Good details

The types of information resumes should include—but often do not—are things like the following:

-How many people report to you?

-How much money did you make for your last company?

-How have you saved your employers money in the past?

-Were you recruited or promoted by previous employers?

-What special projects or tasks have you been chosen to complete?

-What have you accomplished that was above and beyond your job description?

Bad details

When people include too much information on their resumes, it typically falls into these categories:

-The verbatim name of the department and supervisor you reported to. Unless you report directly to Mark Zuckerberg or someone equally famous, you can use a general title like VP-Marketing or Director of Branding to convey your status in the company.

-Outdated details about your college experience. If you’ve been out of school for ten years, your college GPA is old news. Ditto the name of the specific school of your university that you attended, unless it’s a highly ranked, nationally recognizable program, e.g., the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania.

-Personal details about your life. If gaps on your resume are due to something like taking personal time off to care for an ill family member, it doesn’t matter what his or her diagnosis was. Keep your explanation as brief as possible.

An effective resume strikes the right balance between providing specifics that clarify how valuable you are as an employee, while at the same time generalizing your accomplishments in a way that makes sense to a wide audience. To be sure your resume doesn’t include bad details, make it a point to let another set of eyes proofread it.

Jessica Hernandez is the President of Great Resumes Fast. She has a true passion for the job seeker, evidenced by her desire to share everything she can with everyone she can about resume writing and interviewing. Jessica holds the strong belief that life is too short to hate your job and believes wholeheartedly in pursuing that which makes you happy. She loves creating colorful, dynamic, eye-catching resumes, and her articles have been published multiple times in popular job search books and on tens of thousands of career and job search Web sites including Monster.com, Careerbuilder.com, and more.

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In December, I wrote about kicking your search into “high gear” since the tendency is to back off a bit because of the holidays. While we are six months away from that season, the job seeker does experience something similar in the summer months.  Hiring processes seem to take twice as long.  Vacations make getting everyone on the same interview schedule, much less consensus on hiring decisions, difficult…to say the least.  But there are some things you can do to help keep your job search moving forward with momentum, in spite of all this:

·         It’s All About Activity: Network like crazy – LinkedIn®, Twitter®, professional networking events, trade shows, etc..  Don’t mirror the pace of the market.  This is the time to get a leg up and get yourself in the process ahead of your competition.

·         Less is More: Yes, you will need to increase your activity, but that doesn’t necessarily mean more work.  Try working in blocks on your key activities (generating leads, marketing yourself, following up on leads, emails, etc.).  By assigning specific blocks of time for these activities (and nothing else), you may find you work less but accomplish more. 

·         Start Now: Start increasing your activity now.  Don’t wait for the market to slow.  It is only a few weeks before summer schedules and vacations begin.  So, begin filling your pipeline ASAP. 

·         Adjust your Responses:  You know the process is going to slow, so measure your response in following up.  By taking that into account, you can turn your calls and keeping in touch from nagging to pleasant persistence.   And, while your competition is getting frustrated and not taking this into account, you will begin separating yourself from the pack.

·         Have a System: Put together a system to track all your activity, who you are contacting and when you will contact them again.  It is hard to determine what is going well and what isn’t without measuring and a system makes this so much easier.

·         Be Original:  In following up, you don’t want to continue checking in with the same message, “I am back and still looking for work.”  Change up your message and get creative, but always stay on their radar.   

Every year I have seen the hiring process slow in the summer.  But, just as sure as you can bet on that, I have also seen it take off like a shot again in late August right before Labor Day.  While that might seem distant on the horizon, it will be here before you know it.  And, by filling your pipeline during the summer months, if you are still in the process in August your dance card is more likely to be full!

Want to learn more about Your Solution and uncovering the “hidden Job market?”   Listen to a recording of my – “5 Secrets to the Perfect Job Search" webinar. 

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WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE, BLOG OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:  Kevin Kermes publishes the ‘Build the Career Your Deserve’ e-zine with over 17,000+ subscribers. If you are ready to empower yourself with the vital tools and information necessary to find the job you want and build the successful career you deserve, visit him now www.careerattraction.com