Dear Granddaughter,
I enjoyed speaking with you about your job search. You asked for my help in designing a resume. Of course, a resume is going to grow and change over your working years. But, some of the more important principles about presenting yourself to a potential employer are going to stay constant. Perhaps these thoughts will help you now, and also act as a guide for future resumes.
First, focus on the goal of your resume. Think like your buyer – the person you hope will hire you. (Yes, it is a person, not a company. Companies don’t make decisions. People make decisions.) What is she/he looking for? If you do not know, ask – but probably, you know. When your buyer picks up your resume, all she is doing is looking for clues that you have the skills she wants. You must construct your resume around this set of assumptions. And yes, you will do some guessing. So, don’t worry about that.
Second, in general, a resume might be divided into four parts:
- Your educational background
- Your work experiences
- Your skills
- Anything else that describes your personal character
Following are some general thoughts:
If you are forty years old, you’ll start a resume with your work experience, and sometimes maybe even with your skills. The buyer wants to know your skill. Work experience is only a proxy for skill.
What are skills? Skills are things you know how to do. Skills also relate to content. You know how to work with robotic machinery. You have real knowledge of the health care industry – any industry. You know how to sell. You know how to organize people and manage a team. You know how to do deals. You are an expert in banking regulations. You speak more than one language. You know how to build and/or assemble software. You know cost analysis.
If you are twenty years old, you probably don’t have deep work experience, so it may not be where you start your story. We will start with your education.
Third, you may think that a resume is all about form and style. It is not. It is about what it says, and ease of reading. An alternative to a resume is a biography. A biography contains much the same information as a resume, but it is written as a narrative, in effect, a life story.
Fourth, are you acquainted with the web site linkedin.com? If not, bring it up. It’s the business site. Everyone on LinkedIn has posted some kind of a resume. Go to about any member and you will see an example of what they call a profile, which is essentially a resume. If you wander around the site, you can dig up many other examples. There is much to be learned there.
Following are some quite specific thoughts:
For a young person, I would start with education. The important points are that you graduated from high school and you are a third-year student in college, or that you have graduated, or are pursuing post graduate work, or have post graduate degrees. Any skills education, training, certifications? As another example, it may be worth pointing out that you have extensive experience with on-line education. Guess what: this is a skill.
Then, I would either list (resume) or describe (biography) your work experience. Now, you are targeting this to a buyer who has specific needs. Emphasize work experience that is directly related to your buyer’s needs.
Usually, a resume contains information about when you worked there, and for how long. At your age, your time on any job would be measured in weeks, maybe months. So, I might just note the year, and not address the duration, that is, the exact period of time.
Now, we get to the important part, which is listing any skills. You have skills:
- You like working with people.
- You can describe products and sell them with enthusiasm
- You have real knowledge of cosmetics, and how to use cosmetics. (Don’t know whether I am using the right term, but you get it.)
- You have superior photography skill, especially in portrait photography, both self-photography, and photographing others.
- You have writing skills. Writing skills are becoming rare, and yet, still very important.
- You have personal experience getting jobs from app-based businesses, such as the dog sitting site you have worked with. Many don’t have this skill.
- Other
What you need to do is match your skills with what the buyer is looking for!!
Now we get to the really important part for a very young person who is just entering the job market: who are you as a human being!! What is it about you that should attract a buyer?? What are your personal traits?
- Are you disciplined? Do you show up!!
- Are you humble? Do you shut-up and listen, or at 20 years old do you think you have all of the answers. (or, at any other age.)
- Do you enjoy collaborating with others? Successful businesses get their people to work as a team. They want team players, as true in a retail store as it is on a sports team.
- Are you adaptable? The world is not fixed. It changes. Your hours of work change. Your supervisor changes? The customers all have different personalities. Moods and attitudes of folks you must work with – customers or colleagues – change like the wind. Even the products change. Buyers want employees who can adapt. Can you?
- Do you love to learn? The best buyers want learning animals, people who want to improve, get better, expand their skills – and are not looking for other people to do it for them.
- Do you have leadership traits? This one is tricky. Everyone says they want leaders, but then when they get them, they are put off. Leaders, especially young leaders, are a bit pushy, arrogant, self-possessed, and so forth. Notice that these traits are a bit in conflict with some of those listed above. This is reality. A young leader needs to harness or balance her need and confidence to drive the program with a little deference to also being humble, collaborative, and so forth.
I want you to know that these personal traits come directly from Google, according to a column written by Thomas Friedman, of the New York Times.
Form
Your personal description, be it a list of categories – one thru four above – followed by a list of examples under each category; or be it a narrative, must be perfect in terms of appearance, correctness of language, free from spelling errors, and so forth. In other words, you need to do the best you can.
Examples of form:
A Biography:
Jenny Ford is a twenty-year-old, third year, full time student at Northern Arizona University, and is studying sustainability. Jenny also has extensive experience with on-line education. More???…
As a younger person, Jenny is just now gaining experience in the work environment. She has worked in the retail cosmetics industry in customer facing roles. She has also provided personal services to individuals, both watching over their homes and also their animals. Other, other… names, examples.
Though a young person, Jenny has developed some interesting skills. She is excellent at facing off with customers, listening to their needs, and positioning her company’s products to meet those needs. She also is a true artist at portrait photography, especially in the cosmetic preparation of the subject to be photographed. What else??
Jenny is an adaptable person who loves collaborating with her work colleagues. But she is also disciplined and will place her work priorities at the top of her list of priorities.
A Resume:
Essentially, a resume is a list of the facts presented above. Check out LinkedIn and see how other people have created their profile lists:
At the end, be sure to list your contact information, email and mobile number.
Searching for a job is hard work. Getting a job can be exhilarating. Performing effectively on the job will make everything about life easier.
