Ron writes, “I have been getting conflicting advice about my resume. Some say I should have a summary at the top, others want an objective, while others don’t want either. What should I do?”

Kim’s Answer: Sorry to hear that you’ve been receiving conflicting advice. There are no set “rules” of resume writing, so even the experts agree to disagree. You need to take in all of the available information and make decisions that work for you. If you find that you’re not getting any responses with one strategy, revisit your resume and try something else.

We’ve found that resumes that use a qualifications summary can be quite effective, and you can omit the formal objective section by weaving your career goal into a hard-hitting summary statement.

Best wishes for a successful job search!

Kim Isaacs

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I’ve been recommending two-page (or longer) resumes for most experienced professionals since the 1990s. But the old myth that a resume should only be one page is still floating around.

Even though hiring managers may wade through hundreds or thousands of resumes to find qualified applicants, most professionals need at least two pages to adequately present a “value proposition.” A one-page resume doesn’t leave much room to expand on accomplishments, key skills, and other credentials that will help generate interviews. Yes, it’s true that a two-page resume might not get thoroughly read at the first pass, but if it’s well organized and easy to scan, the additional information can tip the odds in favor of securing an interview. Also, the resume may get read more thoroughly at the time of your interview.

If you use a two-page resume, be sure to include your strongest information (such as degrees and significant accomplishments) on page one. Here’s a link to an article on the subject of resume length: How to Decide on Resume Length

Best wishes,

Kim Isaacs

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Many people slow down their job search efforts in the summer. Is this a mistake? Are there opportunities in the summer that job seekers could miss if they’re taking a break? Check out my new article on Monster.com to find out:

Sizzling Summer Job Search Tips

Stay cool,

Kim Isaacs

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Country singer George Strait’s song, “Write This Down” asks his lover to write down that he loves her because he “forgot” to tell her while they were together. Too late, because she’s leaving. It’s a shame he couldn’t use Jott.com, a new service (currently available in the U.S. and Canada) that allows you to call a toll-free number and have your voice message transcribed and emailed/text-messaged to yourself or the person or group of your choice.

Jott.com has great potential to help job seekers. For example, have you ever sat down to write an interview thank-you note, but realized you forgot important information from the meeting? With a free account from Jott.com, you could call Jott.com from your cell phone immediately after a job interview and narrate important points, and the email will be waiting for you when you return home. The service transcribes your voice message, so it’s also a productivity booster. You have to speak clearly (as is the case for any voice recognition program) and the message might not be perfect. I sent myself a message to remember the song “Write This Down” for this blog post, and received an email that said, “Likes this sound.” I have to remember to take the marbles out of my mouth, because other Jotts I’ve tested have been close to perfect.

Hat tip goes to John Jantsch at Duct Tape Marketing (from the Duct Tape Marketing Newsletter)

Best wishes,

Kim Isaacs

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Veterans often have questions about how to present their military experience for private-sector jobs, and those with combat experience can be even more confused about how to portray wartime experience. I was interviewed by Tranette Ledford, a writer for military publication Decision Times, about the best way to highlight combat experience on a resume. You can read the Q&A here:

Does combat experience belong on your resume?

Best wishes,

Kim Isaacs

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Here we go again! The second free resume critique is posted below. Remember, resume writing is subjective and is an art as much as a science, so you might have different recommendations for the job seeker. Feel free to post your feedback in the Comments section — all opinions are welcome!

ResumePower Resume Critique #2

Format and Content Recommendations:

1. Change your resume from a functional style to a combination style. Combination resumes list employment history in reverse chronological order, and lead with a qualifications summary highlighting your strongest skills. Combination resumes work well for the majority of job seekers. Functional resumes (also called “skills resumes”) are the least-preferred format, and are often used by people trying to hide something (such as employment gaps or job-hopping). You could be sending red flags before your resume is even read (if it gets that far).

2. Add a headline. This replaces the objective in your current resume, and goes directly below your name and contact information. Although objectives can be useful for recent graduates or career changers, professionals on an established career path are better served by using a headline, tagline, and qualifications summary. The headline gives you a way to quickly communicate your career goal and qualifications. Try something like, “Experienced Administrative Support Professional.”

3. Add a tagline directly below your title. You can use this to sum up your breadth of experience.

Here’s how your headline and tagline might look:

EXPERIENCED ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT PROFESSIONAL
Offering expertise in MS Office and versatile skills that include executive support, bookkeeping, accounting, purchasing, and customer relations

4. Add a qualifications summary. This section goes below the headline and tagline, and can be written as a few bulleted statements or as a brief paragraph. Summarize the key strengths and value you bring to the table.

5. Add a key skills section. Most commonly written as a bulleted list in a two- or three-column format, this section helps maximize keyword density in your resume. Here are a few examples of keywords that you might want to include in your skills section:

• Front Desk/Office Management
• Bookkeeping & Accounting
• Spreadsheet Creation
• Database Administration
• Executive Calendaring
• Meeting & Event Planning
• Records Management
• Data Entry (75+ WPM)
• Purchasing/Inventory Management
• Reports/Presentations/Proposals

6. Create a professional experience section.

This is the “meat and potatoes” of your resume, and it should include your employer names and locations, your job titles, and employment dates, followed by a brief description of your responsibilities. Create a bulleted list of “Key Accomplishments” for your most recent jobs (going back ten years or so). You can briefly summarize your earlier experience in an “Early Career” section to save space.

Use some of the content from your current “Job Skills” section to describe your daily responsibilities. For your “Key Accomplishments,” incorporate content from your “Special Achievements” section, and then expand this so that you have several “Key Accomplishments” bullets for each job.

Your accomplishments should include examples of results, outcomes, and benefits you have delivered. Try to quantify your accomplishments with numbers, percentages, dollar amounts, or before/after comparisons to add credibility to your claims. You did this in the fist “special achievement” that you list on your current resume.

To avoid the appearance of job-hopping, group your temporary assignments together.

7. Omit references to time periods when you were seeking work. You are drawing unnecessary attention to the employment gaps. Downplay gaps in your work history by listing your years of employment (vs. listing months and years).

8. Keep your “Technical Skills” section, but move it below education.

9. Include the year you earned your AAS degree.

Design Recommendations:

1. Your resume would benefit from a redesign to give it a more polished, professional appearance. Peruse resume samples online or books to get some ideas.

2. Add space between each of the jobs you have held. This makes your document more reader-friendly by avoiding a “cluttered” look.

3. Be consistent with font usage. Your resume is mostly Times New Roman font, but you have a line of Arial in the address section.

Language Mechanics Recommendations:

1. Proofread your resume. You have some capitalization, punctuation (e.g., misplaced commas), and grammatical errors in your document, and your resume should be 100% error-free. For example, job titles should not be capitalized unless they are part of a standalone heading.

2. Correct inconsistencies. For example, sometimes you write out the word “manager,” and other times you abbreviate it (”Mgr”). In your Technical Skills section, you write “MS Word” and “MS Works,” “Microsoft E-mail,” and “Excel.” All of these are Microsoft applications, so you need to be consistent in how you are referencing this (either “MS” or “Microsoft” throughout). Administrative support professionals are valued for their attention to detail, so your efforts will pay off and be noticed by hiring managers.

Best wishes,

Kim Isaacs

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