The resume writer's workbook

208 Pages·2001·1.337 MB·English

by  Stanley Krantman

THE RESUME WRITER’S WORKBOOK
Second Edition
[Page ii is Blank]
The Resume Writer’s Workbook
Second Edition
Stanley Krantman
A u s t r a l i a • C a n a d a (cid:127) M e x i c o (cid:127) S i n g a p o r e (cid:127) S p a i n (cid:127) U n i t e d K i n g d o m (cid:127) U n i t e d S t a t e s
The Resume Writer’s Workbook
by Stanley Krantman
Business Unit Director: Channel Manager:
Susan L. Simpfenderfer Nigar Hale
Acquisitions Editor: Executive Production Manager:
Zina M. Lawrence Wendy A. Troeger
Development Editor: Production Editor:
Andrea Edwards Myers Elaine Scull
Editorial Assistant: Cover Design:
Elizabeth Gallagher Joseph Villanova
Executive Marketing Manager:
Donna J. Lewis
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The resume writer’s workbook / Stanley Krantman.—2nd ed.
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Contents
Preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
A Complete Job Search Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
What This Workbook Will Do for You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
The Job Search Process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x
The Workbook’s Unique Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x
Our Web Site. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xii
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Why You Need a Resume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
A Resume Is a Summary of Your Qualifications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Hi-Tech Brings New Changes to Resumes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Skills versus Employer Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
The Purpose of the Resume Is to Get You an Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv
Other Reasons for a Resume. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv
Writing an Effective Resume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiv
Chapter 1: SKILL ASSESSMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Your Assets = Your Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Transferable Skills. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Deciding on a Career Goal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Taking Inventory of Your Skills. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Technical Skills Areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Major Skills Areas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Marketable Personality Traits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Chapter 2: RESUME FORMAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Chronological versus Functional Format. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Selecting the Right Format for Your Resume. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Section Headings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Resume Headings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
How to Organize the Headings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
What Must Never Go in a Resume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Chapter 3: CONTACT INFORMATION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
How to Present Your Contact Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
v
vi ➢ Contents
Chapter 4: CAREER OBJECTIVE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Career Objective: Is It Required or Optional? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
How to Write Your Career Objective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Writing an Effective Objective. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Resume Style Guidelines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Chapter 5: SUMMARY OF QUALIFICATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
When to Include and When to Omit a Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
How to Write an Effective Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Resume Style Guidelines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Chapter 6: PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE—CHRONOLOGICAL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Your Professional Experience Is the Heart of Your Resume. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
How to Present Your Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
What If You Have No Outstanding Accomplishments? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Action Verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Action Verbs Categorized by Skill Areas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Resume Style Guidelines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Chapter 7: PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE—FUNCTIONAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Emphasize Your Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
List Your Duties and Stress Your Accomplishments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Be Concise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
The Hybrid Resume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Action Verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Action Verbs Categorized by Skill Areas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Resume Style Guidelines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Chapter 8: EDUCATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Your Education is Relevant! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Selecting the Most Impressive Information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Chapter 9: ADDITIONAL QUALIFICATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Crucial Information That Belongs in Your Resume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Chapter 10: REFERENCES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
References Available on Request—No Longer Necessary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Resume Style Guildlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Chapter 11: PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
The Sequence of Your Resume Headings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Formatting Your Resume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Resume Checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Chapter 12: THE COVER LETTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Purpose of the Cover Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Seven Things a Cover Letter Can Do . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Six Components of an Effective Cover Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Contents ➢ vii
Three Types of Cover Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Sample Cover Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Rules for Writing an Effective Cover Letter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Sample Thank-You Letters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Chapter 13: ELECTRONIC RESUMES, PORTFOLIOS, AND
OTHER NEW RESUME FORMATS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Electronic Resumes: Why You Need One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Send Each Employer Two Versions of Your Resume. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Advantages of the E-Resume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
How to Stand Out in ASCII. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Keywords and How to Choose Them. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Putting Together a Master List of Keywords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Formatting Your E-Resume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Creating an E-Resume on Your Word Processor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
E-Mailing Your Electronic Resume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Electronic Cover Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
The Professional Portfolio—The Resume Companion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
What Should Be in Your Portfolio? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Checklist for a Professional Portfolio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
How to Use Your Portfolio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
The Job Search Portfolio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Web Resumes—Your Personal Web Page Resume. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Creating a Dedicated Resume Web Site. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Multimedia Resumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Suggested Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Chapter 14: NETWORKING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Uncovering the Hidden Job Market. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Developing a List of Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
The Informational Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Research. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
What about the Want Ads? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Telephone Your Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Keep a Journal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Follow Up. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Chapter 15: USING THE INTERNET INYOUR JOB SEARCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
The Internet Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
The Internet and Why It’s Here To Stay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Advantages of Using the Net in Your Job Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Using the Internet in a Typical Job Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
The Problem with the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
How to Find the Best Web Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Using Search Engines and Other Web Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Search Indexes and Commercial Providers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Gateway Web Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
viii ➢ Contents
The Top Job Boards: What To Do When You Get There . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Suggested Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Chapter 16: THE JOB INTERVIEW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Pre-Interview Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Types of Interviews. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Interview Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
The Interview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
The Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
After the Interview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
The Mock Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Frequently Asked Interview Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Additional Questions Students Should Prepare For. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Chapter 17: YOUR PERSONAL JOB JOURNAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Two Purposes of the Journal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Generating a Target Market List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Secondary Contacts/Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Primary Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Web Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Master List—Target Market. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Want Ads Answered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Weekly/Monthly Planner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Preface
A COMPLETE JOB SEARCH MANUAL
The Resume Writer’s Workbookwas originally conceived solely as a resume handbook. However, in
today’s competitive job search market a good resume is just not enough. Today, it has become
increasingly important to master all facets of the job search: cover letters, networking, and inter-
viewing, as well as being able to navigate the Internet. Over the past few years, the art of the job
search has undergone tremendous changes, a revolution to be exact. While resumes, cover letters,
and networking are all still integral factors, with the proliferation of the Internet with its e-mail and
electronic resumes (e-resumes), much has changed. These changes are reflected in the book you
now hold in your hands. This workbook has evolved to meet your needs, and is now a complete,
comprehensive job search manual designed to guide you every step of the way up your career lad-
der. I have even added sections throughout titled “Emerging Trends.” These are the most modern,
up-to-date techniques that are destined to have a lasting impact on the art of job search as we
know it.
WHAT THIS WORKBOOK WILL DO FOR YOU
Statistics tells us that the job market is vastly changing. People are changing jobs in the course of
their careers more often than ever before. Many companies are becoming more “automated” and
economics is forcing companies to “downsize,” resulting in lost jobs and unemployment. In short,
today’s job market is more fiercely competitive than ever.
That is why in today’s market you need an edge, a competitive edge, to stand out. Having a top-
notch resume is still vital. But you will need more. You will need a well-crafted cover letter that
demonstrates how your skills can be used to your target company’s advantage. You must be
equipped with an overall knowledge of your field in general and a deep insight of your target com-
pany in particular in order to ace an interview. In today’s market you must also have an e-resume
replete with significant keywords.
The Resume Writer’s Workbook will give you the edge you need to make your job search success-
ful, and its unique workbook structure will simplify this arduous task. Written in language that is
both concise and easy to understand, the material is presented logically so you can master it quickly.
In practical terms, this workbook will help you:
! Produce a top-notch resume
! Write impressive cover letters
! Uncover solid job leads
! Use the Internet efficiently in your job search
! Produce e-resumes and e-cover letters
! Create an impressive professional portfolio
! Excel at interviews
! Follow up all interviews
! Keep detailed records of all leads
! Stay organized during your job search
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