Resume Help

I get a lot or requests to review resumes for people job hunting in the PR industry. In just the last month I have probably reviews more than a dozen. What I find amazing is they all look the same and my comments are almost all the same.

Keep this in mind, the resume is your first paid advertisement – about you. Make sure the copy does a great job of letting people know who you are and not just why they should hire you, but why they should be concerned their competition might hire you (think about that for a second).

Okay, first things first. Do a little research. Every resume is a living, breathing document. Unless you apply for the exact same job over and over, it should be modified appropriately for every job you apply. What should be modified – that all depends. Applying for a copy editor position – highlight your journalistic work. Applying for an AE position – highlight your ability to coordinate multiple projects. Applying for a generalist position – highlight your best campaign. On your resume, always put first what will keep them reading.

Speaking of first things, drop the objective heading on your resume. Everyone’s objective is the same. Written in different words they all say, "I want a job." The employer knows that, it’s why they are reading your resume. Instead, create a "summary of qualifications." If you have no qualifications then I might suggest you forgo the resume and simply fill out application at any business with a "now hiring" sign in the window.

After the objective tell them what college you graduated from, your degree and your area of expertise if one exists, etc.

Remember, your goal in creating a resume is to keep the prospective employer reading and interested. Now for the meat.

When you give your job experience tell them about your accomplishments at each company, not just what you did. Were you responsible for simply answering the phone or did you support the company’s customer service goals by answering specific questions and routing inquiries to the appropriate person? Trust me, there is a huge difference between the two and any business owner knows it.

Did you write for the college paper? If so expand on that, how many articles, what did you write about, what topics, did anything occur as a result? How many were front page articles? 

If you helped with a campaign, talk about the accomplishments of the campaign and your role. Did you create a facebook page? Great, tell us how many people visited it, became members, did what you told them to do.

Again, focus on what you have accomplished; goals, objectives and tactics alike. This advice is also true for your philanthropic section. Don’t tell me you were the president of your PRSSA chapter, tell me what you accomplished during this time.  Talking about your accomplishments is what will set you apart from all the other candidates.

A few other points:

Your resume can be longer than one page so long as you aren’t full of fluff.

Have at least five people review your resume. Of that five, at least three should be in the profession. I know, I hate having people review my work simply for the fact they will find fault with it. But, that is the goal, and better them than the person you want to interview with.

Finally, once you take all the edits, revisions and suggestions into consideration, re-write your resume and send it back out to everyone with a thank you note. In that note ask them to forward it to anyone they might know who is looking for a person like you. (at least that is what a good PR person would do)

Good luck!