Let's Talk Resumes

July 16, 2009

An artist can take months to paint something wonderful. You should plan on taking some time to prepare your documentation as well. Your resume is really a brochure describing what you're offering in a format that can be understood in a few seconds. It is possible to distill information down to a very compact form. Consider billboards that affect you as you drive or ride around. They say a lot more than the number of words on them would suggest. A billboard is a giant, outdoor, brochure that describes something being offered for sale. Your resume has to compete with that sort of brochure. Can you see, a little, why it's important to take the time to make it good?

Let me stress it once more: people are used to seeing some damn good marketing on a daily basis. If your brochure looks lame, you look lame. If you look lame, they keep looking. Got it? Good.

There are two types of resume out there. They are chronological, which is the traditional way to do it, and functional, which is organized by skill sets rather than by time. Some people have used functional resumes to try to hide a lack of experience or education. Do not do that! You will be found out anyway, and they'll think you've lied to them. Ever seen an ad that you found out later wasn't really honest? How did that make you feel about the product? Not good, I'll bet. It's the same with a resume. It must be honest. If you use a functional resume, you must still list your education and work experience in chronological order.

Huh?

Bear with me and you'll see what I mean. On a chronological resume, you list each position you've held, and underneath that position you list what you accomplished in the position. In a functional resume you list the accomplishments separately, but still list the positions in chronological order. See? Same information, different organization. How about a quick example?

Chronological:

1995 - 2007, Acme Widget Company Head of Widget Shipping Department.
Packed and shipped bombs, anvils, slingshots and miscellaneous items to toon customers using patented "insta-ship" technology developed by a team of four people under my supervision.

Functional:

Leadership Success

A team of four people under my supervision developed patented "insta-ship" technology used to deliver products to a toon in California while I was employed with Acme Widget Company.

and in another section:

Employment History

Acme Widget Company, 1995 - 2007. Team leader and supervisor.

Which one you'll use depends on things such as whether you're changing industries, whether your job titles reflect your duties, which company you're applying to, and I'm sure you'll think of other things. Since you never know which one you'll need up front, the smart thing to do is to create one of each!

And as usual, I'm advocating plenty of research, so that you know what and who you're going to be addressing before you write your documents.

See? Easy as pie!

Steve