Contact Information: Debate has centered on whether or not it's necessary to include addresses under the contact section. If you are posting your résumé to a job board and not to a particular position, I feel that either a P.O. Box or just the city and state are sufficient. Additionally, I advise people to sign up for an email account that is just for your career transition at Gmail, Yahoo, or any other mail client. Using this strategy helps you to separate personal email from job searching email and facilitates you to keep track of the follow up you need to do. By the way, please just use your first name and last name for this email address for a professional appearance.
Profile: On the profile you want a well-written summary of what you've done and what separates you from your peers with the same job title (your personal brand statement). Your profile should be customized to answer the question, "What's in it for me?" for the employer. Read the job posting carefully and make sure you are highlighting the skills and achievements that support the requirements for the job. Many people just send out their résumé and do nothing to customize it. In today's marketplace, this strategy does NOT work. Why? Again, an employer is not going to take the time to "read between the lines" to see why you are the best fit. You have to make it very clear why you are the best person and the profile is an excellent place to make your case. Keep your profile to one paragraph.
Key Word Summary/Core Competencies: You want a section that has key words (no more than 9–12) that highlight your skills and abilities. Two of my favorite books on key words are '2500 Key Words to Get You Hired' by Jay Block and 'Best Key Words for Résumés, Cover Letters, and Interviews' by Wendy Enelow. Wendy's book not only includes key words, but also key phrases that will be helpful when writing your job description.
Professional Experience: You will want to list your positions in reverse order, starting with your most recent position. Most employers and hiring managers are only interested in the last 10–15 years of experience, as that experience is what is relevant for today's market challenges. You can truncate the remainder in "Additional Professional Experience". Under the company name, you will want to describe the company. You can normally find this information in the "About" section of a company's website, ZoomInfo.com, or on Hoovers.com. If you can provide information about the company's revenues and number of employees, this is helpful information to include. Also, is it a Fortune 500 company? Think about what might matter to a potential employer. Keep your description brief. You want no more than two sentences for a company description.
Job Descriptions: Keep your job descriptions to 4–6 sentences. Job descriptions are another prime opportunity to customize your résumé. For example, I applied for a position where working with college students was one of the qualifications. I had done this for seven years as a vocational counselor as one of the many parts of my position. However, I did not have this listed in my résumé. I read the job requirements and customized this area of my résumé to show my applicable experience for their top three requirements.
Achievements: In today's marketplace, achievements are what will distinguish your résumé. Wherever possible, quantify your achievements. Don't data dump. Listing your top 3–7 achievements per position is plenty. If you have more than seven achievements for a position, read the job posting. What's important to that employer? Support the job requirements with achievements that relate to what the employer is seeking.
Education: You want to remember to spell out the name of the degree and include the abbreviation, i.e., Master of Business Administration (MBA). Sometimes, people use one or the other when setting up search parameters on résumé scanning software, so be sure you are covered either way.
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