https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/format-for-resume Style Advice for Fashion Lovers en-US Wed, 29 Apr 2026 02:31:52 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 q https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/search.php https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/format-for-resume#post-987734 Mon, 22 Jul 2013 18:21:52 +0000 rachylou 987734@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I regularly look through resumes. Big operations do put them through a scanner first, so one-for-one matching of key terms is #1. </p> <p>#2 is no pictures or graphic design - that can screw up the scanning. It's also floof. </p> <p>#3 is you want to use Arial or Helvetica font, and have your resume alternately formatted in pure .txt.</p> <p>#4 is know the job your applying for. For example, in the bakery, we get these culinary school graduates who write perfect cover letters and we never call them in. It's a production bakery. Baking is thousands and thousands of years old. We don't want <i>thoughts</i> and <i>ideas</i>. You need to be able to move, move fast, and get it right on the first try. End of story.</p> <p>#5 my absolute number one peeve is people who put summaries up top like "driven professional" and "improved department sales 50%". Nothing sounds more bogus. You can give me hard figures, "manager of 5 customer accounts, for $4 million custom photomask inspection systms" but argh to the airy fairy stuff. Not unless you know what may sound airy fairy is hard core for the business you're in. For example, as a tech writer, being "able to address the needs of management and technical personnel" refers to different types of documentation.</p> <p>Ok. My two cents.</p> <p> </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/format-for-resume#post-987647 Mon, 22 Jul 2013 16:49:48 +0000 velvetychocolate 987647@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Thanks. It's also nice to read your master list of accomplishments, skills and achievements just before you leave to go to an interview. </p> <p>I think things are getting way better (job market wise) - so it'll be less challenging *now* than it was just after the GFC hit in '09, and the subsequent rise in unemployment in 2010. Don't let the naysayers have you thinking the economy isn't recovering - because it is. </p> <p>You can see the difference in the chart in the photo below (which I got from "The Big Picture" blog by Barry Ritholtz - fun blog if you're into economics stuff). Click on the photo and see the difference between 2010 and now - there's a definite improvement - good news for people looking for new opportunities right now. </p> <p>Chart from:<br /><a href="http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2013/06/really-with-ben-janet/http://" rel="nofollow">http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2.....et/http://</a> </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/format-for-resume#post-987611 Mon, 22 Jul 2013 16:14:45 +0000 tarzy 987611@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Thank you, everyone, for all the tips.</p> <p>Velvetychocolate - thanks for your detailed response. I like the idea of keeping a master list of accomplishments. It's good to hear that your DH got a good job. It's pretty rough out there right now!</p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/format-for-resume#post-987468 Mon, 22 Jul 2013 13:11:56 +0000 velvetychocolate 987468@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I'm not a hiring manager or an HR person, but my DH got laid off a couple of years ago, during the worst recession ever - and it took a bit of work to come up with a decent resume after not needing one for a really long time. We lucked out, because by the time we got the resume in tip-top shape and learned all the ins and outs of resumes as they are *now* (and not ten or so years ago), the interviews and offers came up pretty darned quickly. DH landed a job in less than a month after starting to apply with the new resume, and it came with a very generous relocation package and a much higher salary than the old job. </p> <p>Lessons learned: </p> <ul> <li>One 'master' resume, and <i>create a customized resume for each and every job applied for.</i> Tailor the bullet points and keywords to the position - each position applied for gets it's very own customized, carefully edited, separate resume based on the "master" resume. </li> </ul> <ul> <li>The person writing the resume (or helping craft it) should interview the applicant. I was the one helping my DH with this, and I "interviewed" him like crazy. Things like, "Oh, so you managed to reduce return warranty expenses by how much?" and so on. These became the 'achievements' listed at each previous job. This worked *very well*. DH had no idea of his own achievements, specialty skills and so on, until I started asking and taking a ton of notes. Things like, "That program you wrote - what did it do? How is it used?" and so on. These were also put on the 'master' skills/achievement list we kept (see below)</li> </ul> <ul> <li>In addition to the 'master resume' , we also had a giant master list of skills, accomplishments/achievements in a separate document. This made it much easier to pull in specialty items or particular skills into a customized resume for a specific position. That master list of skills &amp; achievements contained everything in the master resume, but it *also* contained all kinds of other useful information that didn't make it onto the master resume, but that would prove extremely useful when needed. </li> </ul> <p>You want one excellent 'main resume' which is so good that it can stand alone, but you also want another separate listing of all kinds of things that might be useful - every achievement/skill that you can think of. These *will* come in handy when you're sitting there thinking the resume needs a bit of customization to fit a particular role. </p> <p>And yes, it is true that resumes submitted electronically will be scanned for particular keywords - which is why customizing each resume submitted is so important. At the very least - you will have to edit the resume, and add in appropriate keywords for the position in question, before submitting it. Otherwise, it might not ever be seen by human eyes. This is for 'direct' applications. Dealing with recruiters might be a slightly different story. </p> <p>All of that said, while it sounds like a lot of work, it was an excellent practice to basically re-write the resume for each submission - requiring a good, close look at the actual position opening, analysis of 'fit' in terms of how well you can probably do the job in question and so on. </p> <p>Good luck! It'll be worth the hassle </p> <p>PS - An easy way to do this at first? Once you have the main resume perfected, and your DH is ready to apply for something - interview him for that job. Take notes, and re-do the resume based on the "interview." After a few tries doing this, your DH will be able to customize these things without needing an "interview" in order to tailor it. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/format-for-resume#post-987123 Mon, 22 Jul 2013 00:39:57 +0000 Adelfa 987123@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I've done quite a bit of hiring in our Mental Health program. I don't know if this advice is applicable in business, but I say be succinct and keep things as short as possible. When you're reading a ton of resumes you just don't want pages of detail. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/format-for-resume#post-986635 Sun, 21 Jul 2013 06:43:15 +0000 cloud9 986635@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Hi Tarzy!<br /> Not HR here, but most decent size company do use search key terms. Nowadays, any position publicly open gets a ton of resumes. Bigger companies use recruiters too. That's why if you know hiring managers/recruiters or someone who can directly forward for you would help tremendously. I've done my share of interviewing lately, and the resumes all look boring/ standard. I find the ones that have a summary of experience/qualification up front stands out more. (Thus is the selfmarketing blurb, Instead of the old "objective" section.). Google around some different formats, choose one different enough but effective, and use a little but subtle colors to differentiate your resume. It will help grab some visual attention.</p> <p>Best luck to mr. Tarzy! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/format-for-resume#post-986544 Sun, 21 Jul 2013 02:53:06 +0000 MNsara 986544@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Oh my, but Google has been a wealth of (often conflicting) information in this area for me.</p> <p>I have no personal expertise, as I've been job hunting and at the mercy of HR, or inHR -- as in this article I saw in our local paper last fall</p> <p><a href="http://www.twincities.com/portal/bulletinboard/ci_21527686?_loopback=1" rel="nofollow">http://www.twincities.com/port.....loopback=1</a></p> <p>Wishing him luck and good advice.&nbsp; It just can't come from me . . . </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/format-for-resume#post-986514 Sun, 21 Jul 2013 01:44:48 +0000 Gaylene 986514@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Personally, I don't think there is any "right" way to do a resume these days. The best tip that I received in a workshop was to carefully comb through the job description for key words and then make sure those words appear at least once in your qualifications. The other piece of information that stuck with me was the suggestion to list all the explicit and unspoken skills/qualities for the position and then try to match your experience and background to as many as possible. Apparently, if you can demonstrate a good match with 40%, you will probably be brought in for an interview.</p> <p>And most experts recommend choosing the format that puts your strongest qualifications on the first page, preferably at the top and bottom. The thinking goes that most people look at the beginnings and the ends of pages, paragraphs, and sentences if they are reading quickly. Whatever is in the middle gets less attention, so if you want to downplay something position it in the middle of the page, in the middle of a paragraph, and the middle of a sentence. Apparently, that will make it invisible to 80% of the population. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/format-for-resume#post-986498 Sun, 21 Jul 2013 01:26:52 +0000 MsMary 986498@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I got nothin', but I understand <a href="http://www.askamanager.org" rel="nofollow">http://www.askamanager.org</a> is the go-to web site for these kinds of things.</p> <p>Good luck to Mr. Tarzy! </p> <p>Here's a recent post on resumes:&nbsp; <a href="http://www.askamanager.org/2013/04/should-your-resume-be-in-narrative-form.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.askamanager.org/201.....-form.html</a></p> </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/format-for-resume#post-986365 Sat, 20 Jul 2013 23:14:00 +0000 tarzy 986365@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Any hiring managers or HR people out there? I'm helping my husband rewrite his resume as he transitions into a new career in strategic marketing/digital analytics.</p> <p>What do hiring managers and HR people actually look for in a resume? I know the obvious - no typos, clear contact info, etc. - but there are so many different formats online. Is there a current preference or does it really not matter?</p> <p>My understanding is that all resumes go through an automatic program these days that looks for key words before an actual human being even sees them. Is that true?</p> <p>Thanks so much for any tips, tricks or advice!</p> <p> </p>