The OA Reality Series: Resume Rescue!

Writing and revising a resume can be an overwhelming task. The competition is fierce right now and resumes are being circulated like never before. In our efforts to continually support OfficeArrow members, we decided to do a series on a real-life resume makeover (a service offered here on OfficeArrow). Here's how it works: I take a resume, review it, make suggestions on how to improve it, and then rewrite the resume. This time, I thought it would be fun to share the process with you, our OA readers.

There are as many ideas for effective resume writing these days as there are species of butterflies! However, some of the proven techniques are basic and fundamental. If you are considering printing your career story using fluorescent pink paper and spritzing it with your best cologne - please read on! Although there are some creative and often over-the -top resume methods on the horizon, your best bet is to focus on producing a professional document that reflects your experience, skills and personality that will end up in front of prospective employers. After that, although highly discouraged, whether you decide to tap dance on the table during the interview is entirely up to you!

One of our members, Wendy Peek, volunteered her resume and we have spent the last month working through a process to create a resume that brands Wendy as a successful administrative professional and highlights her administrative skills. In this article I will introduce the initial evaluation and offer simple suggestions. The second article in this series will focus on the in-depth revisions I made in language and formatting, and we'll show you the final resume.

Join me as we share the steps we used to create a new and improved resume for Wendy. A resume she can be proud of and feel confident in presenting. To view Wendy's original resume and cover letter, click here.

Step 1: The Call

The first thing I wanted to do was talk with Wendy and learn as much as I could about her current situation and her goals for future employment. I had already received her resume via email and had reviewed it. You can take a look at it here. My general impression of Wendy's original resume was that it lacked eye-popping formatting. She had done a great job of including lots of information, but Wendy's skills got lost in the lengthy paragraph format. She has valuable experience but highlights of her work experience didn't jump out. The original resume lacked pizzazz and it was difficult for me to navigate. My goal was to help Wendy pull out some of the hidden skills that truly brand her as a top-notch, experienced administrative professional.

Step 2: Simple Suggestions to Get Started

During our first conversation and evaluation, I suggested Wendy make some very simple changes in round one of our makeover project.

1. Your professional email address should be just that - professional. I suggested Wendy change her email address to just "her name" at yahoo.com (or gmail, hotmail, etc.). It's important to remember that every element of a resume should reflect your high standards, including your email address.

2. All contact information should be at the top of the resume, easy to find for employers.

3. The original resume included a standard objective statement. I'm not a fan of the SOS because they tend to be boring and canned. In Wendy's case, I suggested a power statement that was concise and represented her well.

4. Employers scan resumes quickly looking for key words and information. It helps to highlight specific "big picture" skill sets and qualities in the first section. After talking with Wendy and evaluating the information included under the previous jobs, I suggested extracting and consolidating key points to create a section that focused on Wendy's extensive administrative professional qualities. It's important to focus on the job you are applying for - in this case, Wendy wants a high level administrative professional position. Branding Wendy in that way early in the resume sends a powerful message to the employer. I also suggested concise, powerful skill statements in bullet form in this section.

5. Many of Wendy's achievements and awards were interspersed throughout the resume. I suggested these be extracted and included in a section Achievements and Awards at the end replacing the current Skills and Certificates of Completion. I found several of the bullet points I would use in the first section hidden in the Skills and Certificates of Completion paragraph. Wendy and I discussed how many of her top qualities including negotiation, event planning, interpersonal skills and schedule management needed to jump out. You'll see how I edited those in our next article.

6. The original resume includes Wendy's high school education. My suggestion was to leave this off the resume. Her work experience speaks for itself. As a general rule, if you are within 5 years of your high school graduation year then include that information. Otherwise, only include college level degrees. So, in Wendy's case, I suggested she leave this section off the resume.

7. The overall formatting of the resume needed help. The current resume is hard to read and without some professional formatting, it loses credibility.

8. The specific information under each job needed to be condensed. Bullet points and good choice of wording is what sparks interest.

Wendy and I spent time discussing how a resume should not be all-inclusive. It is a document that is used to spark interest and get you in the door where you can then sell yourself using effective interview techniques that enhance your resume. I like to compare it to a movie trailer. An effective move trailer piques our interest and draws us in so we want to know more about the characters and story - so we come back to see how our initial introduction to the characters and story expands. A solid resume should do the same thing. It introduces the candidate in a way that convinces the employer they want and should know more - but it doesn't give all the details.

Once I had a chance to talk with Wendy to go over the original resume and we agreed on some of the suggestions, I went to work on making the revisions. Stay tuned for the second article in our series to see the final resume!

For more information on OfficeArrow's Resume Makeover Services, inquire here or visit our Career Services page.

Lisa Olsen provides OfficeArrow members with down-to-earth career advice from her extensive experience as a Career Consultant. An author, trainer, speaker and consultant, Lisa's dedication to building relationship chemistry and helping people power up their potential has been the catalyst for her own success. Learn more about Lisa and her services, including keynote addresses, resume revision, and on-site professional development training here.