Why targeting works
and Human Resources. However, because she encapsulated 30 years of experience in bullet points under two headings, it made it difficult for a hiring manager to determine where and in which role Celia performed each type of function.
how
Exploring Celia’s career in a more traditional and widely accepted reverse chronological format would present a stronger picture of her candidacy.
First, incorporating a solid Qualifications Summary allowed for immediate presentation of Celia’s key experiences and most transferable abilities. A core skills summary was created to give a brief scan of Celia’s skill set and confirmation that her background encompassed the experiences that were being sought by her target employers.
Second, a fully developed Professional Experience section had to be created. To do this, I went through each bullet point on Celia’s original resume and determined when and where each occurred. In addition, Celia and I spent time discussing her contributions in each of her roles and how she truly added value in the areas in which she now wanted to transition.
Third, I determined how much experience we needed to present on Celia’s resume. Rarely would one want to present 30 years of experience. Unless you are a senior management candidate, about 1015 years should be presented. For Celia, dating experiences back to 1995 instead of 1982 positioned her as qualified and not overqualified. Earlier experiences were listed in a byline fashion so Celia could use those as talking points during an interview.
Fourth, attention was paid to the design of the new content on Celia’s resume. Her original resume was in plain text, void of formatting or anything engaging. Her new resume was made to be visually engaging and to give off a balanced aesthetic to facilitate ease of readability. Overall, Celia’s new resume is a nightand-day departure from her original functional format. It better represents the value she has contributed throughout her career and is positioned to add to her next employer.
Celia’s
Celia wrote to say, “I was extremely pleased with the Samantha Nolan is a certified professional resume writer and owner of Ladybug Design. You can reach Samantha at 614-570-3442 or dearsam@ladybug-design.com.