I hate writing resumes. It's tough to write one that will get through the initial screening by people (or more and more, not even people) who really don't understand the job that will at the same time be interesting to those it gets forwarded on to after that.
For the former re-writing the requirements as tied to your experience works fairly reliably, especially as companies move to automate this first pass. If your keywords aren't in sufficient agreement with theirs, it might not see any human eyes, not even some HR screener who has no grasp of the actual position being filled. But doing that too blatantly is a great way to hit the circular file when it hits the next tier up.
Without knowing the specifics of the position being applied for Dave's looks pretty good.
Whenever possible, I partially bypass the initial screeners, but that requires some sort of relationship with someone the next tier up.
Hell, for my current job I didn't even submit a resume to said HR screeners until 11 months after being hired. Then the relevant work experience part was easy. "Ummm... My current job exactly meets your requirements..."
DILYSI Dave wrote:
My take on you - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qMhrFkSXbrcsLuCJz5sgWUlVMUnfZ_bhLxeV4QiE1W4/edit?hl=en&authkey=CJKertQC
You gotta keep it to one page. You've never had a real job. If you can't tell me what I need to know in one page, with almost no professional experience, then that doesn't speak well.
You had "intern" misspelled. Typos, misspellings, etc. are a resume killer.
You had all of your best stuff buried in the last section, on page two, which will never be read because the resume has already been tossed. I created a new section called Academic Experience and put all that good stuff front and center.
I buried your "Technical Skills" in the above. I don't want a list of software - I want to know what you know, what you can do with the software, etc.
I would have thrown away the resume you posted. It sucked. You wouldn't get in the door. OTOH, I'd be looking forward to the interview of the guy that is represented in the version I tweaked.
This is good, one more thing though. Take the work "expected" out of "expected graduation date". That can leave someone to think you might not graduate. There is nothing wrong with just putting Graduation date in the future if it will happen.
And the stuff you feel like has to be there like the software knowledge, do what DILYSI Dave said and list it seperately or put it in the cover letter. Cover letters are to bring attention to something in the resume. Use it it reiterate and direct focus.
So I do have another question, for resumes I have emailed in to companies what should I put in the email? Something to the effect, I have submitted my resume before but I have made a number changes to my resume?
93EXCivic wrote:
So I do have another question, for resumes I have emailed in to companies what should I put in the email? Something to the effect, I have submitted my resume before but I have made a number changes to my resume?
Dear Hiring Manager,
My name is _. I inquired about your opening for _ several weeks ago. I see that the position has not yet been filled. I think I would be an excellent fit for this position based on __ and ______ . For your convenience I have attached a current resume. I hope to have the opportunity to interview for the position soon.
Best Regards,
EDIT - Not sure what happened to the formatting. Weird forum software. Hey Tom - Is the vBulletin ready to go live yet?
DILYSI Dave wrote:
Dear Hiring Manager,
My name is _____. I inquired about your opening for ______ several weeks ago. I see that the position has not yet been filled. I think I would be an excellent fit for this position based on _____ and ______ . For your convenience I have attached a current resume. I hope to have the opportunity to interview for the position soon.
Best Regards,
____________
Bingo bango, of course you'll have a cover letter along with said attached resume. I basically think of the e-mail as a mini cover letter.
Oh, and even in Alberta's economy, it is sounding like almost ALL of my recent graduate class mates had to send out a minimum of 100 applications to get hired (graduated last May). So good luck, and keep firing them off!
