What Color is Your Parachute? Guide to Rethinking Resumes - Review

Occasionally, Richard (Dick) N. Bolles will release a sort of special focus guide, such as his books on online job search, that are complimentary to the annual What Color is Your Parachute? Like the other Parachute books, Rethinking Resumes is written in the same clear, plain-language style, updated to reflect the times and concerns of his regular readers and any job seeker. The virtue of this series has always been its clarity, the common sense and pragmatism, and Bolles willingness to update and credit other career and HR professionals for their ideas, which this book also possesses.You can read Rethinking Resumes in an evening, and probably go back in a few months and find something new that you glossed over, and both readings will be worthwhile.

However, there will be a few readers who will pick this book up and wonder A resume book with only one sample? Get over it. Even in resume books with one hundred samples, job seekers still struggle with what to do in their individual case and this book will help answer those questions. The 45 Question Starter Kit (pp. 55-63) is something that I will go over with clients when they have questions about how to write a proper Highlights section.

In addition, there is also plenty of good advice on deciding if you want to hire a resume writer or write your own resume, how to find out if a resume service is a scam, what type of resume to post to a job board and the targetting required to give a resume directly to an employer.

I'm grateful for the section on removing empty keywords and phrases on resumes, as well as the list of stinkers provided, and the process Bolles provides for developing better statements about work experience (pp. 45-47), though I think many job postings are still referring to these phrases as key components while the recruiters who screen the resumes in response those postings are distastefully holding their noses while working through the empty text.

Each year we assign reading to our incoming student staff, and I wish I had got my copy of this earlier so I could add it to our reading list. I think they would have gotten a great deal out of it, and I'm glad it will be available to them in this year. Personally, I would put this next to Why Good People Can't Get Jobs: The Skills Gap and What Companies Can Do About It on my mental bookshelf to recommend to people who are trying to put together a resume that will get them an interview.

Do you have time for a visual resume?

This article originally appeared in my employer's e-newsletter to external clients.

Do you have time for a visual resume?

Many of our student clients feel a great deal of pressure to stand out from their peers. Creating a distinct resume or portfolio is one of the methods that they could use to make an impression on an employer. But do human resource professionals have the time to view these resumes? Is a visual resume the correct method an applicant should use to stand out?

Websites for creating a visual resume

Though an applicant could create a free online presentation of their resume using a free website hosting service, such as Google Sites, or could upload a slide presentation of their resume on Slideshare, at least three start ups have created a visual resume tool. Visualize.me and re.vu both create an infographic-style rendering of a person’s resume, based on the user’s LinkedIn profile. Visualize.me allows the user to create a badge for their personal website that connects to their “vizualized” resume, as well as uploading the link to the profile on a variety of social networks. The re.vu resume includes candidate’s name, headline and highlights, as well as a career timeline. A link to the resume can be pushed out to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

However, how many new candidates have been discovered by employers clicking on theses badges? If any have turned into interviews, how many of them were new grads?

Resume on a T-shirt

The company Resume T-shirts will print a T-shirt for a person with their resume on the back, while the front of the shirt has the tagline “resume attached”. Each T-shirt costs 19.99 (US), fairly affordable for most students, or possibly a gift from a parent. Personally, I could see myself tormenting my high school age relatives with one of these, but I’m not sure if they would get any summer job offers from the T-shirts. If you saw a person in the line at a grocery store wearing their resume on their back, would you be interested in following up?

Combining visual resumes with career planning

The startup Resumup allows users to create a visual resume and then generate a chart that will show the user the steps they need to take to progress to the next level in their career. You can view a YouTube demonstration of the career mapping process, since while they are still in private beta, you need to solicit three friends to join their service before you can use the career mapping tool.

Not only does the site suggest the steps you need to take to progress from entry-level to supervisor or manager in your chosen profession, it will also scan your connections, either on LinkedIn or Facebook, to see if you can find a mentor or advisor. This augmented visual resume may actually help graduates determine how they could progress in their career, and might be something that could be used at an employer presentation. However, until it is out of private beta and has enough members to generate good career planning advice, the idea may be excellent but the execution may not be effective.

Based on the examples provided, would you be likely to contact a candidate based on a visual resume, would it make a difference if it was an online badge or a T-shirt, and would this method work for your current recruitment needs?

Go [Reverse] Chronological

Laurie Ruettimann of Cynical Girl wrote a blog post about the best resume format type: chronological. Kill the functional. Her argument is that Applicant Tracking Systems don't love the functional resume anyway, so your resume will be overlooked in the database (another commenter pointed out that an ATS can parse the dates from a functional resume--if you bothered to add any). I think the post answers a common question and many of the comments fill in additional information as to why a [reverse] chronological resume is the better choice--even if you don't have much relevant professional experience.

And really, you don't have to cry about the loss of functional resumes: they are usually crappy and infomercial in tone. If I want to read good writing, I'll pick up a good book. I just need the facts.

Gallery of Best Resumes for People Without a Four-Year Degree by David F. Noble

Part of a series of Gallery of...resume and cover letter resume writing advice, Gallery of Best Resumes for People Without a Four-Year Degree is written for people who have extensive industry experience, who have an associate or two-year degree, or who are competing for a position where a four-year degree isn't necessary and they may have some other type of certification. Students who are transitioning from high school to college or if they are looking for an internship will also find useful advice in this book. There are plenty of jobs, as Noble rightly points out, where a four-year degree is not necessary (such as paralegal) and the assumption shouldn't be made that everyone who uses this book is a college drop out. Samples include senior and mid- level administrators, law enforcement and emergency services professionals, real estate and construction professionals to name only a few of the industries represented in this book.

The book also includes unusual examples, such as the sample resume for a two-person team that worked as apartment managers. This is the first of this type of resume that I have ever seen, but I am sure that in this industry there are many "teams" of managers that could advertise their services on the same document.

There is also basic resume formatting and grammar advice for cover letters presented in a simple point-by -point style. The resume writers that submitted resumes are all identified in the back of the book so the reader can check them out for additional information or to engage their resume writing services if they wished.

Best Canadian Cover Letters by Sharon Graham

Looking for a sample cover letter in French? Need a quick check for a word's Canadian spelling? Best Canadian Cover Letters, a companion book to Best Canadian Resumes which was just released in a second edition, has this and more.

The basics of cover letters is covered including how to write and format the cover letter. There are sample cover letters for new grads, mid-level workers and senior level from a wide range of industries. There is also good indexing in the book, and I especially liked the "Index of Obstacles", since job seekers sometimes have a career obstacle that will keep them from their goal, such as a career gap or a relocation is required.

I do have some concerns about the book. For example, on page 35 there is a sample letter for an animal control officer dispatcher and the comments at the bottom talk about how the cover letter writer showcased their interest in "animal rights". Now, I don't know about your animal control authority, but I don't think an "animal rights" political stance will attract a person to work in animal control. "Animal welfare" on the other hand is the accurate term. This made me concerned that there might be other letters in the book that incorrectly referred to or suggested terminology that might be inappropriate for the industry--I recognized this one because I do have an interest in animal welfare.

Despite that concern, which careful reading and a knowledge of the specific industry will overcome, I think this book is a good choice for Canadian libraries and will be an asset to Canadian job seekers, since there is a wide range of samples and it includes a few examples of the difficult to find French cover letter.


Best Canadian Cover Letters

Help from resume reviewers

I am looking for librarians who have been involved in a recent hiring campaign at their library (past year) who would be willing to give advice about how to properly format resumes. Librarians from any type of library, including special and people who work outside of traditional library fields are most welcome.

Liar. liar

Last week, a story ran on ABC News about companies that were providing fake references for job seekers, for a fee. HRGuru has picked up the thread and tried to interview one of the companies that would provide you with fake job details and they also provided a good analysis of whether lying on your resume was legal or not. According to an article from the Association for Business Communication, quoted in the HRGuru post, lying on your resume is not illegal--unless you are using a degree from a diploma mill on your resume and if there are laws in place in the state that you work in about falsifying information on a resume.

But why would people lie on a resume?

1. They don't have the education that the position requires. Please don't lie about being a surgeon just because the salary looks enticing. I also do want to have sympathy for people who can't get into certain fields where the position is not protected or professionalized, but the excuse that I have a family, I have a house, I can't go back to school is a false one for me. I see many people who are in that situation--family, kids, dog, even single and struggling--and they make the sacrifice to go to school. Need the education: go get it.
2. They don't feel that a previous employer, if contacted, will treat them fairly. If Kreskin retires, you should have his job. You have no idea what a person will say as a reference, unless they come out and say, I won't recommend you. In that case, there are other reasonable ways around that problem: ask a colleague to act as a reference, get some personal references, ask another supervisor. All of these will work. If you were really treated unfairly, get an advocate or a lawyer and get an appropriate written letter of recommendation that you can give to potential employers. Use the legal, appropriate options available to you, first. Don't lie.
   
   These options are open provided that you didn't screw up and deserve the bad reference. In that case, you need to do some penance, look for people who will assist you, and actually work to deserve some forgiveness.
   

And if you are actually in the position where you need the education to get to where you want to be, or you have truly screwed up and need to get right, there are many community resources available to you that will help you get back together. You can plead fear, overwork or laziness, but many other people have overcome those obstacles.

If you're a librarian teaching a resume skills class and get asked about "fudging" on a resume, be clear that it is not appropriate, and provide some local community resource referrals for career and education counseling. Especially if the obstacle is only in their minds like the poor, fired bank worker in the HRGuru article.

Resume writing scam

Jason Alba of JibberJobber has prepared an excellent post about the Ladders resume writing scam, which also grabs some of the critiques of the Ladders resume writing service into one post. At the bottom of his post are links to reputable services that will help people find professional resume writers.

The comments to his post as also really worth a read. You will recognize a few resume book writers, like Susam Britton Whitcomb, commenting on the post.

It is good to be aware of these scams, not only for yourself, but any other patrons who come to the reference desk looking for someone to write their resume.

Free resume writing course

Louise Fletcher, an editor and blogger with Career Hub, is offering a free online resume writing course. You do have to sign up to have access to the course materials, but if you are struggling with your resume or just want some advice at 4AM, this online course may be an option.

Rubrics

If you're working on your cover letter, resume or interview skills, and aren't quite sure how to judge your work, NACE JobWeb has a series of rubrics (for resumes, cover letters, interviews) that you can use to evaluate your stuff.

If you're working on a presentation for your library, you may want to compare some of your materials to theirs, or direct your attendees to also take a look at the material on JobWeb.

Step-by-Step Resumes , Book review

The author, Evelyn Salvador, is a professional resume writer with over 15 years experience in the field. Her background is in advertising and preparing business copy.

When it comes to resume writing, I'm a fan of worksheets. If you have a patron who is struggling with writing a resume, a book of samples is not going to cut it: always recommend a book that has samples and work sheets. Samples are for people who have completed their resume, but are struggling with some formatting issues, or who have never seen a resume before.

This book, as well as the accompanying CD-ROM, is chock-full of them. For a person who is struggling with what to say in a resume and how to put their accomplishments into writing, a worksheet is one of the best methods. By using the templates on the disk, the reader could work through the exercises and then cut and paste their work into their resume. The templates can be reused when revising your resume to look for a new position. Librarians would easily be able to use the worksheets for administration, customer service, marketing, creative work, service (especially for reference librarians) and sales, with minimal rejigging for library jargon. If you are struggling with writing a Highlights of Qualification section, or a Career Objective or a Summary, this book has some of the best basic advice on writing these sections, starting with some basic cloze exercises, that I have ever found.

Drawbacks: there is a strong emphasis on business and administrative positions and not so much on educational positions, so the wording sometimes sounds too much like a sales pitch. The sample resumes are also over-produced with serious design flaws (like putting a person's name in white font in a black box, a big no-no for a resume that will be scanned and searched) making them look more like menus than resumes.

However, the advice is pretty good on the whole, and work sheets (yes, I love them) are essential in helping you create an easily retrievable record for what you have done in school, while as an intern, in a practicum and in the work place, which means some of the work you do for creating your resume can also be used when articulating your accomplishments in an interview. Recommended for personal use, not for workshops because it states clearly on each page that the material is not for duplication.

Same Day Resume, book review

Same Day Resume is part of the Help in a Hurry series from JIST, which includes Next-day Salary Negotiation and Next-Day Job Interview, which are meant to train people with limited time in necessary job search skills. The author, Michael Farr, is also the author of books in the JIST series Top Jobs for... and Best Jobs for..., as well as the forthcoming 15 Minute Cover Letter book.

This book is for people who have never written a resume before, or who have not written a resume in a long time. It covers the basic formats for resumes--chronological, functional (called skills-based in this book)--and provides work sheets to create your own resume, as well as a wide variety of samples produced by professional resume writers for job seekers in several industries and varying levels of experience. I would recommend this book to someone who is struggling with writing their resume--not sure what format, why use certain techniques and styles--or if you were just looking for a resume bootcamp book. To get the most out of it, you need to fill out the work sheets and use them to create a resume. Fill them out in pencil because you will use this book and work sheets more than once. The book also has a great table of contents and a good index, which means you could easily recommend it to a patron for a quick peek.

On the minus side: no librarian resumes, so a librarian would need to supplement this book with another that has some professional librarian samples. Another negative: too many functional resumes which many employers consider to be deceptive or too text heavy. That aside, just a really great book if you are struggling to put together a resume, or as a supplement to a resume writing course.

How to Say it on Your Resume, book review

How to Say it on Your Resume is part of the How to Say It series which tackles common business writing or business communication issues.

On the plus side, this book has plenty of samples for college-educated job seekers, especially more mature job seekers, people with plenty of job experience and miles between them and their post-secondary education. Each sample is introduced by a case, such as Sally Seeker is a comeback mom with a four year gap, an MBA, who is currently underemployed, and a before and after version of the resume.

On the minus side, the reader would need to recognize what their career issue is--they're a job hopper or have a gap that they need to account for--to realize which case suits them. There is also a layout problem with the before and afters: it would help to have them on facing pages so the reader can see the changes. And the font! I needed my magnifying sheet to read the typeface (I'm old, but not that old) to take a look at the changes. Each of the samples is virtually identical and there is no commentary about why some of the changes were made, though the afters do look better. There is no table of contents that identifies what type of position or industry the resume sample is for, meaning that this is a generic Jane Jobseeker book. The three sample cover letters, heavy on autobiography and light on how to write to fit an organization, just made me groan.

If you knew exactly what your career issue was--a gap, job hopping, not sure how to transfer between industries--and you were a college-educated professional, I would take a look at some of the samples. The lack of a table of contents--though there is a good index--and limited advice on why changes were made mean that this book is not my first choice to give to a patron who says they haven't written a resume in a while. This book might be helpful to a professional resume writer.

How to pick a resume book

If it's resume writing time and you aren't sure what a professional's resume looks like--or in the case of librarians, you aren't sure if you're writing a resume or a CV--how do you pick a resume book that will have appropriate samples and advice?

• There are generic resume writing books, which have samples for everything, and resume books that are specific to industry, sector or based on common career issues (a comeback mom or a career transitioner, for example). 
• Good resume books have a good table of contents that describe the samples and what types of positions the resumes are to be matched with. Resumes should be targeted, so a generic job-seeker resume won't help most experienced job seekers. In the case of librarians, a good index can overcome the lack of a table of contents, but can frustrate clients who don't think about checking the index. No table of contents with listing by type of resume, or an index equals skip that book.
• There are at least three different types of resume, and a wide range of types of career within a sector, or even an occupation, such as librarianship, so you want a wide-range of types of resume that shows different fonts, styles and layouts.
• How sophisticated is the writer? If you are a poor writer who has run out of friends willing to write or rewrite your resume, you need a book with exact samples that match the position you are applying for. (But don't copy them exactly--that's cheating and dishonest, and the recruiter has probably seen that resume at least once before.) If you are more sophisticated writer, you need book that has samples, but which also explains the "rhetoric" of resume writing. Especially if you have to get over some prejudices against the resume writing style.
• Before and after resume samples can help, but these are more helpful to sophisticated writers who understand what the problem is in their writing, but who want some suggestions on how to improve their resume.
• If you're going to buy the book for your own collection, a chapter on cover letters, advice on emailing, formatting and laying out a resume, as well as advice on how to write in the resume style, such as how to write a solid highlights of qualification, should I include a job objective, when do I move my education below my work experience on my resume, should be included in the book that you purchase. I would also recommend, for librarians, that the book you buy has some CV samples, or advice on how to make a hybrid resume/CV.
  

You can apply this advice in your work life, since I am sure you will get the question, I need to write a resume, do you have any resume books? many times in your career.

Resume books reviewed:

Farr, M. (2007). Same day resume. Indianapolis, IN.: JIST Publishing.
Karsh, B., &  Pike, C. (2009). How to say it on your resume. New York: Prentice Hall.
Salvador, E. (2006). Step-by-step resumes. Indianapolis, IN.: JIST Publishing.

Get it proofread

Now that you have finished your resume, get it proofread.

There is a difference between editing and proofreading. An editor will look at the content of your writing and may make changes to your ideas, your style and may cut or ask you to add more to what you have written. This is good and useful, but many people don't know of someone who has enough skill to edit their resume since they aren't professionals in the same field, or even HR representatives who see lots of resumes--even then, the HR person may know nothing about libraries and can make weird changes.

Proofreading looks for errors in the text and corrects them. A good proofreader will find your grammatical errors, such as forgetting a plural, messing up a tense or subject and verb agreement, or for librarians who learned English as foreign language, missing or adding articles, or incorrectly using noncount nouns as countable nouns. The proofreader can also look for errors that the spellchecker missed, such as pubic librarian, or confusables such as principle researcher--unless you researched principles, but weren't the principal researcher. The proofreader doesn't change the idea behind what you wrote, but they make your ideas come through clearly and error-free.

Don't skip this step: grammatical and spelling errors are still high on the list of why employers reject a candidate for an interview. Proofreading is the last important step in putting your resume together so you can confidently submit it to employers.

Gimme a verb!

For your highlights of qualifications and your list of job duties that explain what you did in each position, you need to write in a telegraphic style with verb-led phrases. You can use a telegraphic style because you are not using passive sentence construction--nor, using the royal we--so the subject of the sentence, you, is clearly acting on specific objects.

Now all of the griping and moaning that I hear from educated people about how they don't like this style, that it sounds artificial, I have one phrase for you: get over yourself. Go read an academic paper and tell me, with a straight face, that it sounds like unprepossessing, plain English prose. Go on: I need a good laugh.

All writing, from academic papers to writing in a diary, has its own conventions. The ability to fluidly recognize and utilize conventions can help you grow as a writer and communicator. The resume is another chance to show off as a writer, and you do that by properly displaying the conventions of that writing style.

The verb-led telegraphic style is a convention within business writing. This style manifests itself more often on resumes, but you'll find it in other places, such as abstracts or executive summaries, and because it is a plain style, no subject but not passive, all action, it is pretty easy for the reader to discern what you did.

So spare the reader and get some verbs to make into telegraphic points for your resume. You can find some verb lists on QuintCareers, this list from Complete Idiot's Guide to the Perfect Resume, or search in Chimby, the career advice search engine, for action verbs.

Heads up

Here are the following typical headings on a librarian's resume:

• Contact information: which includes your full name, sans nicknames or slogans, your geographical address (one where you will receive your mail for the next six weeks after applying for a position), your phone number, your email address, and a relevant professional website that you maintain. Required, and double check it because so many people are so used to glossing over this area that they don't realize that they have made typos, or that information is out of date. (If you have some name confusion, please review this earlier post about changing names, nicknames and English names.)
  
• Highlights of qualifications: A list of 3 to 5 verb-led phrases that provide important information for the resume reviewer, and are relevant to the position they are preparing their interview list for. At your discretion, but if you have some important skills, such as managing a significant budget for collections, or that you have conducted professional work in a bilingual setting, amongst other potential "preferences" that you want the reviewer to know about, place them here. 
• Education: Typically placed before professional experience on a student or new professional's resume. This helps the resume reviewer establish that you have the required education, such as a graduate degree in library studies from an accredited institution. If you are not finished, you can include the month/year that you expect to receive your degree. Include relevant post-secondary education that led to a degree. Required no matter how far along you are in your career. 
• Professional experience: What libraries have you worked in? What did you do? What types of positions have you held? You can include unpaid professional experience in this section if you have no other relevant paid experience. Required.
• Work experience. You can use this section to talk about other work experience that you have had--waiting on tables, working as a personal trainer--where you did not work as a librarian. Try to limit it to the experiences you had to pay for school, and don't go back to the first job you had stocking shelves in junior high. Limit to the last 5-7 years (accounts for grad school and undergrad). This section is useful if there were some periods that you didn't work as a librarian or in libraries, but still worked, and can help you account for gaps. At your discretion, but some of these experiences can help you as a librarian--not all of us have trust funds to put us through school, and some libraries are smart enough to appreciate people with diverse backgrounds. 
• Public Service: typically where you place your volunteer or unpaid experience. Select relevant and/or long-term volunteer commitments, not the list of 5K fun runs where you gave directions at intersections for an hour. At your discretion, but if you have relevant volunteer experience that will appeal to the reviewer, or have volunteered successfully at the place you are applying to work at, leaving your volunteer experience off is silly.
• Publications: If you have any relevant professional publications, include a brief bibliography. Don't catalog every blog post you have ever written or every book review. Instead, mention a best representation of your relevant professional writing. At your discretion, but required for academic positions.
• You may also want to create a section for conference presentations, or combine it with conference presentations and publications.
  
• Certification: Here is where you put any other relevant certification or education that you have pursued that will enhance your work in libraries, such as computers, languages, or additional training that did not lead to an undergraduate or graduate degree. At your discretion, but how do you know when to include it or not? Well, if you are SCUBA certified, an academic library may not care, but an museum of marine studies or a special library position with an underwater archeology collection or emergency services unit might be interested in this special knowledge that you possess.
• References: most library positions don't let you get away with references available upon request. You need three professional references, attached on a new page. Your current supervisor, your previous supervisor and a professor (if you don't have three former work supervisors as references) will work fine. Required.

Now of course you can have additional sections, such as your work on committees on campus, or a career objective, but I think that these are the best basic ones that should be on a librarian's resume.

Resume Resolution

The break between terms is the perfect time to work on your resume. Take time each day for the next five days to work on your resume (sans martini glass in hand).

There are two basic types of resume: chronological and functional.

• The chronological format tells the story of your career and education over time, starting with the present day and working backwards. This is the most popular format of the resume and the CV, the one employers expect and the easiest to organize, so use this format.
• The functional format arranges your experience and education by skills, type and theme. It is the lesser of the two formats and you should avoid it like anthrax. I'm not going to kid or hedge: you need to be a mind-reader to decide how to lay out your skills in the best way to draw the eye of the resume reviewer, so stick with time as your outline.

Your lesson today is to find good samples of chronological resumes to base your own resume on. You'll need a book--like Proven Resumes or Resume Magic--because I've looked online and most of the sample resumes for librarians just plain suck. I also suggest that you read Tiffany Eastman Allen's article, Crafting a Winning Resume, but ignore the advice on functional resumes.

Finding a master resume writer

A friend of mine passed this article along, Finding a Master Resume Writer, and since I had linked to Jobacle's quest to test resume writers, I thought I would also post this item.

I don't think that anyone really needs to hire someone to write their resume, but if you are pressed for time, and convinced that you really can't explain your career on paper (and not many people can) you may consider hiring a professional resume writer.

Jobacle Professional Resume Writing Challenge

If you have ever considered hiring a professional resume writer to craft a resume for you, you may want to check out Jobacle's Professional Resume Writing Challenge. Andrew, the [evil??] mastermind of Jobacle has offered up his resume to 12 professional resume writers and is posting their makeovers, including his own draft, over the next few days. As of Friday, he was into day seven, so you can see 7 different versions of his resume and check out the new arrivals.

I think he has a lot of experience with recognized companies on his resume already, as well as some great experiences, so his resume is a standout (unless it arrived coated with Dijon, or he was in a slush pile of Rhode Scholars, he would probably get an interview,) but his tips are good and the challenge will answer the question: is it worth my money and time to hire a resume writer?