A resume is one of the most important documents in your search for a new job or career change. Your resume is a statement of who you are. It is what introduces you to potential employers. It is what details you skills, your accomplishments, your history. It should be no more than 3 pages long, with no more than 2 pages being best.
YOUR HISTORY
Your resume must, in one form or other give a detailed chronological history of your career to date. Even if yours is a functional resume, you need to include who you worked for and when you worked for them.
You only need to include your last 10 years of employment.
In addition to the name of each company you worked for, and your dates of employment, be sure to include a brief description of the company. This should include what business they are in, what products they make, services they provide, who their customers are, and any other information that would describe the company.
Should you include the reasons you left?
In my opinion, as a recruiter, you should not include the reasons you left each job in your written resume. The reasons are appropriate for discussion during an interview, but if written in the resume, can give the potential employer an excuse not to interview you. You also do not get the opportunity to describe the circumstances in depth if you do not get the interview.
YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Include detailed accomplishments for each company you worked for. There are a few rules of thumb that apply here:
- Use bullet points to describe your accomplishments.
- Include only 4-5 bullet points, your most important accomplishments.
- Statistical accomplishments, such as “Increased sales 5%” or “Achieved 1,255 accident free days in the plant during my tenure as Safety Director”, are the most effective.
- Keep descriptions brief and to the point.
If you are a technical professional (that is, Research Scientist, Technician, Research Manager, etc.) and you have patents issued to you and technical papers you have published, I would suggest that you NOT list them in your resume.
All a list like this does is add more pages to your resume. Most potential employers are not interested in the details of your patents or technical publications when they are reviewing your resume.
The best thing to do would be to mention at the end of your resume how many patents you have and in what general field, and how many technical papers (roughly...even "several" or "a number of" would be sufficient) you have published, and on what general subject matter. This way, the reader can get a snap shot of your patent activity and get a quick impression of your publishing history.
Details of patents and published papers can be discussed during the interview or supplied on request of the potential employer.
YOUR EDUCATION
Include the details of the schools you attended. If you attended college, you do not need to include your high school’s details.
You need to include your college’s name and address, as well as the degree(s) you earned, and the dates when you received each degree. Include all college’s you attended, even for a year.
YOUR SALARY HISTORY?
You do not want to include your salary history in your resume. This should only be discussed verbally (we will talk about salary discussions and negotiations in later posts).
There are other considerations about what should be included in your resume. Most of them are based on your own individual situation or circumstances and goals.
If you have any specific questions about what to include on your resume, please drop me a line at career.journey.mgmt@gmail.com and ask. I will be happy to help.
