Resume hint one: Choose a resume objective that fits the job market.

Nothing makes up for not researching your job market. If your resume objective or summary states a job title that is not used by human resources, your chances of having your resume selected for an interview are greatly diminished. With the increasing importance of resume scanning, an applicant’s failure to use the right title can be even more of a disadvantage. Use the WWW classifieds and job banks to see which job title to use in your resume for the type of work you do.

* Special resume hint for executives, upper level managers and professionals: Look at the ads in the CareerJournal.com from the Wall Street Journal.

Resume hint two: Choose a resume objective that fits your experience and education.

Using a job title in the resume objective or summary that is inconsistent with your experience and education is also counterproductive. It results in your resume being initially selected for openings that you will never get hired for. For example, don’t call yourself an engineer if you lack a degree in engineering, even though your previous company may have given you that title.

* Special resume hint for executives, upper level managers and professionals: The lack of an MBA or a law degree is becoming a handicap for executives, upper level managers and professionals at the upper salary levels. One way to balance this disadvantage on a resume is to stress the depth and diversity of your leadership experience. Consider going to a three page resume and worrying less about age discrimination.

Resume hint three: Focus your resume on accomplishments rather than on job duties.

Many resumes are excellent job descriptions and terrible marketing tools. Most employers know job duties already. Writing them in detail just makes your resume generic and boring. The trend in business is away from job duties anyway. Employers want to see initiative on your resume that is not constrained by a list of written job duties. Directing employers’ attention to accomplishments and away from duties should be a guiding principal of presenting yourself in a resume. Limit duties to a couple of lines below the job title, and use bullets and white space on your resume to highlight your specific accomplishments.

* Special resume hint for executives, upper level managers and professionals: Consider eliminating job duties altogether. Use bullets on your resume to both specify executive, managerial and professionals responsibilities and describe subsequent accomplishments.

Resume hint four: Always explain or quantify the accomplishments you use on your resume.

More important than sales figures or increased efficiency is how you solve organizational problems. Your resume should describe exactly what you did, and how you propose to measure your effectiveness. If you doubled sales, use your resume to explain how you analyzed the market, identified new customers, and motivated a sales team. Your resume should show you in action as a creative problem solver.

* Special resume hint for executives, upper level managers and professionals: Stress the breadth and diversity of problems you have solved. It will be your analytical skills and your success in many different environments that will make your executive, managerial or professional resume stand out.

Resume hint five: Make your resume easy to read.

Many resumes are poorly written. They contain paragraphs that are too long, fail to use white space, and include meaningless detail. Resumes that are difficult to read make you look ineffectual as a potential employee. In contrast, a well written resume highlights your ability to produce a quality product. If you are a poor writer, get someone else to write your resume for you.

* Special resume hint for executives, upper level managers and professionals: Your writing skill on the resume will be taken as a measure of your ability to organize and express your opinions, a necessary component of corporate leadership for executives, upper level managers and professionals.

Resume hint six: Avoid the perception of career decline in your resume.

Highlighting an impressive position you held of number of years ago can work against you on your resume, especially if you have held a number of short term jobs since then. Careers do peak, and often the last few jobs an older worker holds are a prelude to retirement. You must be less specific about a previous job if it is overshadowing your more recent positions. Omitting such things as the number of people supervised or the actual size of contracts can balance the old and the new in a way that restores a sense of career advancement to your resume.

* Special resume hint for executives, upper level managers and professionals: Be careful not to state a job title in your objective that is a step down from your last position. It is better to restate your previous job responsibilities so that your current resume objective is consistent with your last position as an executive, upper level manager or professional.

Resume hint seven: Don’t let your resume show your age.

Omitting dates before 1985 can do a great deal to avoid age discrimination. Even better is to put jobs before 1985 in a separate category entitled “Additional Experience.” That way, you can change the format on your resume easily without looking like you are trying to hide dates. Give less information about jobs in this section, or even omit jobs altogether. This solution to age discrimination is far superior to eliminating all dates, a sure sign that you are trying to hide your age. Of course, you will eventually have to meet employers face to face, but you have a better chance fighting age discrimination in person than on your resume.

* Special resume hint for executives, upper level managers and professionals: In these times of economic stress, it is more important that your resume show a history of strong and dynamic leadership in executive, managerial or professionals positions. Don’t worry about age discrimination until you are in your sixties.

Resume hint eight: Always strive for consistency from job to job on your resume.

Employers are not particularly sympathetic to many career changes. They fear that you will change again rather than face some negative aspects of the job they are offering. Write your resume to emphasize common themes, especially ones related to current skill requirements. As an example, if you are a teacher going into HR work, stress time management, performance evaluation, training of peers and any positions of leadership you have held. Make your work history seem like a natural progression rather than a series of failed initiatives.

* Special resume hint for executives, upper level managers and professionals: A series of short term leadership positions on your resume can easily look like a string of failures. Well defined accomplishments can help. You might also consider consolidating short term executive, managerial or professional positions under your own company name (DBA). If possible, you may also want to leave some out altogether.

Resume hint nine: Avoid functional or quasi-functional resumes.

The harder it is to match accomplishments to jobs or dates, the more employers think there is something you are trying to hide. Why else make your resume so hard to follow? You must make your resume look transparent while actually emphasizing your career accomplishments and eliminating the negatives. That means using a reverse chronological order for your resume that keeps job duties, skills and accomplishments under their respective job titles and dates. Use years rather than months and years to cover resume gaps. Change the format to “Other Positions Held” when you can’t eliminate problems any other way. Hire a good resume writer if you can’t figure out how to do it yourself. It is money well spent, especially if you have a problem in your work history.

* Special resume hint for executives, upper level managers and professionals: A reverse chronological resume is even more important for those in leadership positions. How else can you show increased responsibilities as an executive, upper level manager or professional?

Resume hint ten: Don’t leave entrepreneurial skills out of your resume.

Sure, the dot.coms have lost their glamor. Still in demand is the desire for applicants who can analyze complex and changing marketing conditions, take risks when necessary, and provide the team leadership and motivation to get the job done. Employers are looking for effective agents of change within their organizations, and your resume should emphasize your successes in this important area.

* Special resume hint for executives, upper level managers and professionals: It is important that your resume show increased sales and improvements in the bottom line in a variety of executive, managerial and professional situations. You won’t be hired for the repeated application of someone else’s concept or strategy. Your resume must demonstrate your own entrepreneurial solutions.

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