Secrets to Creating a Standout Resume

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Secrets to Creating a Standout Resume

- Get Noticed. Get the Interview. Get to Work -

Paula Rueger, CPRW

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www.GettoWorkResumes.com

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 3 Why This Book? ........................................................................................................................... 3 About Me ....................................................................................................................................... 5

RESUME TYPES ....................................................................................................... 6 Functional ..................................................................................................................................... 6 Chronological ............................................................................................................................... 6 Hybrid ............................................................................................................................................ 7

RESUME SECTIONS ....................................................................................................... 8 Title & Summary .......................................................................................................................... 8 Keywords ...................................................................................................................................... 9 Experience .................................................................................................................................. 10 Education/Professional Development/Credentials .............................................................. 12 Affiliations ................................................................................................................................... 12 Technical Skills .......................................................................................................................... 12

SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES .......................................................................................... 13 Job Gaps ..................................................................................................................................... 13 Career Change ........................................................................................................................... 14 Older & Younger Workers ........................................................................................................ 14

FORMATTING & STYLE ............................................................................................... 16

RESUME MUST-‐DO’S .................................................................................................. 17

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INTRODUCTION

Why This Book?

Search the word “Resume” online and Google will present 427 million results. That’s more than one unique result for every person in the U.S. as of May 2015. You can find strategies, tips, and samples, along with thousands of dos and don’ts, covering every aspect of the resume-writing process. Rather than make things clear, all of the information can quickly become overwhelming, as evidenced by the questions and concerns I get from clients: “It can’t be more than one page, can it?” “Don’t I need to provide all of my jobs?” “What do I do about the gap in my employment?” “Do keywords really matter? The list goes on and on. And for every answer they find, folks can often find the exact opposite answer somewhere else. It’s enough to make a person worry about every decision, from fonts to formatting. And so, after getting so many requests for a guide that would compile a set of standards and suggestions gained through writing thousands of resumes for clients across every industry and occupation, I decided that it was high time to put this booklet together. The statistics can be daunting. Many of my clients have heard the one from The Ladders study a few years ago: by using eye-tracking software, the researchers were able to determine the average time a recruiter spent reviewing a resume. Six seconds. Yep. That’s what they found for the initial scan, the one that determines if you’ll get closer scrutiny or be tossed into the circular file. And while this extremely quick look may not be applicable to every recruiter or company, the sheer number of resumes submitted for many jobs means that there just isn’t time for a thorough read, especially in the early stages. It’s enough to put even a confident jobseeker on edge. How does one create a professional document that can be skimmed for the important details, but will hold up to greater scrutiny further along in the hiring process? Because once you get to the folks you’d be working for, they likely will want to see the details that HR and the applicant-tracking system don’t care about. The key is balance. And so the goal of this book is to give you a practical, easy-to-follow manual that looks at a resume from all angles and explores strategies to make it as compelling as possible, while addressing the practicalities of a tight job market and reviewers who don’t have a lot of time. We’ll cover it from start to finish, provide questions to help you focus and refine your message, and look at resumes that have worked for others.

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As a writer, I love metaphors. One of my favorites is the resume as a recipe: With the right ingredients, in the proper amount and order, you stand the best chance of creating a “dish” that employers will want to try.

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About Me

On an unusually warm day in March 2005, I sat in a bit of a trance in a hospital sitting area waiting for my third niece to be born. What should have been a day for celebration had left me a bundle of nerves. You see, Olivia wasn’t just a bit early—she was barely 24 weeks old and entered the world weighing exactly 1 lb., 5 ozs. I’d never seen anything so small, or so fragile. She left us all grateful and terrified—for the first three months of her life, home was an incubator in the NICU. It was hard to think of much else as I awaited news of every ounce gained, every tiny achievement. I became very attached to this tiny girl, so when Olivia needed a nanny, the decision to leave my job was surprisingly easy. Taking care of her was the most fulfilling role I’ve ever held (and maybe ever will), but it just didn’t pay all the bills. So when I came across a resume company looking for writers, I put together a sample and to my great surprise, got the gig. Before I knew it, I was learning the language of new industries, from finance to technology to healthcare. By 2008, Olivia was in nursery school and I was writing resumes full time. I earned my CPRW (Certified Professional Resume Writer) designation, expanded my base of contracts, and moved full steam ahead. I began working directly with clients, guiding them through the process as they assessed their careers, accomplishments, and goals. After a few pretty good years, 2012 was rough. When my major contract went under, owing me a lot of money, I decided to take things back into my own hands—and Get To Work Resumes (www.GetToWorkResumes.com) was born. This new venture allowed clients to come straight to me and cut out the often-expensive middleman. It was a win-win situation. I put a lot of thought into the name of my company. Out on the web there were all kinds of companies with names like “Million-dollar Resumes” and “Resume Magic.” For me, a rather practical person, “Get to Work” was simple and straightforward. It said exactly what the resume was intended to do: get my clients to work. While I don’t personally have an HR or recruiting background, I have close access to folks who do, and who give me an insider’s perspective to the processes that go on behind the scenes. This helps to ensure that my clients get the valuable tips and strategies that help their resumes stand out from the crowd. So if you’ve ever wondered about how much detail to give on your jobs, whether or not to list that short-term role, or how important keywords are (and which matter most), read on. To getting the jobs of your dreams! Cheers, Paula

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RESUME TYPES

The first decision that needs to be made is the structure of your resume. There are three basic options to consider—Functional, Chronological, and Hybrid.

Functional A functional resume focuses on skills. Rather than provide a timeline of jobs with descriptions, the resume is frontloaded with general areas of strength. They could be sales, customer service, finance, business development—whatever the professional determines are his most sellable assets. Each of these is set up as a section, followed by details on what he or she has done in each. So, for “Sales,” one might have the following: Sales: Develops and delivers presentations to clients on product and service offerings. Meets with key decision makers to understand needs and propose customized solutions. Travels to trade shows and conferences to connect with potential customers and expand product reach. The functional resume will repeat this for each area; following that comes a listing of jobs held, with Title, Company, Location, and Dates. And that’s pretty much it. In most cases, the resume will be just one page. It may have an introductory section at the top, but the focus is on those functional skills. Sounds relatively straightforward—and it is. The problem is that it’s also an ineffective way to communicate your work history. A functional resume buries that key information at the end, a warning signal to hirers that the candidate may be trying to hide something. They may be right—folks who consider the functional format are often looking to minimize something that could be seen as a negative. Whether it’s a series of short-term positions, a gap between jobs, or jobs that aren’t well aligned with their target, folks hope that by minimizing those details they can make them irrelevant. It won’t work. HR pros know all the tricks, and they can spot an attempt to hide the facts from a mile away. As soon as they see your resume (and if they don’t immediately toss it), they’ll be looking to the end to see where you’ve actually worked and when. If that information seems sketchy, you don’t stand much of a chance, no matter how nicely you’ve described your skills. As both the O’Jays and The Kinks sang, “Give the people what they want.” In the case of your resume, that also means giving it in the form that they want it. To that end, let us consider a more effective format.

Chronological In the 6 seconds that experts say a resume gets, one thing you can be sure the reader’s eye is scanning is your timeline of jobs. More than almost anything else, employers want to see where you’ve worked, for how long, and what title you held. A chronological resume gives them just that. Starting with your most recent role and working backwards, you show employers where you’ve been and what you’ve done. This format provides the resume with a structure that best allows

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readers to see progression and understand your career as a whole. They can quickly gauge your experience and compare it to the job you’re seeking. There are some general guidelines for how to present your roles. Ideally, the current (or most recent) one is the most detailed. As you go further back, you should be able to cover each position a little less in-depth, while focusing on achievements that helped you stand out (more on those later). But while in a perfect world our best job would be what we’re doing now, some of us find that we really want to emphasize something that we did earlier on. Fear not, there are solutions. I call it the “Strategic Timeline.” As an example, let’s look at Joe’s experience. After graduating from law school, Joe spent 8 years at a large law firm, where he gained a good deal of litigation experience and was quite successful. Then, 4 years ago, he took on an entirely different role handling contracts for a small company. Joe’s goal now is to get back to working with clients and cases, and he’s concerned that employers are going to focus on the corporate job instead of his earlier litigation experience. A strict chronological format puts “Now” first. But in Joe’s case, we can move the law firm experience back to the top by labeling it “Law Firm Experience.” This lets us focus on the most relevant experience without trying to trick the reader. If you feel the need to create a longer introduction to your work history, there’s a solution for you, too. The Hybrid.

Hybrid A hybrid resume is really a chronological resume with a touch of function. It still provides the career timeline, but is frontloaded with a bit more detail about specific skill sets. So, after an opening summary and keywords, you might have a section that highlights areas that are central to your job search. One thing to avoid—so much information that your work history gets pushed off the first page. Remember the attention span of your readers. It’s fine to give a little extra detail to start, but don’t make them wait too long to get to your actual experience—they may not have the time.

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RESUME SECTIONS

Now we get to the meat and potatoes of the resume—content. What goes in? What should be left out? How much information do you need to give and in what order? How far should you go back? Must every job be listed? Let’s take a look at each section, one by one. First, a few thoughts about your contact information: Make sure your name is easily seen, and include any designations (like CPA or PMP) that are relevant to your job search. Use one contact phone number, along with a professional e-mail address (if your regular one is beerguy@yahoo, consider a more conservative yourname@gmail). Street addresses can get tricky—some folks are averse to using one for privacy reasons. While I don’t share that concern, if you’re looking to relocate, you may not want attention on your current location. It’s no longer taboo to leave the address off, so if it is for a reason, go ahead and omit it. That said, if you are applying to local jobs, your address could be an asset, so leave it in! With that covered, let’s move on to the resume itself.

Title & Summary A resume without a Title is like an advertisement that doesn’t name the product. And yet many folks skip a title, missing the opportunity to ground their resume with an answer to one of the resume’s central questions: Who are you? A Marketing Director? A CFO? An Accountant? Well say so! Right at the top, let employers know that you are ready to fill a specific position. A title sets the tone for the entire resume and presents readers with a set of expectations that you will go on to fill. So if you say you are a Human Resources Manager, anyone hiring for that role can begin to look for your qualifications. For those with little or no experience, using “Entry-level” or “Assistant” can clarify that your candidacy is based on education or other factors. If you are open to more than one potential job, using two titles (such as “HR Business Partner or Consultant”) indicates your interest in more than one possible job. You can also use a broader “(Industry) Professional,” but be wary—whenever feasible, adjust the title to align it with the target job. With prime real estate on the page, your Summary needs to make an impact while staying tight and sharp. If you use a paragraph, stick to 4 or 5 lines; if it’s longer, consider an opening sentence followed by bullet points. Whichever format you use, craft your summary carefully—consider your greatest assets and how you want to communicate them. Look at the jobs to which you’ll apply; are there common themes that you can work into your opening? Some folks use metrics to make their summary stand out. If you’re in sales and have great figures, consider adding a box with some of the best. Another option, used to great effect, is to

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pull a few quotes from supervisors that speak to key strengths. It’s an effective way to brag about yourself with someone else’s words, like this:

§ “Kate is a dedicated, thorough and excellent team player, well respected by her co-workers and peers.” –Manager

§ “Kate exhibited leadership and an awareness and appreciation of diversity and inclusion along with strong technical knowledge.” –Manager

Keywords

Next up is the all-important keywords section, often labeled “Areas of Expertise” or “Core Competencies.” While simple, don’t overlook its value. Before we get into details, let’s talk about why this section is so important. Once upon a time, your resume went to a company and was passed through a chain of people. In today’s world, that may still happen, but there is another set of “eyes” that may determine if anyone else ever sees it at all. It’s the all powerful ATS, or Applicant Tracking System. Implemented by more and more employers, an ATS scans incoming resumes for their relevance to open jobs, looking for keywords that match the job ad. Using algorithms, it does a comparison and either moves the resume on or rejects it. Your resume should be filled with these words organically, but they should also be grouped together upfront. Like everything else, you want them aligned with your target job and its requirements. So, a Marketing Director’s keywords might look like this: Senior Marketing Management • Strategy Development & Execution • Branding/Rebranding Search Engine Optimization (SEO) • Team Management • Process Improvement • Budget Management Social Media Expertise • Negotiations • Trade Shows • Cost Management • Marketing Communications

And a CPA’s might be more like this:

Strategic Planning & Budgeting Performance Analysis Financial Modeling Risk Management Financial Accounting & Reporting (IFRS/US GAAP) Business Administration Asset/Cash Management Project Management Bid & Contract Management Pricing/Costing M&A, Divestiture & Integrations Governance, Compliance & Internal Controls Change Management Tax Audits

Note that the keywords describe functional areas and hard skills. Stick to these, as opposed to using “soft” skills, such as communication and problem solving (now, if by communication, you mean you’re great at presenting ideas, do use “Presentations” as one of your keywords). Generally stick to 2-3 lines of keywords, so that it doesn’t feel like you are just throwing in the kitchen sink. If there is a need for more, be sure that each keyword is carefully chosen. And remember, this is one of the easiest parts of the resume to change—if a job ad emphasizes financial analysis, make sure that the resume does the same. Feel free to switch keywords in and out for best results.

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Experience

Now we get to the core of the resume—your work history. This is the section that employers will be reading most carefully to decide whether your background aligns with their needs, and it needs to make an impression in a big way. The name of your employer comes first, along with the location and dates you were with the organization. In nearly all cases, only years are needed. If you ended the most recent job, you’ll want to include the month to bring it as current as possible. You can include a description of the company, particularly if it isn’t a recognizable name. Next is your title. Be sure to use your official one—when doing background checks, a mismatch can be a red flag to a potential hirer. If you were doing a higher-level job without the title, you can indicate that, but stick with whatever is in your records for the resume. If you held more than one role within an organization, just list the company name once, then for each title include the years for the specific position. This helps people clearly see your growth and advancement, a key indicator of your value to past employers. Then comes the job description, presented in paragraph form. And while it seems straightforward, I’ve seen many clients stumble at this point, either by not giving enough detail or by giving too much. Don’t feel the need to include every single job function—especially those that you wouldn’t want to do again. Keep the focus on the main activities, the ones that support you for your target role. In general, 4-5 lines are the max for a job description. Any more than that and you end up with a big block of text that no one is going to read. One suggestion I often offer clients—give readers a “picture” of you on the job. Take them through a day so that they get a good feel for the scope of your role. And then we come to the part of your resume that can be the most challenging—and it’s also perhaps your greatest opportunity to shine and set yourself apart from the dozens, perhaps hundreds, of resumes that a particular recruiter or hirer might see. Your accomplishments. Set off by bullet points, these examples of your contributions are critical to the resume’s success. If there is room, preceding your list with a “Selected Highlights” heading is a great way to make it even more prominent. This is the place for you to boast a little (or a lot), so don’t be shy. Tell the stories, in 2-3 lines, of the impact you had in the job. Whether in terms of dollars (money saved, revenue generated), time (productivity improvements), or some other metric, the key is to show your results, and give employers an idea of what you might be able to do for them. Some examples of strong bullet points:

v Captured Salesman of the Year Award in 2008 ($890K with 230% of quota) by implementing an innovative sales program that incorporated heavy relationship building and talent development planning.

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v Generated $300K savings in 2005, reducing support services budget by 35%, through introduction of new shipping technology for clients and renegotiation of more favorable rates with suppliers and vendors.

v Directed $300MM redevelopment of 383 Madison following 2008 Bear Stearns

acquisition that included new trading floors, redesigned banking floors, and increased building resiliency through Con Edison utility service, generators and chiller equipment.

Ideally, you’ll have 3-5 bullet points for each job. Shorter tenures might just have 2, while a longer stint in a job could have 6-7. Try to cover different areas of achievement to show the range of your strengths. If you’re having difficulty coming up with ideas, consider the following:

-‐ What problems were you faced with? What solutions did you come up with? -‐ Was there a time when you were singled out for your performance? Or selected to a key

position due to your expertise? -‐ Were you involved in any projects? What was your role? -‐ Did you do anything that saved money or time?

If you use a project as one of your bullet points, consider sub-bullets to provide details. This helps to keep everything readable and easy to digest. This example is from a Construction General Contractor:

§ Bayer Health US Headquarters Hanover, NJ (2012) -‐ Expertly managed large job that included 3 buildings: 5-‐story new construction, 6-‐story renovation, and a fitness facility.

-‐ Oversaw interior work, framing, drywall, and exterior facades, as well as light gauge framing. Worked closely with architect, GC and city officials to bring fire rating UL assemblies to code for renovation.

An IT Manager’s project might look like this:

! Data Loss Prevention: Ensured protection of critical information by directing vendors and internal

team in deployment of Websense security tool, which utilized a data security suite and web filtering to monitor email, web, printing, and removable media channels for 22K end users.

- Rescued project that was in danger due to poor management, and whose system had failed in production and did not meet requirements. Led team to address and resolve all production issues and developed plan to add all requirements into the system.

- Delivered new tool to 3 data centers – orchestrated engineering, networking, and vendor teams in installation of switches appliances, and server hardware.

This format—job description followed by highlights—is repeated for each position on the resume. So just how far back should you go? The general rule of thumb is 15-20 years (assuming you’ve been working for awhile), in order to provide a look at how you’ve grown in your career. As you look through your roles, be strategic about their relative significance to your current goal. If you are a financial analyst, you can exclude the 9 months you spent 7 years ago as a retail associate between jobs. As long as there are no big gaps (we’ll get into those later), concentrate on providing a timeline that hones in on the jobs that prospective employers will want to see. Once you’ve completed the Experience section, there are a few more sections to consider as you complete your resume.

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Education/Professional Development/Credentials Degrees come first in this section, with the most recent first. Your graduation year is only necessary if it was within the last 5 years or so. Other things to consider including are big projects or honors earned. Professionals who attended college but didn’t earn a degree can indicate classes taken, especially in their field. If you’re planning to complete a degree program, be sure to indicate that along with your expected graduation date. After the schooling, list any courses you’ve taken, especially those directly related to your profession. Continuing education and development is a great way to show that you are keeping up with industry trends and changes, and that you are current on skills and knowledge. Credentials, such as certifications and licenses, come next. If they are renewable, include the date last taken.

Affiliations

This is where you’ll list your memberships in professional organizations. If you’re a lawyer, for example, you’ll have the American Bar Association, plus the state bar for where you practice. Resist the urge to include purely social and religious organizations. Unless there is a direct tie-in to your career, it’s not necessary.

Technical Skills Depending on your field, the systems and applications you know can be an important part of your skills base. Every field—from sales and finance to procurement and legal—has its own “must know” technologies. These can be key to ATS scanning, so be sure to note what a specific job requires and if you’ve got it, include it!

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SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES The world would be a lovely place if we all knew exactly what we wanted to do, got a job in that field, and moved steadily up the career ladder until we reached our dream job, where we’d stay until it was time to retire to an even happier way of living. In the real world, many of us hit bumps, take unexpected turns, or simply find ourselves in totally unexpected situations. We may find that our resume suddenly has to do more than just tell where we’ve worked. It’s got to somehow explain what happened. Or, as a young jobseeker, we have to figure out a way to show our value without much, if any, work experience at all. Let’s take a look at a few examples.

Job Gaps

It’s enough to worry even the most confident professional—what to do when you have a space of time between positions. Before we start, let’s look at some instances where the gap may not be a big deal at all: 1. It’s short. If you left a job in May 2013 and were working again by September—or even the beginning of 2014—the solution is simple. We’ve already discussed that only years are needed, so a few months not working isn’t going to show through the dates. There’s no need to advertise that the transition was not immediate. 2. It happened long ago. Maybe your job gap was actually kind of long—over a year, but it was also 10 years ago and since then you’ve worked steadily. In this case, employers will be concentrating on your recent history, so don’t take up space explaining old news. What if your job gap was longer and more recent? Or you’re not working currently, either due to a rough job market or by choice, and are ready to look again? Communication is key, and the right explanation can make all the difference. Though it may not be fair, employers often show preference to candidates who are already working. If your resume ends in 2013 without an explanation, they may pass it over for someone with a job. It’s essential that you show that you’ve been busy during that time, and not just sitting home eating bonbons. The following strategies also apply to those re-entering the workforce after a voluntary break. –Incorporate volunteer work. Maybe you’ve been home with the kids for 5 years, but for the last 3 years you’ve served as head fundraiser for their school. Or you give 10 hours per week as treasurer and accountant for your homeowner’s association. These may not be paid positions, but they’re sure as heck work. Include them! Temp jobs are another way to fill in time. Been looking but can’t find a great full-time role? Go to an agency and get yourself assigned somewhere; steer towards your areas of expertise so that the experience is as close to your career path as possible. If none of these is possible, consider classes to strengthen key skills or gain knowledge in an area that you need to strengthen. There are lots of courses and training programs out there—find one and start learning!

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**Extra tip: When you volunteer, do it strategically! If you’re in IT, consider handling the website or other technical needs of an organization. Help them procure equipment and install new systems. If you’re a project manager, take over a major event. An out-of-work manager might decide to not just be a volunteer, but to lead the whole group of volunteers, thus keeping their leadership skills fresh.

Career Change

The average person will hold more than 10 jobs over the course of his or her working life, and many people will change careers altogether. Whether due to job market issues or personal shifts, folks may find themselves starting down a new path after years spent on another. Obviously, if you’re among those heading in a new career direction, your resume needs to change to reflect your new focus, in a way that is compelling to employers. If your shift involves new education (a law degree earned, for example, to take you from sales to attorney), be sure to put that first. You may also want to include some specific courses, both to get keywords into the resume and to emphasize that your knowledge is strong. If your grades were high, include them, and by all means include the graduation date if it is recent. Next, you should include any internship or experience that exposed you to your target field and be as specific as possible about what you learned. Like with folks in the “gap,” consider taking a volunteer role while you job hunt that will give you some experience. When it comes to your “old” career, don’t just drop it. Your professional background is still important! You may not need all of the details of each job, but give an overview, emphasizing transferrable skills such as managing people and handling clients or projects. Use highlights about your performance that position you as a solid contributor. Make the most of each role you include, so that employers in the new field can see the value of bringing you on.

Older & Younger Workers Age discrimination can go both ways. People just entering the workforce are faced with the challenge of little experience, while those who have been around awhile are confronted with employer concerns about all kinds of things (never articulated) that have nothing to do with their qualifications. Let’s look at the newcomers first. Once you’ve got a couple of jobs under your belt, even if you’re just 18, consider starting a simple resume. Provide a short introduction that highlights your strengths, then get into the activities of your roles. Whether you were an office worker or a camp counselor, chances are you handled problems, went through training, and learned something about communication and organization. If you’re in school, provide detail on classes, as well as clubs and activities, particularly if you hold a leadership role. One rule that still applies to young workers is to open with a summary statement, and not an objective. Talk about some key strengths and why you are a solid employee, rather than about what you hope to get. Companies want to know what you can do for them.

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For those who have been working since the first Clinton election (or before), the concern is reversed—many may worry that their 30+ years in the work force is suddenly a big negative. After all, the HR person handling your resume may not have even been born yet! So how do you communicate the wealth of experience you’ve got without emphasizing how long it took to get it? First, consider leaving years out of your summary. You can say you’ve got a “history of success in marketing” without noting that it goes back 35 years. Make sure that your skills are up to date and aligned with what your industry expects. If there are programs that you don’t know, consider a class to get up to speed. For your professional history, don’t feed the urge to go back to the very beginning. Hirers really want to see the last 15 years or so, and are not as concerned about what happened before. If you do need to delve deeper into the past, put older roles in an “Additional History” section that doesn’t include dates and just lists highlights. You’ll also want to leave years off your education. The important thing is that you have the degree, not when you earned it. Don’t feel the need to list long-ago affiliations or memberships. Keep everything current and fresh, so that all companies will see is the experience you bring to the table, not the years.

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FORMATTING & STYLE

There was a time when resumes pretty much all looked the same. Today, it’s easy to go online and find hundreds of ideas for helping your resume stand out. There are few unbreakable rules—the most important is to keep everything readable and easy to follow. Use design elements in a way that enhances your message, but don’t distract with unnecessary decoration. One caveat to all of this—rules may go out the window completely for graphic designers and other visual artists and creative. For these folks, the resume can become a piece in their portfolios. There are resumes designed like Facebook or LinkedIn pages, even wanted posters. (For some pretty cool ones, check out http://www.businessinsider.com/creative-and-unconventional-resumes-2014-1). One of your first choices will be which font to use. Whether you decide on a serif font (like Garamond) or a sans serif (Calibri), the important thing is that your text never looks crowded. Stay away from scripted fonts that are difficult to read, and overly informal ones that don’t convey the most professional tone. Other than that, it’s pretty much up to you! Using design elements like borders for section headings and text boxes for specific pieces of information (like the keywords below) can add interest to the resume. Depending on your content, they can also save some space. Be careful of overdoing design—above all, make sure that the important details are easy to find and follow. Make sure you’ve got plenty of white space throughout and that your margins are clean and consistent. When you’re ready to send the resume out, convert it to a PDF, which will ensure that all of your formatting stays put. Word documents are notorious for doing odd things as they are sent along the line. Incompatible fonts and design elements will send your resume into the Do Not Call pile if an employer can’t read it. If an ad specifically asks for a Word file (a less common occurrence today), make sure to use a Universal font, which will work with all operating systems. You will also want to have an unformatted .txt version to use in online applications. Color is another element to consider. While you probably don’t want hot pink text, a splash of color can brighten up the resume and help it stand out from a sea of black. Check out samples online to get ideas and experiment with shades to find a look that best represents you.

Areas of Expertise ü Strategic Planning ü Regulatory Analysis & Compliance ü Strategic Partnerships ü Mutual & Hedge Funds ü Corporate Governance ü Cyber Security ü Privacy ü Contract Negotiations ü Intellectual Property Management ü Due Diligence ü Mergers & Acquisitions ü Litigation & Risk Management ü Business Operations ü

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RESUME MUST-‐DO’S

While there aren’t many universal requirements for resumes, there are a few things that all candidates should do to ensure they are presenting themselves in the best light. Remember, your resume is never being sent in a vacuum. It’s coming down the pike with dozens, if not hundreds, of others, and you want it to have a positive impression. Here are 3 basic rules and guidelines to help ensure yours does just that. Proofread: You’ve likely worked on your resume for quite some time, and when it’s finished, it can be tempting to just send it out already. That, my friends, is the perfect time to put it through one more read. Don’t rely on spellcheck to find your errors. Go through it yourself, and have someone else do the same—it’s easy, even for the most detail-oriented among us, to overlook a misspelled word or errant comma. And though you won’t need the hard copy, consider printing it out for a final read—it’s amazing what you can find on a hard copy that you didn’t see on screen. Make sure your verb tenses are consistent, company names are accurate, and that all of your contact information is up to date. While one small error may not be a deal breaker, it could be, depending on your reader. Don’t take the chance that your fabulous work history is overshadowed by a simple typo. Honesty: Fudging dates or exaggerating experiences just a bit can feel harmless. They are not. Expectation of truthfulness is critical between employer and employee, and it starts with the resume. There are countless examples of candidates getting caught in an untruthful moment, and they are not pretty. Whether it’s a degree (if you don’t have one, don’t say you do!) or a title, assume the truth will come out and act accordingly. Toot your own horn: An important reminder—if you don’t tell an employer about the great things you’ve done, they’ll never know. Many folks (especially the hardest workers) are rather modest about their accomplishments on the job and worry that they’ll be seen as boasters. Remember, you’re in a competition here, even if you can’t see the other contestants. It’s not arrogant to say you saved the company $1 million dollars with your improvements, or that you brought in a system that saved time and energy. These are the things an employer wants to hear about, especially if they need someone who can do the same for them. Your resume is the first chance you get to talk about your accomplishments—don’t waste the opportunity! It can feel like there are a thousand rules to follow—and pitfalls to avoid—when creating a resume, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. Find a format that works for you, create a compelling introduction that describes who you are as a professional, and lay out your work experience and accomplishments in a way that shows employers the value that you will bring to your team. With a bit of effort, your resume will be much more than a list of your jobs—it will give employers a glimpse into the assets and accomplishments that make you stand out. Once you’ve targeted employers and jobs that align with your background, you’ll be even closer to getting that job of your dreams.

Secrets to Creating a Standout Resume

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