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Resume Advice Please!
Hexmage-PA
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I've been applying for Human Resources and Administrative Assistant positions for the past several months. Though I have a job now, it's in a rural area and requires a lot of overtime. I really want to move to a more urban area, but I haven't had any luck even getting an interview (I at least got a single callback, but nothing came of it).
I'm thinking my resume might be underwhelming. Anyone care to look it over? I've omitted my real name, the name of the college I went to, and the names of my employers.
I'm thinking my resume might be underwhelming. Anyone care to look it over? I've omitted my real name, the name of the college I went to, and the names of my employers.
SUMMARY
Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, meticulous record keeper, ability to type at 80 words per minute, and strong writing skills. Seeking employment in a position that requires these skills.
EDUCATION
Bachelor of Arts in Sociology (Sept. 2008-May 2011)
- Graduated from X College with a 3.4 grade point average.
- Learned and utilized investigative skills, such as survey construction and participant observation, for the purpose of obtaining, quantifying, and interpreting the opinions of fellow students concerning given topics.
- Read, analyzed, and interpreted scholarly texts in essays that were very well received by instructors.
SKILLS
- Meticulous, organized record-keeper experienced.
- Typing speed of approximately 80 words per minute.
- Strong reading comprehension and writing skills.
- Experienced in formatting and word processing in Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Power Point.
- Committed to discerning the most practical, efficient, and least time-intensive methods of resolving given tasks.
- Able to retain professional composure even when under considerable stress.
AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS
- Graduated Cum Laude from X College
- Dean’s List – X College
EXPERIENCE
X, Materials Clerk
Jan 2013 – Present
Recorded removal and return of materials from warehouse. Used database system for the purpose of locating materials in the warehouse and performing data entry, such as materials transactions. Periodically assisted in the evaluation of inventory accuracy by operating both a forklift and a specialized component scale. Located on-site materials requested by plant production lines, procured the correct amount for each type of component, and transported them to where they were required by use of a stand-up fork lift.
X, Kanban Materials Handler
May 2012 – Jan 2013
Received component shipments from off-site warehouse. Loaded pallets of materials onto a trailer for delivery by the use of an electric forklift. Drove loaded trailer to production lines for delivery of components as dictated by the kanban inventory control system. Collected kanban cards for return to off-site warehouse. Periodically assisted in the evaluation of inventory accuracy by operating both a forklift and a specialized component scale.
X, Materials Clerk
November 2011 – May 2012
Recorded received materials by submitting completed move tickets to the office for data entry. Quantified the number of materials in each shipment through use of a specialized scale. Located on-site materials requested by plant production lines, procured the correct amount for each type of component, and placed them in the designated staging area by department for transportation. Recorded removal of material shipments from warehouse in both a shipping manifest and by submitting completed move tickets to the office for data entry. Periodically assisted in the evaluation of inventory accuracy by operating both a forklift and a specialized component scale.
X, Safety Technician
August 2011 – November 2011
Taught new safety department hires what duties were expected of them and how best to perform those duties with the tools available. Aided efficiency coordinators in inventory location and placement time management efforts by suggesting alternative methods of product marking and storage. Learned standardized work principles aimed at minimizing wasted effort and increasing productivity. Used painting supplies to visually denote areas where caution should be exercised.
X College, Student Worker
October 2010 – May 2011
Aided in construction efforts by transporting building supplies, removing walls, and applying paints to damaged surfaces. Performed landscape detail, weed removal, and leaf collection. Carried-out general housekeeping and repair duties, including the removal, cleaning, and replacement of window blinds, the replacement of electrical outlet covers, and the cleaning of dirtied tables and other surfaces.
X, Sales Representative
October 2009 – May 2010
Interpreted customer requests to identify the best method to fulfill their needs. Recorded customer contact and billing information in a specialized database. Provided customer service support in response to caller inquires. Aided unsatisfied customers by identifying how to resolve issues to their satisfaction. Forwarded information to immediate supervisor and other superiors when required.
Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, meticulous record keeper, ability to type at 80 words per minute, and strong writing skills. Seeking employment in a position that requires these skills.
EDUCATION
Bachelor of Arts in Sociology (Sept. 2008-May 2011)
- Graduated from X College with a 3.4 grade point average.
- Learned and utilized investigative skills, such as survey construction and participant observation, for the purpose of obtaining, quantifying, and interpreting the opinions of fellow students concerning given topics.
- Read, analyzed, and interpreted scholarly texts in essays that were very well received by instructors.
SKILLS
- Meticulous, organized record-keeper experienced.
- Typing speed of approximately 80 words per minute.
- Strong reading comprehension and writing skills.
- Experienced in formatting and word processing in Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Power Point.
- Committed to discerning the most practical, efficient, and least time-intensive methods of resolving given tasks.
- Able to retain professional composure even when under considerable stress.
AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS
- Graduated Cum Laude from X College
- Dean’s List – X College
EXPERIENCE
X, Materials Clerk
Jan 2013 – Present
Recorded removal and return of materials from warehouse. Used database system for the purpose of locating materials in the warehouse and performing data entry, such as materials transactions. Periodically assisted in the evaluation of inventory accuracy by operating both a forklift and a specialized component scale. Located on-site materials requested by plant production lines, procured the correct amount for each type of component, and transported them to where they were required by use of a stand-up fork lift.
X, Kanban Materials Handler
May 2012 – Jan 2013
Received component shipments from off-site warehouse. Loaded pallets of materials onto a trailer for delivery by the use of an electric forklift. Drove loaded trailer to production lines for delivery of components as dictated by the kanban inventory control system. Collected kanban cards for return to off-site warehouse. Periodically assisted in the evaluation of inventory accuracy by operating both a forklift and a specialized component scale.
X, Materials Clerk
November 2011 – May 2012
Recorded received materials by submitting completed move tickets to the office for data entry. Quantified the number of materials in each shipment through use of a specialized scale. Located on-site materials requested by plant production lines, procured the correct amount for each type of component, and placed them in the designated staging area by department for transportation. Recorded removal of material shipments from warehouse in both a shipping manifest and by submitting completed move tickets to the office for data entry. Periodically assisted in the evaluation of inventory accuracy by operating both a forklift and a specialized component scale.
X, Safety Technician
August 2011 – November 2011
Taught new safety department hires what duties were expected of them and how best to perform those duties with the tools available. Aided efficiency coordinators in inventory location and placement time management efforts by suggesting alternative methods of product marking and storage. Learned standardized work principles aimed at minimizing wasted effort and increasing productivity. Used painting supplies to visually denote areas where caution should be exercised.
X College, Student Worker
October 2010 – May 2011
Aided in construction efforts by transporting building supplies, removing walls, and applying paints to damaged surfaces. Performed landscape detail, weed removal, and leaf collection. Carried-out general housekeeping and repair duties, including the removal, cleaning, and replacement of window blinds, the replacement of electrical outlet covers, and the cleaning of dirtied tables and other surfaces.
X, Sales Representative
October 2009 – May 2010
Interpreted customer requests to identify the best method to fulfill their needs. Recorded customer contact and billing information in a specialized database. Provided customer service support in response to caller inquires. Aided unsatisfied customers by identifying how to resolve issues to their satisfaction. Forwarded information to immediate supervisor and other superiors when required.
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As for everything else, you want to curtail your resume to the job. So, all your skills need to be exactly what they're looking for. Fluff it. The typing and familiarity with MS Office is pretty much a given, well, I'd hope you could at least figure it out anyways.
For instance, if I was applying for a programming position, I'd list all the programming languages I know, and secondary skills that go with it. If I was applying for system administrator, I'd list all the operating systems I'm familiar with, maybe command line environments and so on.
The job specific stuff, I'm wondering if you can't beef it up a bit. Don't do sentences, do bullet points of specific things you've done that you've been recognized in. Did you bring in 100,000$ in sales? Did you devise a system to improve safety? List it. The most mundane thing in your mind probably is an awesome thing to them. You also want to try and curtail your job duties at previous jobs to really look like the new job you're applying too. Don't outright lie, I'll disagree with most people when they say to do that. But you'll definitely want to fluff up what you did and make it seem far more important than what it actually was. Also if you can talk money, talk money. They like that. They really like that.
My biggest concern with your employment history is that you don't stay in a job for more than a year or so, and sometimes far less than that. Is there a reason for this? Can you explain it when questioned on it?
Like Bowen already said, use bullet points, not paragraphs. Keep in mind that the folks in charge read TONS of resume a day. They want to be able to just glance at it and get a good gist of the potential employee. Right now, this layout forces them to stop to read. Plus at a glance, it doesn't really look like you have a lot of experience, so making bullet points will help on that. Also, take out the college student section.
Your Skill sections needs to have more specific, actual things. Everyone can put down they're organized and composed- You need to put in any familiarity with software(other than the standard Microsoft Office everyone puts in), if you're bilingual, etc. The stuff you currently have in should be brought up in an interview when they asked what are your strengths/weaknesses.
You don't need a summary. You need an objective. Something like 'To join this company and become an exemplary worker while moving up the chain'. But you know, good.
This is gibberish and even cleaned up, it is not something you should have under "skills". Use a modified version as a bullet point under one of your jobs. Maybe something like this:
Materials Clerk
-maintained accurate records of materials received and used for each project.
Also, your education section should read thusly:
EDUCATION
Bachelor of Arts in Sociology (Sept. 2008-May 2011)
- Graduated from X College with a 3.4 grade point average.
- Learned and utilized investigative skills, such as survey construction and participant observation, for the purpose of obtaining, quantifying, and interpreting the opinions of fellow students concerning given topics.
- Read, analyzed, and interpreted scholarly texts in essays that were very well received by instructors.
Maybe incorporate the GPA, maybe not, but absolutely remove those bullets. You're wasting the reader's time. If they give half a fuck about your major, they already know what a soc degree entails.
Strong reading comprehension and writing skills.
Said every applicant ever. Ditch it.
- Experienced in formatting and word processing in Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Power Point.
What else would you use microsoft word for? You have a college degree. Of course you know Word, bro.
I just checked my resume, this is my word for word bullet for MS Proficiencies:
Excel, Access, PowerPoint, and Visio
Maybe add Outlook? A lot of companies inexplicably use that.
- Committed to discerning the most practical, efficient, and least time-intensive methods of resolving given tasks.
- Able to retain professional composure even when under considerable stress.
delete
Pluto was a planet and I'll never forget
They still put it on their resumes as if they were experts though.
You put those kinds of things on jobs when you're looking for secretarial work.
If you're an inventory manager, it's almost a given that you should know how to use excel. Though I'd specifically include something like "Proficient in MS Excel" as a skill in that case, but only excel, because it's the applicable one. Generic resumes often get generic replies, or are ignored. You need to stand out from a dozen, hundreds, or even thousands of others.
Good point. I hadn't considered that. However, I would still leave off the description.
This was a group effort and not entirely thanks to me, but while I've been working in my current position inventory accuracy has increased dramatically (from 73% to 97%).
The four most recent positions have all been with the same company. Each time I was asked by my then-current supervisor if I would rather transfer to a new position.
BTW, when I say "materials clerk", though I really do spend a lot of time verifying inventory accuracy, I'm trying to cover for the fact that 60% of my time at work involves moving containers from point A to point B.
Increased inventory accuracy from 73% to 97%
#resumedthatforyou
Ah! Good answers. You might want to rework your resume to show that you stayed at the current place of employment and show that you shifted positions each of those years. List X once as a heading (with your total years at the company, 2009-Present, then do each position underneath it. That's a pretty unique resume.
Think of everything you can to make it a numbers game.
I'd condense them to Safety Technition and Materials Clerk and set Materials Clerk from 11/11 - Present.
It paints a clearer picture of a steady work history.
Good idea. I'll try that.
I did the FF&E, and some of the punch work for a new building my agency had another agency build.
On my resume it shows as
Project manager and technical advisor for design/build 88 million dollar continuing care facility.
What if they ask me about this in an interview? How will I answer in a way that doesn't make me seem dishonest?
I'm also in the process of converting my paragraphs into bulleted points. How's this look, for example?
"Recorded removal and return of materials from warehouse." -> "Asset tracking."
Taking credit for stuff teams do that you are a part of is an honest and legitimate practice. If they push and ask you what your contributions were, then you explain what you did, how many people helped, and how even though despite the challenges presented to you and your team, with good teamwork and coordination you were able to achieve not only your stated goal but improve dramatically beyond it.
Address
Phone
E-mail
Skills
Education
X College – Bachelor of Arts (Sociology)
May 2011
Employment History
X Automotive - Materials Clerk
Nov 2011 – Present
X Automotive - Safety Technician
Aug 2011 – Nov 2011
X College - Student Worker
Oct 2010 – May 2011
X America - Sales Representative
Oct 2009 – May 2010
- Sales.
- Customer service.
- Data entry.[
/spoiler]I also wish you had some more specific information you could throw in their.
Like at x automotive.
Change supervision to supervised y amount of people.
change asset tracking to tracked z dollars in assets
implemented lean production practices and add resulting in x savings.
I might just use forklift operator. I'm actually not sure on that though.
Right now, your resume looks really sparse. Remember, you're trying to sell yourself AND tell someone that might not be familiar with your pasts positions about your duties.
'Supervision' can mean a lot of things. Say things like 'Managed x amount people', 'ensured time cards were done within time set' 'kept x metrics', etc. Same with sales and customer service. What type of sales were there? Outbound, inbound, face to face, cold calls?
Change this:
To this:
Rejigger that skills a bit maybe, but those are definitely skills you have listed below. Research and Communication are obviously still included there, but boy does it look a lot more "Wow!", at least to me. See you don't even have to lie to make yourself sound amazing, you just have to recognize "wow I actually did a lot of stuff, I'm pretty good!"
Also you'll want to have that attitude when you go into an interview. You may not think it (the way you list your skills seems like you don't think you have any), but trust me, you are a pretty skilled person.
Your revised version is a little too minimalist, but his is flufftacular bullshit. (<3 u browen)
Both also ignore CB's Resume SEO lifehack protip.
Use the skills section to list your actual proficiencies. Make shit as specific as possible. "Research" could mean anything from you spent time in the lab assisting Professor Von Materio to you're really aces at googling stuff.
You don't have to pad it and definitely do not repeat anything you have in your employment section verbatim.
It doesn't have to be a minimum number of bullets.
Use your employment section to list out your victories, accomplishments, and duties in bullet point form.
It was my understanding that resume reviewers use whether or not an applicant has a degree as a way to more quickly sort through resumes. That's why I'm hesitant to move my education category lower down; I'm afraid that a reviewer might not see it.
But hey, It's not like having it near the top has gotten me a job, so I might as well try it you guys' way.
The extent of my sales work was answering incoming calls for client companies. I basically just facilitated transactions. I've got no idea how much money I specifically brought in.
At my current position, data entry primarily means "wrote a part number, quantity, and location on a ticket for someone else to input digitally". A former supervisor wanted everyone on my shift to be cross-trained, but he was fired and I only got to key tickets into the inventory database myself one time (the software currently used is horribly outdated, BTW; the company that made it went out of business in 1989). I do know how to look up materials locations, though.
Expansion attempt: "Data entry of materials transactions utilizing asset tracking software."
No. All I did was paint electrical boxes orange and safety guarding yellow.
PIT = forklift. Saying I'm a "materials clerk" is me trying to make being a forklift operator seem more impressive than it is.
Like I'm not really sure Forklift is relevant to your current job search. If you're applying to small companies or warehouses where you might be needed to help out in other duties, sure. But in an urban, straight out office job, that seems weird to include.
So basically I need to list everything I do in my current job with the omission of forklift operation? I can do that.
Anything quantifiable "shows." This is why @bowen's advice (and others) about quantifiable bullets are valuable: "Managed X people; tracked $Y in assets, increased frobulation from Q% to P% in 6 months" are resume gold.
You have to lead with either education or experience; skills go at the bottom. For education, put your degree and your awards; don't put your GPA and you'll be fine.
I will dispute a little about the 'skills' section. I am always very skeptical about anything in a 'skills' section, because it is often the ultimate violator of the "show, don't tell" rule. If it's something specific and theoretically verifiable (like you can type 80wpm, or you can do tenkey by touch, or you know Python) then go ahead and list it. When I see "great communicator" or "detail-oriented" or "research abilities" or "team player" or "writing skills" in a "skills" section I throw up in my mouth a little bit. Everybody thinks they have these skills, or at least has the chutzpah to lie about them. You're a great writer? Awesome, well I should see that in all the writing responsibilities you had in your past jobs, plus the writing award you were nominated for in college. You're a great team player? Don't worry, I will figure that out from all the teams you participated on with successful, high-pressure projects in your previous employment. You have leadership skills? Well, I kind of inferred that when I saw that you led three 6-person teams on big-dollar company investments in your last job.
Everybody lists the Office tools in there, and I guess you have to. Are you someone that knows how to use Office, or someone that Knows How To Use Office? Because there's people who have written a 10 page single-column essay in Word, and people who have typeset an 800-page textbook in Word. There are people who know how to use @SUM in Excel, and people who build PivotTables on the fly in meetings and write macros without looking stuff up. If you are the former type of person, just put (Word, Excel, PowerPoint). If you are the latter type of person, I'd elaborate a little bit on your experience (or make sure it shows up in the experience section).
The "minimalist" version is a good start. Move the skills section to the end and definitely expand your bullets in the experience section with some more detail as people above have suggested - especially quantitative detail where you can.
I have minimal counsel on what to do about having been a forklift driver. For some reason, I've seen that on a lot of resumes for positions that had nothing to do with forklifts; it always makes me smile a little bit. I actually think that's a small plus, because I read that as "was considered responsible enough to use heavy machinery and did not kill or maim anyone in the process."
Good luck.
I'd probably just include certification for forklift operation or something under that job.
You are sort of in between, so I would structure it based on the jobs you are applying for (and don't hesitate to send different versions of your resume in for different jobs) - the closer you can make your experience line up with the job requirements, the more I would lean toward education at the bottom.
Name
Contact Info
To Whom It May Concern:
My name is XXX. I am a graduate of XXX College and am currently seeking employment in the field of human resources.
My prior professional accomplishments include Improving inventory accuracy at XXX Automotive from 76% to 93% and maintaining a consistent record of high sales and low talk-time at XXX America. In both of these instances I earned positive results by successfully utilizing all available resources and maintaining goal-focused communication with other parties to learn how their needs could be most effectively met with the least amount of wasted time and effort on my part.
I would like to thank you for reviewing my employment application and taking the time to read this letter. I am grateful for the opportunity to be considered for this position.
Sincerely,
XXX
Dump the actual stats from the cover letter because it makes the transition between these two sentences really odd. You can back it down to something more like "revising and modifying inventory practices at XXX Automotive to drastically improve department performance".
The cover letter is where you talk like a person, the resume is where you dump your statistics.
I don't know what this means really. I always just attach it as a .docx and send. I land jobs. I dunno, I personally think cover letters are pure, substance-less fluff. But i mean, I know lots of people do use them.