Many people, who have started new positions, attribute their new role to
formatting their resume in a way that clearly identifies their strengths and
experience.  We often hear that interview frequency increases, and so does
the quality of the interview.  Regardless if you choose our format (available
for you to download) or others, we see many areas for improvement. If/when
you receive value from what you see here, please visit our website and tell
us how you have benefited. We appreciate your feedback.  

Accomplishments
       Now is the time to show your potential new employer what you were
able to accomplish. These are above and beyond job duties and
responsibilities. For example, identifying and implementing a better way to
accomplish a task. We recommend this for in each position held even if you
held multiple positions at the same employer.

Certifications
       If you have earned certifications or advanced educational degrees, we
suggest that you place these (all if you have multiple) after your name. For
example: John/Jane Doe, CPA, MBA, Phd, PMP. With respect to where and
when you earned these certifications and advanced degrees, we suggest
that these are placed directly after Education.

Contract and Interim positions
       Many candidates have become professional contractors while others
have chosen to contract while finding a permanent position.  Contract
employment is a specific project with a specific task and typically without
direct reports, or having influence on company decisions.  Interim
employment is a position when you have an effect on managing a part of
the client’s business. This would include business functionality and
managing others.  We recommend following the same format in duties and
responsibilities as perm employment. Many candidates struggle of how to
present this part of their employment history. If you have worked on
Contract through a Staffing firm, display as follows …
ABC BIG COMPANY, INC. (Contract Assignment) where ‘ABC BIG
COMPANY’ is the CLIENT of the Staffing firm.

Date format
       Eliminate Months from dates worked … for example … use 2002-2006
instead of ‘Feb 2002-Dec 2006’

Description of duties and responsibilities
       Let the company be the ‘star’ of each experience (Largest font, bold,
etc. and position title secondary). Do not use paragraphs because key facts
are hidden in them.  If you want to assure someone sees important
information, include it in a bullet, or one of the top 3 sections shown in the
format below. Begin each bullet with a past tense action verb (i.e. Managed,
Led, Built, Implemented, etc.) What is the scope of your work? For example,
if you are an Accounts Receivable/Credit Collections Specialist, how many
clients were you responsible for? What was the size of your portfolio? Are
these commercial or consumer collections? If you supervised people,
consider including the number of direct and/or indirect reports as a bullet.

Employers (perm positions)
       We recommend a brief description (one to two sentences) that
describes the type of business. Important things to mention are the size of
business (revenue), type of business (manufacturer, wholesale, retail,
services), and class of company (public, private, not for profit, government
entity). Include all experience, all the way back to your first job, even if
unrelated to your immediate goal (gaps are often interpreted negatively).  
List in order of most recent experience to earliest experience Contract
employment and Interim employment

Education
       If you are a recent graduate and/or have been in the work force for five
years or less, we suggest that you place this information before Employment
Experience. If you have more experience we suggest that this information is
placed directly after Employment Experience. In the case that you have a
section Prior Employment, we suggest that this information is placed directly
after. Dates are very important here as well. We live in a time when full
disclosure is a prominent theme especially in the world of Accounting and
Finance.  Include dates for your education (Missing dates are often
interpreted negatively).  

Font size
       Great content is lost if the reader has a difficult time being able to easily
review your resume. What happens if this increases the total number of
pages? The resume police are not going to find you and give you a ticket.   

Language skills
       Having the skill to communicate in multiple languages is an important
skill. This can be a significant benefit for the employer especially if the
position includes international duties. We suggest that if are fluent in
multiple languages, consider using this fact as one of your EXPERTISE
items.  If you are abilities are conversational, indicate this – do not overstate
your abilities. If you have been certified at different levels of
accomplishment, we suggest that you state this. We also recommend that
you list this in the educational section.

Length of your resume
       The number of pages will vary depending the length of your career. If
your career is over ten years, we advise to list these (company, title, dates)
as Prior Experience.  As long as the information on your resume is concise
and pertinent, we would not be concerned

Objective/Summary Section (Expertise)
       In headers, avoid the word ‘Summary’ … Single words like Expertise
and Experience work best. What are the six to eight key skills and
experiences that you want to convey? This is the foundation of the resume.
The employment experience section will support these. Use words like
System Implementation, Telecom, Manufacturing, Financial Analysis,
Financial Statement Preparation, Due Diligence, Reconciliations.

Page format
       If you have to split experience from a company into 2 pages, begin the
new page with Company name and in parenthesis put (continued).

References
       We do not believe that this section of a resume is important. We ask for
references in our Employment Application. If you are not going through an
agency, an employer will ask for references on their employment application
and certainly if they have in interest in hiring you. If you feel that you must
have a statement, something similar to “Professional references are
available when requested”.  We suggest that you do not list references on
your resume.  

Review and edit before sharing
       Visually scan resume when complete to assure each experience has
same visual structure, font, spacing, verb tense, spelling, grammar, etc.

Software skills
       Software skills can often determine the strength of a candidate
especially on contract positions. With respect to perm positions, clients may
have more flexibility and will look for similar software used. We suggest all
ERPs, Consolidation tools, Tax programs, Payroll programs, MS Access, MS
Excel, MS Word, and MS PowerPoint. We do not suggest email programs,
internet browsers, or 10 key unless you are seeking an administrative
position.  If you are an intermediate or advanced user of a particular ERP or
program, we suggest placing (advanced or intermediate) after the ERP or
program.
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Resume Suggestions
By:  Michael Levine, Principal, Advantage Talent, Inc.
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