing your training and work experience listed on page 2 would distract me, and possibly annoy me if I’m tasked with reviewing a million of these things.

So this is another vote for a traditional approach. Also, if you’re concerned about page numbers, shorten the summary statement. In fact, you could easily drop it. That’s what a coverletter is for, IMO.

43

Thanks–someone had told me a “summary” is necessary, but looking around I’m seeing it’s very optional.

As for “self motivated motivator” I thought it sounded silly too but it seems to be the kind of thing people go for on the “here’s what good resumes look like” sites… and it is accurate strictly speaking. But anyway, the summary part’s out, so that icky line is out as well. :wink:

44

What I’m writing right now is sort of a generalized resume that I’d send out to a generalized job-search site, so I can’t really make it sound like it fits whatever particular industry it’s being sent to–because there is no such particular industry. It’s landing wherever it lands. (If I use the actual vocabulary of the academy, then no one will read it, because who would hire a philosophy professor to do anything at all, if their resume just says “I am a philosophy professor” over and over again in different ways. “Oh, you taught? And you ‘served on committees’ Great. Not what we’re looking for. Good luck.”

I do also want to write much less “general” sounding versions for particular jobs, but I’m not there yet. Just letting you know that problem is not something I’m ignoring.

45

Somehow I’m not seeing any tense problems except for an ambiguity with the word “self-taught” (which I’d like to change anyway). Can you tell me what you’re seeing?

As to the skillset combination, that’s a good point. I’m just trying to put together something that could be sent out to the magical land of job-search site land right now. (You can see later in the thread I had a much longer version in which I tried to put something about every single damn skill I believe myself to have…) But of course if going after a specific job, I’d tailor the thing to the position as well as I could.

46

Hell’s bells, I don’t even know what industry I’d want to work in.

Argh. Someone help me out here. What if I need to find a real job sometime!?

Here’s what I can do, in simple terms:

I can explain things.

I can spot inconsistencies.

I can help people express themselves.

I can talk about philosophy.

I can figure out how to do things with computers that I haven’t been trained for.

I can be clear and concise.

I can work with people who are very different from me.

I can lead (but am not bossy…)

I can get people to buy into things.

I can work on a lot of different things at once.

I can keep records and meet deadlines.

Bit vague but: I can research, analyze and find solutions. (Specific experience here involves academic research and institutional research.)

I can train people.

I can teach.

I can do things without having to be prodded.

I can take prodding without complaint.

I can respectfully and gently help angry people with difficult problems.

Who would want me and what would they want me to dooooooo???

(And how can I make them like me?)

47

It’s not about the industry, it’s about your ability to satisfy a specific need with your set of skills, experience and attitude. For example, if you’re good at translating technical jargon into everyday speech and can communicate equally effectively with senior managers and junior staff, you might make a good proposal writer. And proposal writers are needed in a wide range of industries. But you need to sound like you would be an awesome proposal writer (specific) as opposed to a great communicator (generic) if you want your resume read.

48

Okay, you’re putting your finger on exactly my problem, then (which I didn’t even know about in any clear way until just maybe a few minutes ago)–I have no idea what jobs exist that I am good at other than “being a university professor”. So there’s a thing called a “proposal writer”?! That sounds awesome! How can I find out about other job types I might be good at and interested in?

Another kind of job I’ve seen that people have, and which I think I would be good at, but which I don’t know any keywords for, is a type of job where you advise people as to whether they are in compliance with some set of standards or other, (standards they don’t necessarily understand themselves,) and help them figure out how to come into compliance with that. (I mean, this is like being a lawyer of course, but I would not be able to complete law school in my current circumstances.) I’ve seen people do this in a financial aid context, in a university accreditation context, and in the context of the Better Business Bureau. Is there some word for this job type? Can I go search for jobs of this type on some website somewhere?

Etc.

49

If you want to learn about the universe of jobs that are available, start here.

In re: the lower part of your post - search on jobs like “compliance officer” – all the big banks have entire divisions devoted to exactly that function. And while it’s often combined with legal (as in Legal & Compliance) there are plenty of roles for non-lawyers.

50

Sales Engineering (or just sales)
Research
Technical Support
Technical Trainer
Technical Writer
Fact Checker
Grant Writer
Grant Administrator

and if you can demonstrate you’re good at this…

…then there are plenty of jobs throughout the broad IT community.

Your problem is a lack of specific experience in the areas you want to move into. This isn’t an impenetrable barrier, but it limits the number of opportunities for you. However, you have excellent academic credentials and that is valuable in many sectors. You would be a good match in the non-profit world, for positions at research hospitals, in private sector education, to name a few. Someone like you might be very valuable to a company that markets products to educational institution. You can move horizontally through industry to find new opportunities. Your first job in a different enterprise may not be the ideal one, but could offer new advancement opportunities your current job doesn’t have.

51

Thanks, those were a couple of very helpful posts.

52

A couple random thoughts:

  1. When I was looking for a job last year, I didn’t have my ideal position really nailed down in my head, and I knew I was going to be going into something slightly different (grant writing/managing to (hopefully) fundraising). I did a handful of informational interviews during my networking stage, and they were extremely useful. Here’s a great link I just dug up that covers it really well. This may be something that could be really valuable for you. Particularly, it gives you a good way to quickly reach out to a number of people/positions that you might not ever have access to during a traditional job search (since CEOs and CFOs tend to not do the interviewing during a hiring phase, right?).

  2. I’d put together a traditional resume for reference - at least as you try to refine your skill-based resume. It’s hard to give feedback on it without a decent idea of your background.

  3. Do a complete inventory of skills for your skills-based resume, so that when you start applying for jobs, you can pick and choose the most applicable ones for the job and not be struggling to fill content.

53

Does this seem anything more like the kind of thing people will be looking for?

Each line under the “relevant work experience” heading starts with a ‘keyword’ from the position listing. I don’t think I have an easy way to link to that listing or I’d show it to you. I’m probably not actually a good fit for it since they’d probably prefer someone with experience more specific to finances, but I made the resume anyway because I need to practice this.

The thing is only one page long, which I know it was said is not necessary earlier in this thread. But once I determined myself to just keep it to what’s directly relevant to the position, a single page turned out to suffice.

Mediafire’s giving me trouble, so here’s the content anyway:



XXXX XXXXXX
XXXXXX@XXXX.XXX
XXX XXXXXX Rd; XXXXXXX, XX XXXXX
XXX-XXX-XXXX

OBJECTIVE
To obtain a position as Grant Financial Analyst with the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women

EDUCATION
University of California, Irvine	Irvine, CA
PhD, Philosophy	 2011

University of Houston	Houston, TX
MA, Philosophy	 2004

University of North Texas	Denton, TX
BA, English Language and Composition	2000

RELEVANT WORK EXPERIENCE
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
Xxxxxx University; Xxxxxxx, XX; 2010-2012
•	Made presentations daily as an instructor, and twice as a faculty trainer
•	Analyzed university practices for compliance with ethical and financial standards
•	Assisted in the preparation of documents establishing university compliance with ethical and financial standards
•	Answered faculty questions about policies and accreditation regulations
•	Provided guidance and made recommendations concerning assessment of program effectiveness and compliance with industry standards
•	Prepared documents for faculty outlining university policies and for students detailing course content
•	Analyzed university practices for compliance with ethical and financial standards
•	Designed computational and alphanumeric algorithms in Excel

Independent Grant Writer
Practicing in Xxxxxxxxx, working with AIDS Foundation, Houston; 2009-2010
•	Prepared grant proposals for the Houston AIDS Foundation earning over $50,000.

SKILLS
Microsoft Office Suite						Analytic Problem Solving
Windows, Mac, and DOS Environments	Rigorously Technical Thinking
Clear and Accurate Communication	Collaboration and Leadership
54

So when you did these reverse interviews, did you have the same experience as the guy who wrote that article, i.e., with people offering him jobs he didn’t even ask for, without them even having seen his resume? (!?)

55

As someone who doesn’t hire people (though I do occasionally read resumes for candidates for my team), I would only say this: put work experience ahead of education. I’m less interested in where you graduated in 2000 than I am in where you worked as recently as two weeks ago.

Otherwise, I generally like the wording, though it all depends on where you are applying. Don’t be afraid to customize your resume to highlight important skills for each different opening that you apply for, as well. Even if they’re just little tweaks, anything that makes your experience or skill set more relevant to the job in question is good. Either way, this one is miles better than the one in the OP. I looked at that one and thought “I haven’t got time to sift through this. Next.”

56

Thanks for that, I’m glad it’s improved. I put education on top on someone else’s advice so now I’m not sure what to do…

I still can’t quite wrap my head around why the first one seemed opaque to many of you guys, but “ours is not to reason why…”

57

As someone who has participated in hiring people, I agree with this.

58

When I started this thread, I was just speculating about the possibility of maybe applying for jobs. I am now actually starting to send out resumes and CVs.

There is one job which is academic, and which I have an interview for next week. It pays much more than I am currently paid. However, it is in many ways a step down from my current position. It is not a professor position. It involves no work on committees, document production, research or analysis of any kind. It is basically a glorified tutor or TA position for an online university. (I would be on call for eight hours a day for five days a week, for students to call me for help. We would interact by voice and through an online platform. All of my duties would be related to a single course.)

It pays, like I said, a lot more than I’m making now. And there are a lot of people leaving my current workplace–I’ll just leave it at that.

But I am afraid this is literal career suicide. I may still be good for community college jobs if I keep at least adjuncting a class each semester. But I can’t see how it could possibly look good on a resume if I went from the kinds of activities listed on the revised one just above, to a kind of a “grunt” job like the one I’ve just described.

The people in charge at the new position say they’re looking for people who want to stick around in that position long term. I’m actually happy to so long as it pays the bills well, but who knows what the future would bring…

Do you think this sounds like a legitimate worry? Or am I being paranoid?

59

Also, is the required years of experience listed on most job listings a definite, hard requirement? Or is it true, as some have said to me in the past in other contexts, that this serves mainly to shrink the pool of people who bother to apply, but won’t necessarily eliminate you from consideration if you apply anyway?

I mean I’m sure it differs from hiring agent to hiring agent but is there something that’s typically true about this?

60

My job, that I got straight out of university, calls for 2-5 years of experience. It is not a hard requirement in most cases; pretty much anything under 5 is more or less “entry level” where I work. They basically just want you to have some idea what a real job is, not just experience babysitting your little brother and mowing lawns.

One problem with this whole thread is that you keep asking if there is anything “typical”…there really isn’t. The resume that got me jobs as a chemist is very different in wording and feel than the one that got me my job as an engineer (I have degrees in both/I had a career change!) I’m sure the resume my sister needs as a veterinarian is structured differently than my brother-in-law’s as a graphic designer.

My opinion on your original functional resume: the formatting drove me crazy right off the bat (centre justified?!), and I had no idea you were a professor at a university. To be honest, I stopped reading it. Your chronological resume grabbed my attention much longer, and I got a better sense of what you’re actually able to to and what context you’ve done it in.
ETA: one advantage of a chronological resume is that it’s much easier to update and tailor to specific job applications. You don’t have to change nearly as much, because so much of it is just FACTS rather than creative writing trying to upsell yourself.