2.

Customizing the Basic Resume Components

Customize identifying Information
- Every resume has basic requirements it needs to meet, the most basic of which is
your name and location, so in this video, we're going to start there. What's in a
name? Well, I won't comment on the ethics or lack thereof of discriminating based
upon someone's name. We do live in the real world, so if you know you have a
name that is difficult to pronounce, ethnically obvious, or just plain strange, there are
a few things you can do should you choose to do something about it. On a resume,
you can use an initial. Rather than my full name of Stacey Gordon, I could go with S.
Gordon. In regions like the UAE, there are jobs that are assigned based upon your
gender, and in that region of the world, you will need to make it obvious if you are
male or female. So if your name is Jamie, but your middle name is Brian, you might
want to include your middle name so that you don't leave a recruiter guessing. And
while we're on the subject of where you live, your location can be a make-or-break
factor when it comes to landing an interview. Have I looked at the address of a
candidate and made the determination not to call that candidate because the
commute would be too far? I will neither confirm nor deny, but to avoid being initially
bypassed, rather than list your full address, use the city and state only. This works well
in large cities, because it won't be possible to pinpoint which part of the city you live
in, and before you get all judgey about whether or not that's the right thing to
do, employers aren't the only one with strict requirements. I've had candidates tell me
they won't work in certain geographic areas, they're not interested in being outside a
specific commute radius, or they need to be near a specific area because of family
responsibilities. The right job is out there for you, and by customizing your
resume, you increase your changes of finding it.

Include optimal contact information

- Have you ever hit send on a resume only to realize a moment too late that the email
address is wrong or the phone number is incorrect? It should go without saying, that
your resume requires a method to contact you. But I have received resumes without a
phone number or with a digit missing. Unfortunately, spell-check won't catch the
fact that your phone number should end in "7", when you accidentally hit the "6" key
on your keyboard. And while we're on the subject of phone numbers, if you have a
choice to provide music to your caller, don't, at least not while you're job hunting, but
if you must, try some classical music. A recruiter or future employer does not need to
know what type of music you like. Assumptions will be made, and stereotypes will be
assigned. This goes double for the recording of your four-year-old telling callers to
leave a message. Children are cute, I should know. I've got three of my own, but their
voice on my voicemail is not appropriate during the job search process. I implore you
to set up your voicemail and frequently clear the messages. If a recruiter calls you for
a job opportunity and your voicemail is full or they hear, "You have reached a caller
who "has not set up their voicemail," there is a high probability, they won't call
back. "Luck favors the prepared" is one of my favorite sayings, and I might reference
it more than once throughout this course. This is because it applies directly to the
process of obtaining a job or advancing in your career. In this instance, if you are
applying for a job, be prepared by ensuring your phone is capable of taking
messages. In an environment where recruiters are spending less and less time
reviewing resumes, if they have already tagged yours as one that is worth reading,
make it easy for them. Let them leave a message, because if they can't, they will
intend to call you back later, but someone who was prepared to receive the
opportunity might distract them, and they may never get around to calling you. Your
email address is another item that job applicants will overlook. Make sure you spelled
it correctly. An "i" can look like the number one, an underscore can disappear within a
hyperlink, and spell-check can't determine if your email address is correct. So check
and double check, as well as disable any hyperlinks in order to make it easier to
read. Your email address should be a professional one. I won't go in to all of the
examples of extremely unprofessional email addresses I've seen, but I can give you a
few guidelines to work within. One, use an email address that is close to your
name. Use a middle initial, a period, an underscore, or hyphen to get the email
address you want. Two, if you use numbers in the email, don't use the year of your
birth if you don't want people to know how old you are. Three, at a dinner party, your
advised to stay away from topics relating to sex, politics, or religion, and the same is
true for your email address. Refrain from including references to any of these. Four,
keep nicknames and pet names out of your email address. Five, don't use an email
address that makes you appear dated and out of touch. Sorry, AOL and Hotmail. You
do want to make sure you are reachable, but don't overdo it. Giving three or four
phone numbers and multiple email addresses is unnecessary. One of each is
sufficient. You can also choose to add a website, a LinkedIn profile, or a link to an
online resume. But only do this if it's recruiter-ready, meaning whatever you provide a
link to on your resume needs to be just as good as or even better than what's on
your resume. Why? Because you took the time to suggest to the person reading your
resume, that they should take additional time to review this external material. Include
the information, only if it's important to the job opportunity and it warrants the
reader taking the additional time to review it. If you're quaking in your boots, you
shouldn't. Think through the information in this video from the point of view of the
reader. Then, take a deep breath and sign up for that new email account.

Include keywords in professional experience

- There are reports that show that recruiters spend an average of six seconds
reviewing your resume. Six seconds. I know, that sounds unbelievable. But really,
whether it's six seconds or 60 seconds, the point is that you need to ensure your
information jumps off the page and makes an impact. Therefore, your professional
experience should be easy to read, easy to scan, and easy to identify the features the
reader cares about. A future employer needs to see that your experience
demonstrates an ability to do the job that you're applying to. This means keywords
and phrases should be liberally sprinkled throughout your experience. Additionally,
the first two to three bullet points should contain the most important
information, because it's likely that if you listed more than three, the later bullets may
not be read, at least not initially. So how do you find those magic keywords? There
are a few places to look. The first is within the job to which you are applying. Take a
good look at the job description and ensure you have actually addressed the
job. Start with the required functionality, and then move on to the recommended
qualities. Have you ever looked at a job and thought you don't need to worry about
meeting the duties listed under the recommended or desired section of the job
description? Sometimes, it might even say nice to have. I mean, it's not required,
right? So, no big deal. But think about it from this point of view. You're an
employer, and a nice to have feature is someone who has some event planning
experience. You receive 78 resumes, and of those 78, 10 demonstrate they have event
planning experience. If you're the employer, which resumes will you start reviewing
first? The job to which you are applying may not always have a job description with
much information, and if that's the case, don't let that stop you. Simply find another
one. Review other similar jobs or conduct an Internet search using the company
name and the job title. Unless this is a newly created position, you wouldn't be the
first person to have this particular job, so it's probable that you might find a prior job
posting for the same position listed somewhere else. Nothing ever truly goes away
on the Internet, and you might find additional information that will give you an edge
over other candidates. An additional place to find keywords is in places where jobs or
salaries are reviewed, such as Salary.com, GlassDoor.com, or the U.S. Bureau of Labor
& Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook. Is your resume worthy of more than six
seconds? If your answer isn't a resounding yes, begin by putting these concepts to
work for you.

Tailor your education to match the job

- Have you ever applied to a job that asked for a specific degree, which you didn't
have, but you applied anyway because you really wanted the job? Education, or the
lack thereof, can be a make or break situation. When working as a recruiter there
were many times where a degree was a non-negotiable requirement. Either the
candidate had it or they didn't. If they didn't we moved on. So what do you do if you
don't have a degree? Do you just give up? Do you include your high school
diploma or a high school equivalency? These days recruiters generally assume that
you will have some type of education past high school, even if it's an associates level
degree. Therefore it's unnecessary to include any education relating to your high
school on your resume. If you have not included an education section on the
resume the assumption will be that you completed high school, but not college. The
exception to this would be if you're enrolled in college after high school and you're
applying for an internship. But even then there is a savvier way to indicate this, which
consists of including your college information without a graduation date and the
words anticipated or expected graduation date. If you don't have a college
degree, but did graduate with a high school diploma or high school equivalency then
I recommend including any alternative training in education. This can include job
related training, certification programs, seminars, conferences attended, online
learning, and self-directed study. What about the instance where you have a
degree, but not the major they want? An accounting major is required, but you
majored in finance. Do you submit anyway or move on? What if they ask for a four
year degree, but yours is a two year degree? In the example of the accounting
major you would submit anyway, but you would utilize the various sections of your
resume to showcase your accounting prowess. If you have actual work experience as
an accountant that would be helpful, as well as any volunteer experience where you
performed accounting duties, additional courses you may have taken in
accounting, and any awards or achievements earned related to accounting. The same
is true for your two year degree when asked for a four year degree. You're close
enough to meeting the requirements and as long as you can show some additional
work that has been done I say submit away. I hope you're starting to see how the
various sections of your resume work together to tell a story to the reader. When it
comes to education it's up to you to make the case that you meet the requirements
of the job and your resume is the tool to help you do that.