Copyright 1993 by Susanna Hutcheson-Dennett. All rights reserved.
This article may not be reproduced, reprinted or published without
expressed permission of the author. Direct inquiries to Susanna
Hutcheson-Dennett (CIS ID 71221,1511) (Phone 316-684-0457).




             HOW TO WRITE A RESUME THAT OPENS DOORS
                      Tips From the Experts
                               by
                      Susanna K. Hutcheson



     Your resume can open the door to a job or quickly
shut it. A good resume is a marketing tool designed to
get you an interview. But if it's not prepared
correctly your chances of successful job hunting will
be greatly reduced. 
     The competition for most jobs is keen. Todays job
market is tight and the interviews go to the people who present themselves as
problem solvers. Unfortunately, most resumes don't show whether a person is
a problem solver or not and, as a result, many qualified applicants don't get
interviews.
     How important are resumes? Amalia Sferidis, manager of the
Burlingame, California branch of Snelling and Snelling, one of the largest
employment services in the U.S., thinks they are very important indeed. She
says a resume can show an employer how accurate or detail oriented an
applicant is. In addition, she points out it can show how creative a person is.
"I'm finding more and more that resumes are real important," she says. "The
resume tells a lot about a person before you actually meet them." So here are
some valuable ways to make your resume say some impressive things about
you.

What Prospective Employers Look for in a Resume

     Richard H. Beatty is the author of 'The Resume Kit' and 'The Perfect
Cover Letter'. He points out that employers need to know all about the
conditions under which a prospective employee is now and has been working.
This information will help employers to evaluate how well you will fit in to
their organization.  "Because of downsizing, there is much emphasis today on
productivity," he offers. That means that employers are looking for people who
need less time to be trained. He adds, "They need to find people who can hit
the ground running." So prospective employers want to find this information
on your resume.
     You should describe the size of the company for which you are working
and those for which you have worked in the past. In addition, you should
describe the products those companies made or sold and its target markets. 
You need to show how you fit in to the process and what you did for the
company. You also should show how well you did your job. This gives
prospective employers valuable information that will help them select you for
an interview.

Show Your Accomplishments

     Probably no one single thing is more important to a successful resume
than accomplishments. Martin Yate, who has written three of the best selling
career books in America including 'Resumes That Knock 'em Dead' and
'Cover Letters That Knock 'em Dead', says that too many people put the
emphasis on credentials to the exclusion of their contributions. For example,
many people show the degrees they've earned and awards they've received but
fail to show how they made a contribution to their employer. The resume
doesn't describe how the applicant made a difference to the employer.
     Says Yate, "There are people who cause problems in business and there
are people who solve problems in business. The people who get the jobs are
the ones who show themselves to be problem solvers."
     He points out that applicants should put their credentials on their
resume but they should follow that up with what they've done with those
credentials. People with credentials who show no achievements on their
resumes tend to appear lazy and employers see that as a way to screen people
out.

Some Important Do's and Don'ts

     1.Don't Include a Job Objective. Tom Jackson, author of 'The
Perfect Resume," advises that you put your job objective in your cover letter,
not the resume. "Most people, when they write the objective statement, either
keep it so broad that it doesn't mean anything or so specific that it cuts them
out," he says.
     Most experts suggest you start the resume with a very brief summary of
your skills and experience and what you're capable of doing. Martin Yate says,
"We don't want the first thing that an employer sees from us to be a string of
demands." According to Yate, most objectives tend to be just that. He says if
you do use an objective you should state it in two or three sentences and tell
how you intend to contribute to a company.
2. Don't Make Your Resume Too Long. The experts all agree on absolutely
no more than two pages and preferably one or one and a half. Martin Yate,
who has done career consulting, reads many resumes. He gives an example of
why one young persons resume didn't get read.
     "His resume was four pages long," explains Yate.  "The paragraphs
averaged four and a half inches. It was like big black masses of type."
     When the young man asked Yate what he thought of his resume he
replied, "I didn't read it." Yate says that when an employer is reading
hundreds of resumes the lengthy resume will be "trashed." 
      So think of the reader when you prepare your resume.
3. Do Use Resume Software If Possible. There are a number of
excellent software packages available to help you prepare an excellent resume.
Furthermore, you can change your resume easily and prepare as many as you
need.
4. Don't Include a Personal or Optional Section Unless It Will Be
of Value. Never include your marital status or race or any other such
information. Not only is it dangerous for you to do so but it can be dangerous
to a prospective employer as well. As Martin Yate asserts, "By putting these
things on a resume in advance you're shooting yourself in the foot." He says
that when this type of information is seen on resumes they are often trashed
immediately because companies don't want to have resumes in their files that
could  make the employer look as if they discriminate against any group or
individual.
     The only time a personal section is useful is if you're applying for a
high visibility job in the community. Then it might look good if you play golf
or belong to certain organizations. These things could indicate you are
outgoing and able to make deals outside the office, perhaps on the golf course.
     In addition, on occasion, certain activities can tell a bit about you. For
example, if you play on a softball team you're probably a team player. If you
ride a bike you're probably determined. In other words, sometimes these
activities will disclose information about your behavior and reveal what an
employer might expect of you in terms of your professional life. But such
information should only be provided sparingly and when appropriate, when it
will benefit you.
     Another bit of personal information that should not be included
concerns smoking. While many people prefer to work where no one smokes
and many employers prefer non-smokers, it's not wise to put this information
on your resume. The time to discuss this is when you get a job offer.
5. Don't Include References. In fact, it's advised that you don't even
use the old standard "References Available Upon Request." The employer
assumes that you have references and if you get an interview you may be asked
for them at that time. Until then, however, don't offer them.
6. Don't Send Up Red Flags. There are certain things that will
immediately put the resume reader off and cause your resume not to be read.
A resume that is too long is an example. Misspelled words also send up a red
flag and make you look bad. Poor grammar is another offender. But there are
others. Tom Jackson says the resume is a sales statement. He points out that a
resume with lots of "holes" in it sends up red flags.
     For example, if you have worked for fifteen years but for two of those
years you traveled Europe your resume will show a gap of two years. You
need to explain in your resume what happened in those two years. A
prospective employer wants to know why you weren't working.
     The way to handle such a problem, according to Jackson, is to use the
functional resume since it organizes your information by function, not by time.
Therefore, the gaps are much less evident.
     Another red flag goes up when an employer sees the resume of an
applicant who has had a number of jobs for short periods of time. While
having a number of jobs for short periods can mean you're upwardly mobile
and are progressing in your field, it can also send up a red flag and you should
avoid it. You can explain your reasons for switching jobs so often when you
get the job interview.
     But your resume should cover up "job hopping." As with the person
with gaps in his or her career, a functional resume, according to Martin Yate,
would be best for a job hopper. You want to avoid dates as much as possible
and you can do that with a functional resume.
     Red flags are anything that might cause an employer to be suspicious or
concerned. That's why it's so important to know how to create the right kind
of resume. 

Resume Scanning...Wave of the Future

     While not in wide spread use currently, the use of computer scanning
software and not human eyes to read resumes and screen people in or out is
fast approaching. Martin Yate believes many companies will use this method in
two or three years. So a few words about it.
     Some companies get around 3,000 resumes a week. As a result there is
a move to computer scanning. That will change the way some resumes should
be written. So you need to be prepared for the change when it comes.
     Yate gives a bit of information about scanners. "The computer program
that will scan will look for certain words. The resume advice in all books to
date is that you avoid jargon and acronyms because the resume reader [the
human reader] doesn't understand them."
     However, that's exactly what the computer is going to be looking for.
There is, according to Yate, a way to avoid problems with this.
     "The best thing that we can do," he offers, "is at the end area where we
would put education and interests we make a listing titled either Professional
skills, Technical skills or Technical/Professional skills followed by a colon."
Then Yate says to list the acronyms and buzzwords and put commas between
them. He says if you do that the computer will scan it, read it and pick it up,
thus giving you a better chance of being screened in for an interview.

     Do it Right and It Will Get Read

     If done correctly your resume will get read. If you can make yourself
attractive enough and show accomplishments as well as credentials your
chances of getting called in for an interview are excellent.
     There are, of course, different styles of resumes and not all of them are
suitable for everyone. The two basic styles are the functional and the
chronological. If you're a person with a good education but little actual job
experience you'll need a different resume than someone with lots of job
experience. 
     So it's a good idea to buy one or two good books on resume writing to
get some ideas of styles and how a resume is correctly put together.
     In addition, most books give examples of action words to use to
describe your job duties. Writing your resume is an opportunity to be very
creative and to really sell yourself. A good resume can be summed up with
these words of Martin Yate, "Tell 'em you can leap tall buildings in a single
bound, show 'em that you've done it but don't tell 'em how." Follow this
advice and you'll have a resume that opens doors!


                         CREATIVE COVER LETTERS
                  They Complete the Marketing Package


     A cover letter should make the prospective employer want to read your
resume. It should not be a rehash of what's on the resume but rather give fresh
new information and tickle the interest. In addition, a cover letter should be
individualized. It shouldn't be a form letter.
     Martin Yate pioneered a special cover letter called the executive
briefing that is an excellent marketing tool, unique and simple to write. You
simply start out with something like this:

Dear Ms. Harmon:

Please accept this executive briefing in reference to the position of copy editor
that I read about in The Daily News. You'll see that I listed both your
requirements and my matching skills.
     The page is then divided down the middle with a vertical line. On the
left hand side there are a number of "bullets"...usually three to five. Here you
list the requirements that were advertised for the job. On the right hand side of
the line each of those bullets is matched with your experience.
     Then you simply list the job requirements on the left hand side. For
example:
Must have a degree in communications
Then, on the right hand side you put:
I have a degree in communications with a 3.8 GPA.
You do this with each requirement so the employer can see at a glance that you
do indeed meet the job requirements.
     Then at the bottom of the briefing you put something like this:
I hope this executive briefing allows you to use your time effectively today.
You'll see that my attached resume fleshes out my background.
     "The reason the executive briefing is so phenomenaly successful," says
Yate, "is that it allows you to customize your resume without rewriting it and
do it in a very professional-looking manner." 
     He says that many companies have personnel people who are screening
for thirty or forty different jobs. They read hundreds, even thousands of
resumes. The executive briefing allows them to quickly grasp what the job
requires, what you have to offer and whether or not it's a match.
     The executive briefing is ideal for these busy overworked people who
read resumes daily. It quickly tells them what they need to know and it makes
you look exceptionally good in the process.
     Remember, if you want your resume read you need to show the
employer why he or she should read it. The whole idea of the resume and the
cover letter is to get you an interview for a job. The best way to do that is to
make sure the person who opens your resume package is impressed with the
way you communicate your understanding of both the employers' needs and
how your matching skills can be used for the benefit of the employer. You can
create a powerful cover letter using this technique. As a result, your resume
will be put into the hands of the person who can give you the job you want.
                                  ###


     Writing a resume and coverletter requires a lot of thought and hard
work. It helps to know exactly what an employer wants and is looking for
in the package you send. I am a freelance business writer and
operate a resume writing service. If you would like help with the
writing of your resume or if you would like me to write it for you,
please contact:

Susanna K. Hutcheson
P.O. Box 2896
Wichita, KS 67201-2896
Tel (316) 684-0457
Fax (316) 684-0626
CIS E-Mail 71221,1511

       Copyright  Susanna K. Hutcheson  1993  All Rights Reserved





     

     
     

