Anatomy of a Resume – How to Present Yourself

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Tips for creating a winning resume

  • Contact Information: Make yourself easily accessible by phone or email. Be sure that your voicemail message is professional. You don’t want a potential employer to get the wrong impression from an unprofessional message or greeting.  Do not include personal information, such as marital status or age, on your resume.
  • Objective / Title: Some believe that if you include an objective, it might limit your chances of being selected for an interview and/or if your objective doesn’t match the recruiter’s needs at the time, you may miss out on a great opportunity.On the flip side, if you know exactly what you want, why not say it?It may be best to take a broad approach. Instead of writing a sentence like “Seeking a career opportunity in Industry……,” try a simple title after your contact info, such as Veterinarian.
  • Summary: Include your title and years of experience first, then list special skills. Next, talk about your character traits or work style. Remember that this is a summary. Don’t go over three sentences.Example:  Small Animal Veterinarian with over 10 years of experience with two hospitals. Over three years of directing a hospital. Customer service oriented.
  • Professional Experience: List each position held in reverse chronological order. Go back at least ten years. If you held multiple positions with the same employer, be sure to list all of them to show how you have progressed. You should describe your responsibilities and your accomplishments.The body of the position description has two parts:
  1. A description of your responsibilities and
  2. Your accomplishments

Formats to organize your experience:

  • Feature-Accomplishment-Benefit: Use the Feature-Accomplishment-Benefit format to organize your skills and sell your accomplishments.

Feature: The actual responsibilities
Accomplishment: The performing of responsibilities
Benefit: How your performance affected your employer

Example: Small Animal Veterinarian
Feature: Turned around clinic
Accomplishment: Increased clientele base by 30% in one year
Benefit: Increased annual revenue by more than 45% in one year
Statement: Turned around clinic by increasing clientele base by 30% which led to increased revenues of more than 45% last year.

  • Situation-Solution-Outcome: This format might be used to demonstrate your problem-solving capabilities.

Situation: What situation was your company facing?
Solution: What did you do to solve the problem?
Outcome: What was the outcome?

Example: VP of Sales
Situation: Company wanted to grow non-government business
Solution: Created and implemented commercial market penetration strategy
Outcome: Increased revenues over $50 million
Statement:  Company wanted to grow non-government business. Developed business that resulted in the capture of commercial sales with increased revenues of over $50 million.