Resume Tips & Tricks

From Talis Group, Inc.

● Information

● Organization

● Presentation

The Three Rules

Information

CHRONOLOGICAL VS. FUNCTIONAL

American Air Filter, Louisville, KY Aug. 2003-Nov. 2008 Fortune 500 manufacturer of commercial air filter equipment

Mechanical Designer• Produced production drawings for complete and partial

systems including ductwork, fans, pumps, piping and ext.• Converted from drawings AutoCAD to Inventor• Worked with shop personnel to resolve any fabrication issues

Clarcor, Jeffersonville, IN Dec. 2000 -Aug. 2003 Manufacturer of air filter equipment

Drafter

Information

Company name should stand out and include a short sentence describing company.

WJIE-FM, Louisville, KY (layoff) Feb. 1994 – April 2002Contemporary radio station broadcasting on AM/FM and internet feeds.

Louisville Bedding, Louisville, KY Mar 2000 – Jan 2013

Premier manufacturer of bedding for the retail market

Information

Titles are very important• Design Engineer• Drafter• Designer• Project Engineer• Program Manager

All of these titles include design responsibilities but have

completely different meaning for level, scope and salary.

Information

Summary or Cover Letter

• Cover letters are generally too long and no one really reads them.

• Type of a summary paragraph tailored to the job• I write a summary for every candidate I work with. Here is a

sample:

Candidate graduated from UK with Mechanical Engineering degree. Candidate has strong design background including fluency with Pro-Engineer, AutoCAD and Solidworks. For the last 4 years candidate has been working as Design Engineer and Quality Manager for a company that makes outdoor equipment. Candidate takes the concept from the customer and creates the design, managing the project all the way to production.

Organization

Place skills, education & accomplishments at the topEDUCATION

University of Louisville, Louisville, KY

B.S. Degree Computer Aided Design – Dec 2003

ACCOMPLISHMENTS• Mechanical and Electrical design experience• Experience with Pro-E Wildfire 3.0, AutoCAD, MicroStation• Six Sigma Green Belt training • Metal Parts Fabrication, Setup, Operation and Programming

of CNC press brakes, punch press, and laser cutters

Organization

Listing Your Experience• Reverse chronological order so that your more

recent job is first. • List your work dates accurately on your resume. • Your experience should be listed in bulleted format.• Make sure to list any relevant experience even if you

think it might be implied by your title (it isn’t). • If you have 20 years of experience or more, you may

want to give adequate detail on your earlier jobs and then focus on the more recent jobs with heavier detail.

Presentation

Do not use frilly hard to read fonts Make sure the type is large enough to read.

Stick with Times New Roman, Arial or another standard font so you don’t have conversion issues.

Font size should not be any smaller than 11. If they can’t read it, they won’t.

Presentation

Which is easier to read in 20 seconds?• Mechanical and Electrical design experience• Experience with Pro-E Wildfire 3.0, AutoCAD, MicroStation• Six Sigma Green Belt training • Metal Parts Fabrication, Setup, Operation and Programming of

CNC press brakes, punch press, and laser cuttersOR

Mechanical and Electrical design experience. Experience with Pro-E Wildfire 3.0, AutoCAD, MicroStation. Six Sigma Green Belt training; Metal Parts Fabrication, Setup, Operation and Programming of CNC press brakes, punch press, and laser cutters

Presentation

Joe Job 123 Main St., Louisville, KY 40202 ∙ (502) 581-5555 ∙ jjob@att.com

Controller ● Director of HR ● Chief Financial Executive

Accomplished Executive with over 20 years of experience in operations, financial management, strategic development and personnel management of multiple corporations simultaneously with combined budgets of more than $10 million.

Career Achievements– Led sales and marketing efforts that resulted in increased revenues for national media company

from $2 million to $3 million in two years.– Created and implemented a uniform set of Personnel Policies and Procedures, Employee Safety

Manual, and Emergency Action Plans. – Successfully negotiated bond restructure program.

___EDUCATION___ Regent University, Virginian Beach, VA Masters in Management – 1997

Word Broadcasting, Louisville, KY (closed) April 2002 – Dec. 2008$500 million national media organization including 5 radio and 2 TV stations

Chief Operating Officer• Managed and directed 5 station managers located across the U.S.• Managed and lead all station staff including 2 engineers.• Lead acquisition of 2 stations, which included project management• Handled all budgeting, accounting and finance for the organization.• Developed and led overall sales and marketing strategies.• Approved all contract purchases

WJIE-FM, Louisville, KY (layoff) Feb. 1994 – April 2002Contemporary radio station broadcasting on AM/FM and internet feeds.

General Manager• Grew this local radio station 25% to 30,000 listeners per day in 8 years.• Honored as a Top 20 Contemporary Christian radio station. • Created platform that introduced several new artists

Presentation

Tips for Successful Interviewing

(How to land the job!)

Items to be Covered today:

1. Be Prepared…Do your Homework!

2. Two Types of Interviews: HR & Hiring Mgr.

3. Basic Layout of Most Interviews

4. Quick Do’s and Don’ts of an Interview

DO YOUR HOMEWORK!

Check out company website. Understand products, services, structure. Know about locations of factories/offices. Check out company reputation with friends

and colleagues. Do additional web research to learn other

info….awards won, news articles, announcements, buys/sells etc.

Two Types of Interviews

1. Human Resource Interviews (harder) Efficient & Smooth Skilled interviewers Give non-committal responses Oftentimes the ‘gateway’ of hiring for co. Trying to find reasons NOT to hire you.

….red flags!

HR Interviews (cont’)

Will Ask Behavioral type questions.

Tell me about a time…

This allows you to correlate your experiences to the position.

Will ask Open ended questions.

What are your goals for the next 5 years?

(Don’t say moving to Hawaii or changing careers)

2. Hiring Manager Interviews(CFO, Controller, Plant Mgr, Office Mgr)

Not usually experienced interviewers Not usually prepared for the interview Will usually start with a “Tell me about

yourself” to learn about you. Rehearse a 2-3 minute…details on future slide.

Hiring Manager Interviews cont’

Will tell you many details of position. Wants to know details about your skills. (You

should Correlate your skills to the position in the interview.)

Will focus on core competencies. Will look for chemistry and personality fit.

The layout of most interviews

1. Greeting

2. Opening

3. Body of Questions

4. Your Questions

5. Wrap Up (Goodbyes)

Greeting and Opening

You have arrived on time (10-15 minutes early...no more!) A firm handshake is expected. You will likely be asked to ‘tell about yourself’:

-the basic rule is to be brief (2 -3 minutes)

-Start off with education (15 seconds) -Early career (30 seconds)

-Career highlights and recent accomplishments (60 seconds) -Why you are there (15 seconds)- mention how above led to

your interest in the opportunity etc.

“Tell me about Yourself” Example:

Obtained my Bachelors from Bellarmine University. Got 3.8 GPA in Accounting.

Came up through normal channels Public accounting for a few years, left at Senior Auditor level Worked as internal auditor for a few years and then ..

Went to work for Porter Paints for 10 years and was promoted several times. I left as Controller in charge of $200 million operation. In charge of 6 managers with disciplines such as tax, leasing, A/P, gen acctg., financial reporting and acquisitions.

I left to run my own business which I had owned 5 years at that time and have been there ever since..7 years.

I am here because…….I am ready to get back into the corporate world of complex accounting transactions…and saw your posting…

Body of Questions-Give and Take

Salary - Make sure you DO NOT bring it up!! It works best to peak their interest in you before salary becomes a topic.

– If asked “What are your salary expectations?”, a good answer is “I am sure you have established a salary range for this position, can you tell me what it is?”

Or– Give a range of what is acceptable, then ask ‘What did you

have in mind for this position?”

Body of Questions cont’ :

Tell me about what you did in xyz position? Have you had experience with abc skill? What are your strengths? (leadership,

strategic, financial or softer side of strengths such as ability to change culture.)

Body of Questions Continued:

● What are your limitations/weaknesses? Must be professional limitation. After naming a limitation, explain how you compensate for it. Ex. I tend to push myself….started setting better priorities.

● Why did you leave this position? Be prepared and concise. Never negative. This is a critical question. Develop an articulate response. Be honest.

● Layoff. Put in context…closed plant, laid off half office.● Quit- for better opportunity, Growth potential, moved.● BUT if short-timer in several positions….be prepared for

questions.

Body of Questions Continued:

• Tell me about when you have managed people?

• Do you feel you might be overqualified? (Why makes you think that?) Either money or challenge. Honestly address issue. (Yes, I see some redundancy in what I have done before, but I also see new challenges.)

Your Questions:

• Do you have any concerns about my qualifications? I love this question because it highlights concerns & gives you a

chance to address them while you are there!

• Why is the job vacant? Is this a new position?• How does this position fit into the organization

structure?

Your Questions cont’

• What are the objectives I would be expected to meet?

• What would you like done differently by the next person who fills this position?

• What do you consider ideal experience for this job?

• What are some of the toughest problems facing your company?

Wrap Ups and Goodbyes

What is the next step of the interviewing process?

Close with your appreciation of their time and your interest in the job.

Always get a business card and follow up immediately with a thank you note. No emails or text thank-you’s!

References

Make sure to have two professional references with you at the interview. (Name, phone, email.)

Ask permission to use someone as a reference. Make sure they know they might receive a call about you. It should never be a surprise.

Most people like to give a good references when given the chance.

Interview Do’s: Be prepared. Know about Company & position. Firm Handshake. Prepare answers to common interview questions. Be succinct. Arrive on time or 10 min. early. Make eye contact. Dress appropriately for office. Be honest. Ask Questions. Leave no doubt at the end of the interview if you are

interested in the position. Write a thank you note immediately.

Interviews Don’ts

Don’t fidget around, chew gum. Don’t have cell phone turned on. Don’t ask about salary, benefits and what they can do for

you. Don’t lie about reasons for leaving prior positions. Don’t forget copies of your resume and professional

references. Don’t List references blindly without talking to them

first. Don’t miss opportunities to correlate your skills to the job. Don’t send a thank you note via text. Don’t elaborate on negatives such as conflicts with

bosses, co-workers etc.