I read a post by Mary Ann Benson back in 2007, and found it to be very informative from both a hiring manager’s point of view, as well as that of a job-seeker.  I would like to re-issue her post with some additional notes.  You can see the original post from the Portland Press Herald here. 

Before reading, a little bit about Ms. Benson:  Mary Ann Benson has spent the past 31 years assisting college students with career and job search issues. She’s the Assistant Director of Career Services and Professional Life Development at the University of Southern Maine.

Here is her original post, and my comments (additions) below.  I hope that you get something positive out of it!

I Need a Resume…Where Do I Start?

A resume is one of those hard-core realities of the job search. Writing one ranks right up there with root canal in the hit parade of fun experiences but, once it is completed, it becomes an invaluable tool for so many reasons. Most employers require one, so it is an important job search tool. But it can also be an important tool for your own self-assessment.

Writing your resume is an opportunity to step back and assess your life and look at the bigger picture. By the time you reach adulthood you have become the sum of many experiences, influenced by so many environments, and educated by a large variety of factors, both positive and negative. The process of writing that resume can provide a chance to revisit those influences and sort out some important information that can help you target the best job situations.

I believe that the first step in writing a good resume is to develop a longer version, something I call a “source document.” This extended version would essentially contain all of the information about each job you have held, every educational opportunity, volunteer situation and meaningful experience with detailed description of your activities, types of interactions, responsibilities, successes, failures, recognitions and rewards. Go back as far in time as you can. Try to reconstruct each situation in your memory and write down every aspect that comes to mind. No one is going to see this except you so be honest. It may take a couple of days, or even weeks, to put this together as you think about it and remember additional details to add. This information is going to serve as a type of “file cabinet” that you will use to construct a much shorter and more targeted resume to submit to a potential employer.

In addition to giving you access to information you may have forgotten over the years, this experience also helps to illuminate some larger information. You may notice a trend… you seem to gravitate towards activities that involve group collaboration, for example. Or you are often asked to lead committees that involve problem solving. Look for common threads in the aspects of this information that you enjoyed, or didn’t particularly like. The experience of getting this information out of your memory and down on paper (or into a computer file) can give you the distance to evaluate it objectively. 

This document is an invaluable reference file that you can continually add to throughout your career, providing a dynamic record of your experiences. Yes, it is a time intensive process with no quick shortcuts, but, once done, it greatly expedites the process of producing a resume for each employment opportunity you are seeking. In the long run it will save you a great deal of time and assure that the resume you produce for each situation is the best possible summary of your qualifications for that position.

 

 

As an employer, and a placement professional, I’d like to throw in my preference to submit chronological resumes. These list what you did, where, and when. It’s important for an employer to see that you what you were responsible for at each job, and for how long.

Contrasting this is a Functional Resume, which I find is anything but functional. It allows for too much glossing over of specifics.

Additionally, don’t let your resume be longer than your boss’. While there may be exceptions, this will help most get in the door. If you’re under 5ish years experience, definitely keep to one page. After 5 to 10 years, you should have more than 1 page, and like the article says, should detail challenges, and the successes that resulted.