Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Trainer script
Length: 2 hours
Resumes
MIJOB.INFO has links to books and online discussions about writing the perfect
resume. Book cited on MiJob.Info is a NetLibrary electronic book:
Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Perfect Resume, by Susan Ireland. One of the
EBOOKS in the statewide collection!!
(Browse this book. DETAILS: can check out 6 hours.)
Ms. Ireland also has a great web site with detailed instructions about how to
create an eresume and other resume tips that we will look at shortly.
Notice that they are promoting a professional resume writer in the primo
place on their web page. ResumeEdge.com. We’ll talk about professional
writers soon, but for now scroll down to the articles and open one or two
Exercise: Have everyone read one article. Then go around the room
and have everyone give one RESUME WRITING tip that they have
just read.
Wall Street Journal Career Journal.com
http://www.careerjournal.com/jobhunting/resumes/index.html
RESUMES AND COVER LETTERS: Articles like “Should you pay for
resume writer?”
Most of the mega-job sites advertise professional resume writers.
You can pay someone from $80 to mega-bucks to write your
resume. Is this a good idea? Employers say they can always tell if
you have not written your own resume. They recognize the
“generically perfect employee” described in generically glowing
adjectives by the professional resume writer.
Resume-Writers' Associations
If you decide to hire a ghostwriter for your resume, you will want to find a
competent writer.
PROFESSIONAL RESUME WRITERS handout lists this association and two other
leading associations that are reputable.
We are going to do a free exercise that will help you decide which format is
best for you. CAREER VICTORY Go to www.careervictory.com “RESUME
CALCULATOR” Do this exercise. Click on the red and green formats when you finish
and read about chronological and functional formats. [Stop after you get the results.
Next page they are selling their software]
MI JOB.INFO Resumes
http://jobstar.org/tools/resume/index.cfm
If filters block damngood, use the definitions and examples of the formats
here at this site.
Lots of help in the writing process, including sample resumes
GO HERE to look at the definitions of Chronological and functional
resumes. “What is the right resume for me.” Definitions of formats
again and some sample chronological and functional resumes. Look at
functional and talk about adding company names to bullets and
including a chronological list of jobs even in the functional resume
The chronological resume lists jobs in order, starting with the most recent job you held
and working backwards. Functional resumes group accomplishments under specific
areas of skills and abilities. The other resume formats are a combination of these two
basic types. Most employers today prefer a chronological resume.
Always begin a resume with your name, address, and telephone numbers (work and
home, if possible). This information should be centered in the middle of the top of the
page and your name should be bold face so it stands out. If you do not have a
telephone, find a phone number where you are confident you will receive all your
messages in a timely fashion. In addition, there are companies that provide telephone
services for a fee.
Employers surveyed explained that they did not like flashy writing, bright colors or
resumes with pictures on them. Also, they do not want your resume enclosed or
encased in plastic or in a folder. It is too much work to get at the resume. The exception
to this is someone seeking a marketing or high-level sales position. Employers generally
agreed that they like a lot of white space and a professional presentation.
There are three elements (listed in order of importance) that make more of an
impression on an employer than any resume you could put together:
• Detail only the last three to five positions or employment covering the last ten to
fifteen years.
• Detail three or four accomplishments in each position with the most relevant ones
in the top half of the resume.
• Show promotions, increased status and increased responsibility.
• Keep your resume to one page when possible, never more than two pages
(unless writing a curriculum vitae).
If you use functional resume, you must make it easy for employers to visualize your
overall chronological work history. Never omit a bare-bones chronological listing of
your work experience and try to include the company names in your ‘bullets’
describing each skill level or accomplishment so the employer can link these bullets
to your work history.
PRACTICE EXERCISE
Go through the Resume Tips handout. Explain you will be using MS Word today
to create a resume.
Discuss the “Action words for your resume” handout (make your resume
sizzle) and the other side of the handout “…a few examples” of
accomplishments from your library work history. It’s like writing a grant!
Presentation, presentation, presentation
Go over the Resumes: Before You Start handout.
Emphasize that references should be work related and not personal.
Now that you have a BASIC RESUME, you are ALMOST ready to start applying
for jobs.
RESUME SCANNING
A new trend in large & mid-size corporations that helps them cope with the
2,000+ resumes they receive daily: Special software scans resumes, looking for
key words, and then stores the resumes that include the keywords in databases
for future review and job openings. A resume may be rejected because it is
missing critical keywords. If the resume is sent in electronic format, scanning
is accurate. If the resume is sent in print format, OCR (optical character
recognition) software has to first convert print to text and sometimes keywords
are not recognized. This is one argument for submitting electronically when the
company gives you this choice.
Some career counselors recommend pasting your resume into the main body of email. If
you do this, you need to save your resume UNDER A NEW FILE NAME as Text Only,
Plain Text, or Notepad. Susan Ireland explains exactly how to do this in her Electronic
Resume Guide. SCROLL WAY DOWN to PREPARING YOUR RESUME FOR
POSTING – steps to convert MS Word to text. Look at the samples before / after at end of
steps.
EXERCISE: Have class remove formatting from one of the prepared sample
resumes in MS Word.
1. Go to MS Word. File New Other Documents and open the
Professional Resume.
2. File > Save As > Select File Type “Text Only”
3. Save as new file name: resume test only.txt
4. Minimize Word. Open Notepad and open up the resume test only.txt to
see the reformatted resume.
What are the different file types available in the 'Save as' window in MS Word?
ANSWER: The short answer is to use "TEXT ONLY" when you save a traditional pretty
formatted resume in order to create a new electronic resume suitable to cut and paste into
a company web site or other job locator site or in the body of an email.
Rich Text Format: This is a portable type of file that can be more easily opened in a word
processing program other than MS Word; such as, Corel Word Perfect. The Word formatting
may not transfer perfectly. For instance, italics may carry over but special fonts may not carry
over.
Plain Text: This preserves the formatting best for an electronic resume. When you create your
electronic resume, try opening it up in NOTEPAD rather than MS Word to best see how it has
reformatted.
Plain Text with line breaks: This seems to do stranger things to your Word resume. For
instance, it substitutes question marks for bullets.
CYBER-PRIVACY:
GO TO MiJob link:
Creating the Internet Resume 1st site
http://www.job-hunt.org/internetresume.shtml
Learn the differences between print and online resumes and how to protect yourself
should you decide to post a resume online.
At this web site go to “Cyber-safe resume” read some of ‘Making your resume
Cybersafe” From there go to
“Protecting your privacy” [link way down the page on cyber safe
resume READ all this great info on protecting your personal identity
information (PII) before you post online.
Your cover letter is the interviewer’s first impression of you. Will you be
thorough, neat, and accurate when you are on the job? Use MS Word spell and
grammar check feature!! Get someone to proof read your letter. A cover letter
with poor grammar is worse than no cover letter.
Go over the Cover Letter Tips handout and the Practice Writing the Cover
Letter handout.
EXERCISE
Explain that they will learn how to use MS Word to create a letterhead and type a cover
letter.
DISCUSS the follow up after you send your cover letter and your resume.
(This ‘after the cover letter’ and ‘follow up with phone call or email’
information is on the back of the ‘Practice Writing the Cover Letter’
handout.)