Here's step 1 in my new plan: an up to date resume. In the past, I've had very little success (none whatsoever) with blindly sending out resumes and cover letters.
What's wrong with this one? What about it screams "Slacker! Poser! n00b!" to a hiring manager? No reason is too petty; flame away.
Monday, January 16, 2006
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3 comments:
Well for starters, the part where it says "Scott Wong". I mean, everyone knows that guy is a total n00b poser wannabe.
"Hayward" is fine. The "cum laude" stuff is impressive.
My reaction was a little different. I thought the resume was stylish and well done, visually. The problem is that in the 10 second glance test (that's all you get when your resume is sitting in a pile of 50 others), I didn't get to know you better than the "cum laude" stuff. The resume needs to scream your qualifications.
How? Think of the 10 things you want to communicate about yourself. Boil those things down to one or two word phrases and sprinkle them throughout your resume.
Don't be afraid to use incomplete sentences and always take yourself out of the sentence (we know you're the object of the sentence... its your freaking resume). For example, "[]I supervise a team of junior technicians in maintaining photography and video equipment..." becomes "Led a team of technicians, responsible for over $200,000 in audio/visual equipment." Numbers are good. "Instituted incentive program and increased team productivity by 150%."
This is an opportunity to get creative. On my resume, I've listed "Developed market requirements for several dozen features." The thing is, I talked to some clients that I was closer to about features of our systems, I then talked to engineering about those features. That's "developing marketing requirements."
Last, I'll second what Jay said, partially. Part of the problem might be that the resume lacks focus. Where are you trying to get a job? IT? Creative? Business? I've recently updated my resume to include more in the teaching experience section (for obvious reasons). When I'm applying for a teaching job, I cut much of the work experience section out. Back in the day when I was in RL, I had the work experience first and the education stuff second (and cut the teaching experience...).
Also, an objective statement might help. You might not keep it on the resume you hand the interviewer (I cut that, too), but it may help you focus your thoughts.
Here's a first pass with some of those changes. I'm prepping an application for this assistant art director position. I'll come up with a good cover letter sometime later today.
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