Riffing on Resumes, Part 12: Skills

A functional resume allows you to resurrect skills that you have used well in the past, that you have continued developing despite working in a job that does not allow you to use the skill, and that you want a prospective employer to know you want to use. 

Instead of writing a chronological resume listing your skills under a heading called Experience, you might want the employer to know you bring three skills to the organization: analytical and communication, which you have used in your past two jobs, and project management, which you used before those two jobs. If you want to highlight those three skills, pack the bullet points of your work career under the three skills, starting with Project Management, rather than using a chronological listing, where project management will get lost.

Even if you choose a chronological resume, you should reflect on the two or three or four skills you bring to a job so that you can etch them in the interviewer's mind. 

Riffing on Resumes, Part 11: Accomplishments

In part 9 of this series, I mention that starting bullet points with achievements rather than tasks may benefit you more. Which of the two sentences below about work on a major municipal landscaping project has greater impact?

1. Managed the $75-million Central Park landscaping project that achieved substantial completion two months before the targeted date.
2. Achieved substantial completion two months before the targeted date for the $75-million Central Park landscaping project.

The answer depends on several considerations, including:

• Whether the project management is a greater achievement than the reaching early substantial completion. The mere fact that you managed such a high-visibility project may exceed other considerations.
• Whether the resume makes clear that you are a project manager. Sentence 1 does; Sentence 2 does not. Nevertheless, if the sentence appears under a heading titled Projects Managed, you may prefer Sentence 2.
• Whether you achieved early substantial completion on smaller projects, making the accomplishment repetitious or, worse, marginalizing the significance of this accomplishment.
• Whether change orders were involved, increasing project costs. If you did not have a single change order, quite unusual for urban landscaping projects, then you missed the mark entirely. You might have written, Managed the $75 million Central Park landscaping project within budget and two months before the targeted substantial completion date.
• Whether achieving substantial completion for a major urban landscaping project is more important than the quality of the results. If the project received negative press about its aesthetics or usefulness, you might not want to mention it at all.  

In any event, accomplishments are vital indicators in your resume. Not only do they tell your reader you can meet or exceed the job requirements, but they illustrate how you think about yourself as a professional. 

Riffing on Resumes, Part 10: Education

The education section of a resume matters because so many jobs require a degree, license, or both regardless of work experience. Following the theme of the previous post on professional experience, this part in the series answers seven commonly asked questions.

1. If I just graduated from college, should I include my high school information? No, unless you attained precocious achievements there such as first place for a national magazine essay challenge, a gold medal in an international secondary school vocal competition, or most valuable player in a statewide athletic tournament.

2. Do I have to date my educational degrees? Of course. The legendary economist Thomas Sowell does—and he's 92! You don't have to worry about aging yourself. This is an employee's market. 

3. What if I have not yet attained the degree? Say so. Writing something like this:

B.A. Economics, City University of New York, 2024. 

4. Should I include academic distinctions? Yes. Never shy from mentioning  achievements (e.g., cum laude) in a resume, as they may give you a slight edge over your competition.

5. Should I include licenses? Yes, as long as they are relevant to the position you are seeking.  

6. Should I include certifications from general training classes? No, unless they are job requirements such as project management certification.

7. Should I include military certifications and citations? 100 percent! American companies and government agencies are committed to hiring veterans, and many give them preferential treatment. But veterans too must compete for a job. Show that you used your time productively in the service. Those certifications and honors interest those employers who have not served and connect you to those who have.

Remember: honesty first!

Riffing on Resumes, Part 9: Experience

If you have been reading this series, you'll likely know that the answer to what work experience to include in a resume depends on the prospective employer. Below are reliable answers to four of the most frequent questions about this issue.

1. What if, as a recent college graduate, I have had only part-time and summer jobs? Mention those jobs, not necessarily in any great depth, but to show you have always tried to earn income. At this point in your career, you should focus on your academic and extracurricular experiences, anyway. Instead of writing about each job with multiple bullets points that state the obvious tasks, give just one line for each, like this:

• 3/18 – 8/18 Inventory Specialist, Walmart, Old Bridge, NJ
• 9/18 – 6/19 Library Associate, Old Bridge Public Library, NJ
• 7/19 – 8/20 Camp Counselor, Camp Wunderkind, Sayreville, NJ
• 9/20 – 1/23 Graphic Artist, Penny Printing, East Brunswick, NJ 

2. How far back in time should I go? As far as back as necessary to show you are the ideal candidate for the job. But if the last job you had similar to the one you're applying to was 10 years ago and you have worked in a new field ever since, consider whether that job is outdated. But if that old job applies, show its applicable bullet points not 10 years ago in a chronological resume but blended with more recently attained expertise in the skills section of a functional resume.

3. Should I start those bullet points with tasks or achievements? Both are fine, but if you use a mix, start with the achievements followed by the tasks. And think hard about which of the three sentences would best serve your purposes:

1. Created sales method that launched a new brand leading to a 25% sales increase.
2. Launched a new brand with my newly created sales method leading to a 25% sales increase.
3. Increased sales by 25% after launching a new brand with my newly created sales method.

The first sentence would work to highlight design skills, the second to showcase project management finesse, and the third to pinpoint business development accomplishments. 

4. Should I follow some sort of order with those bullet points? Yes, the order of progression. Let your first job start with bullet points like assisted, reported, presented, and supported; your next job with more self-directed words like analyzed, coordinated, evaluated, and supervised; and your most recent job with more expansive words like initiated, led, managed, and spearheaded.