Resume Advice

WHY YOU SHOULD ALWAYS HAVE A CURRENT RESUME

 

The best time to investigate new opportunities is when you don't have to! Keeping your career moving upward should be a continuing activity, not just something you do when you decide (or are forced) to "look around." What you should do is map-out a definite CAREER MANAGEMENT PROGRAM!

The first step in establishing a CAREER MANAGEMENT PROGRAM is to prepare a good resume ....... our EasyResume™.

There are several good reasons for having a current resume other than looking for another job:

(1) at review time, you can show your boss all the extra things you have done (in addition to your job description duties) so your boss can justify giving you an above average raise;

(2) when you get a new boss, or are trying to persuade a candidate to accept your offer (both of whom should know all the extra work you do that's not in your Job Description, as well as your accomplishments at other companies);

(3) when your company has a reorganization;

(4) when you are asked to be on a technical conference panel, and the moderator needs information to introduce you properly;

(5) when you apply for a big loan (it's very effective to attach your resume to the loan application);

(6) when an exceptional opportunity comes along;

(7) a resume prepared when you are employed will probably reflect a higher self-esteem than if prepared when you are under pressure to look for another job. If you update and polish your resume annually, it will be much more effective than one thrown together on the spur-of-the-moment.

Nevertheless, most people only think about their resume when they are considering changing jobs. As a result, many deficient, flawed, and poorly constructed resumes are in circulation today, and many people are not achieving their goals and career growth potential.

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SHORT VS. LONG RESUMES

 There are two kinds of resumes: one to attract attention; the other to inform. The short form is best when you don't have anyone to perform the attention-getting function, and the resume is probably in a stack of 200 resumes that is being mindlessly screened by a non-technical person with a list of buzz words. The long form is best when the technical hiring manager's attention has already been called to you by your headhunter. If the manager is interested in interviewing you, he/she usually wants to know the details of your significant accomplishments so he/she can interview you intelligently. To the extent that the manager is "pre-sold" before you walk in the door, the interview will go more smoothly. Also, your headhunter needs to know as much as possible about you in order to present you effectively, and only bring appropriate opportunities to your attention.

EasyResume™ is an outline that encourages you to concentrate on your ACCOMPLISHMENTS and produce an EasyResume™.

AN EXPLANATION OF OUR RESUME PHILOSOPHY

 

A resume may well be the single most important representation of a professional's career. Many well qualified candidates never even get to first base (the interview) because they were screened out due to an inadequate resume.

Having been in the recruiting business since 1972, we have observed that the vast majority of resumes do a very poor job of describing the significant ACCOMPLISHMENTS of a software professional. The reason for this is that most resumes describe RESPONSIBILITIES rather than ACCOMPLISHMENTS. (It seems that most people just copy their job descriptions out of their company's Job Description Manual!) A mere description of your responsibilities doesn't say whether or not you accomplished them successfully -- and it certainly doesn't show the phenomenal things you did to accomplish them!

For example, don't just say you were responsible for writing software for controlling a robot: say you wrote 8,000 lines of C++, using Rumbaugh's Object Modeling and Design methodology, under UNIX on a SUN, and integrated it into a 100,000 line project, then ported it to a VAX, and shipped it on time.

IT'S YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS, AND HOW YOU ACHIEVED THEM, THAT GET YOU INTERVIEWS AND OFFERS!

By following the EasyResume™ outline precisely, your resume will be quite long. (Four or five pages is average.) Do NOT let this bother you! Look upon what you are producing as the master database of ALL your SIGNIFICANT accomplishments, from which you can produce a resume tailored to each specific position for which you apply.