It's time to get my not so lovely resume out of storage, spiff it up a bit, and bombard all the services with a gazillion copies.

Now, I have a problem. As stated before my resume is not so lovely. Gaping gaps between *real* jobs. Gaping gaps between stints at two different colleges. Gaping gaps between three stints at the same college.

I can make the work area look ok. But the education area is a mess.

Would it be ok just to give generals? Such and such college 2 years. Such and such college 1 year. Expected graduation 12-20-01. Or do I need to give specifics on which years I spent where?

Also, does grade point average really matter? Do you look at that? Mine is honestly nothing to be ashamed of, just didn't know if real world people actually took that into consideration.

And pictures. I see a lot of people using pictures in their web resumes. Is this a good thing?

And when you submit an online resume most of the time you have to cut and paste, cannot use word format. Is is ok to simply use spacing to separate the sections of your resume in this case?

And Goals... Do you people really look at that part?

Seeking to find fulfillment in my quest to provide even better purchasing decision information.

Or should I just say - I want a damn job!

Lynne

Since your job chronology is not traditionally linear, try a skills-based resume. Tons of templates are available in all the software and resume books out there.

Under education, since you're within one semester, I would show this type of experience,

XYZ Degree, ABC University - to be awarded December 2001.

As for other places you've studied, unless they were stints at Wharton or Oxford or someplace really special, you don't need to include them.

I always hear conflicting advice about GPAs. I don't know about others who hire a lot of folks, but I typically have a large staff and hire several dozen people a year. Even for management positions, I never care about the person's GPA. Except - and here's the fun part - if they graduated with honors. Then you can add that section to your degree information. For example, I went to three schools. One because I was a child and then two more to actually do the work in my thirties. My education listing simply reads:

B.S., Business Administration - George Mason University, Alpha Chi honors graduate

No one needs to know my GPA or the fact that I was on academic probation at the age of 17.

Pictures - never. Okay, maybe for modeling or acting jobs. Other than that, never. For any reason.

Online submissions - obviously use whatever format the recruiter specifies. Without guidance, use ASCII, but watch the spacing because email clients can do some bizarre line truncating.

First of all, some of the best advice I can give you is to read MADYL's advice on this and related subjects. She's done some great work over at the mothersite

Now, as to your specific questions, I agree with Joubert on everything. It's not necessary to advertise gaps in education. If you have a degree coming, that's all that matters. GPA? Again, I agree with George. 3.1, 3.5, 3.75, doesn't really matter to me....

Watch the goals or objective portion, please. My pet peeve is when someone sends me a resume with goals or objectives which are either a total waste of space To acheive a position that will advance my career :confused: or are completely unrelated to the job they are applying for. I can't tell you the number of times I've gotten resumes for customer service jobs that have an objective such as "to become full time computer programmer".

I read the goals and the cover letter a lot more carefully than I look at any pedigree. That's the place I get a sense for the person behind the resume. If your goal is to just "get a job" (and why wouldn't it be, you need a job!), don't tell me that...don't even give me a hint. Make me believe that your long term objectives are going to line up with our company's long term objectives and that an investment in you is an investment in the future. :thumbs:

Andrea

Quote:Originally posted by pluckyduck
I read the goals and the cover letter a lot more carefully than I look at any pedigree. That's the place I get a sense for the person behind the resume.

Really? I cut that section out entirely about four interations ago. All of my recruiters and the human resources people at the place that had just laid me off told me it was superfluous and usually only used by people trying to make their resumes look longer. Since my problem is cramming everything in, out it went. As for GPA, I used to include them, but I stopped.

Of course, in it's place I added a "Professional Achievements" section before I go into specific job-by-job work experience. I don't remember who suggested that, but I really like it - for people who don't want to read my whole resume it gives them an overview of some of the things I've done to directly increase business at some of my jobs.

If you think education is your weakest section, then put it at the end. It's my strongest area so I put it first (and the area I continually shrink each time I redo my resume). There's no set order for things.

The one thing is to make sure no matter what you do that the resume is no more than 2 pages long. I use 9pt print and small margins on mine (and creative layout to avoid it looking too cramped) but I got it into that zone. You don't want to hand people more than one sheet of paper.

If you need some more ideas, feel free to look at my last resume. It isn't up to date - it's the one I used to get my current job - but it may give you some ideas of the type of things you want to include. Let me know if you're interested and I'll message you a URL.

Janice

Good point about length here. I would say two pages is the outside. I'm particularly impressed when a candidate can boil down their experience to a nicely summarized single page.

My guess, Janice, although I'm not certain, is that you're applying for very tech-oriented positions. I firmly believe the rules are different for those. That's not to say they're easier or better, merely different.

Janice -

I agree with George that a resume for a technical position, like yours, would be different .... which is an excellent point for Lynne as well.

The reason I look at the goals and the cover letter is that I'm hiring people at entry level. They can't have training in what I'm hiring for, unless they've had an inside sales position before - and even that is of limited benefit. I have to try to get a sense of the person themselves from the resume, since it is who they are, not what they have done previously that is going to make them a good match.

Since Lynne is looking for a technical job, I do believe, perhaps my advice really isn't that useful?

Oh well.

Andrea

Yes, they were all tech positions.

Andrea, I think there is still some merit to your thoughts about who the person is (in addition to what they've done).

I've never been responsible for hiring, but I have been among the group of people interviewing candidates at pretty much every job I've had. One of the nebulous things I try to get a sense for is how well the person will fit in with the existing group, and how they might feel about some of the idiosyncracies at that employer. I feel this is a greatly overlooked area, and on par with your "get a sense of who the person is" statement above. I just question how much of that can come through on paper.

Janice

Edited to add: I do think the "what do you want to be when you grow up" question is important, and can tell you a lot about a candidate's personality and at times their maturity/understanding of how business works. I once had a candidate tell the VP of the company he was hoping to move to California by the end of the year and was hoping to use this job to get a little bit of experience. Needless to say he didn't get the job.