Return-to-work resumes require planning
Dear Sam:
I’ve been a fulltime mom for 16 years with most of my early jobs in retail. In 2014, I earned my bachelor’s degree in general studies and completed continuing education toward a human resources certificate. The attached resume was done by career services at my university. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Dear Wendy:
It can be challenging to create a resume based on experience from 15 years ago. The career services department got you started on the right track, but there are areas that need attention to create your best candidacy.
Formatting
To me, the format is too aggressive. The large blocks of black shading with white text are distracting and create a very masculine resume. I do not think the format reflects your professional candidacy, nor your personal character.
Questionable
I am always careful when I name headings, ensuring accuracy and that my clients’ skills and experiences within those headings are reflective of that title. In your case I feel perhaps someone stuck to a template a little too tightly.
The summary, at the top of your resume — which is not really a proper Qualifications Summary but rather a list of areas to which you have been exposed — is introduced by Areas of Expertise. This is picky, but are you an expert in all of those areas? If I am working with a seasoned professional I may introduce select skills with that heading, but I wonder whether elevating some of your skills to this level is actually preventing someone from seeing the real you.
Likewise, your Professional Experience section is titled Selected Accomplishments, yet nothing in those bullet points are accomplishments. Be careful not to overstate experience. We want to create a marketing document, but we want accuracy and honesty above all.
Content,
I understand the need for a functional design and highlighting areas of experience versus places and times of employment. I would need to know your exact dates of employment, however ,to know whether omission of all dates was appropriate as usually that is a red flag for hiring managers.
Think of things, other than education, that could potentially be dated and reflect recent, relevant experience. Did you work on the PTA coordinating community fund-raisers or support any other causes? Think about other things you can highlight that are not pure professional experiences.
In addition, you have only three sentences conveying the value of your experiences. I would want to see that much more developed. Tell your audience why what you did 16 years ago matters. If you don’t develop this section further, the reader may discount all of your experience.
Lastly, you introduce your three bullet points with the subheadings of Sales, Administration and Customer Service, yet the latter has no content underneath it. There is zero value in something not being explained. I am confident you can beef up the content to better present the value of the roles you performed before leaving the workforce. Not to mention make the content so much more relevant to human resources if that is what you are pursuing.
The bottom line is that
I feel you have a launching point from which to start with your resume. There is significant room for improvement, however, in order to present the most relevant qualifications to compete in the human resources arena. I wish you the most success. Samantha Nolan is a certified professional resume writer and owner of Ladybug Design, a fullservice resume-writing firm. Have a question for Sam? She can be reached at dearsam@ladybug-design.com or 614-570-3442. Find out more at ladybug-design.com.