THE BEST RESUME IS A SNAPSHOT OF YOU - Part 2

I have seen a number of resumes over the years with a wide variety of formats used to detail one’s business or career history.  I have found that there are things that can or should be included to give a clear, concise picture of who you have worked for, what your duties were, and what you accomplished during your tenure.

Along with the name of each company and its location, include the dates of your employment.  This does not have to be month and year.  Noting the year your started and the year you left (i.e. 1999 – 2009) is sufficient.  But you do need to include your dates of employment.

As far at the location is concerned, list the headquarters location for the company, not the location where you worked.  List the location of the plant, sales office or other facility where you worked as part of your description of the jobs you held with that company.  This is detailed below.

Be sure you also include a brief description of the company and its business.  You need to assume that the reader has not heard of the company and knows nothing about what its business is.  For example:

CERTAINTEED CORPORATION, Insulation Products Group, Valley Forge, PA             1994 to 2009

CertainTeed Corporation, Insulation Products Group, is the leading manufacturer of fiberglass insulation products for commercial and residential applications, with annual sales of more than $107.6 million in HVAC and Industrial Insulation products.

This not only helps familiarize the reader with the companies that you worked for, but can serve to enhance the reader’s view of your career, including having added knowledge of your expertise in a certain market or with certain products.  It should not be more than 1 or 2 sentences long.

List each one of the positions you held with a company, and the accomplishments you made with each.  Include the dates that you held that position.  Also if your job was at a location away from headquarters, list the location where you worked; the plant or sales office, for instance.  Again the dates only need to be years…you do not need to include the months.

As I have said before, you need to include the accomplishments you made while you held each position.  These should be only one or two sentences long, and should include data or statistics that make the accomplishment measureable.

WHAT YOU SHOULD NOT INCLUDE IN YOUR RESUME:

My advice is that you do not include any salary information on your resume.  Your past history is of no consequence in an employer’s decision about what salary to offer you.  And it takes away from your ability to negotiate.  The only salary that is pertinent is what you are currently making or what you made in your last position.  And that should be a discussion during the very last stages of the interview process…unless the prospective employer brings it up first.

Also, do not include the reason you left.  That is a subject that will be taken up in the interview.  You do not want anyone to misinterpret what you write, and a discussion of the reason gives you an opportunity to explain any details or special circumstances.  Also, and perhaps most important, you do not want to needlessly give the reader an excuse not to consider your candidacy.

Now here is an example of a resume entry describing the tenure with a company:

CERTAINTEED CORPORATION, Insulation Products Group, Valley Forge, PA             1994 to 2009

CertainTeed Corporation, Insulation Products Group, is the leading manufacturer of fiberglass insulation products for commercial and residential applications, with annual sales of more than $107.6 million in HVAC and Industrial Insulation products.

Product Marketing Manager, Industrial and Commercial Products 2000 – 2009
Supervised all aspects of business management associated with insulation products for industrial and commercial markets, with annual sales of more than $32.8 million.

Spearheaded the development and directed that successful market introduction of two new commercial insulation products, realized a combined sales level of $257,000 during the first 4 months after market introduction.

Directed the development of a sound absorbent blanket for use in the construction of multiplex theaters, and spearheaded the establishment of this as the leading edge product in the $6.3 million market.

Product Manager, HVAC Products 1994 – 2000
Supervised all aspects of business management associated with Duct Liner and Standard Duct Wrap for commercial markets, with annual sales of more than $56.2 million.

Supervised the activities of a product quality council for Duct Liner which successfully improved the quality of the product while decreasing the cost by more than 4.5%, and reducing the customer complaint frequency to less than 0.1%.

Managed the development of an innovative packaging system for Standard Duct Wrap, which saved the company more than $450,000 in operating costs, and reduced customer labor costs by 83% and warehousing costs by 46%.

I will discuss other aspects and recommendations for your resume in an upcoming post.

If you have any questions, please let me know at execmgmt.search@gmail.com