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resume advice
Elin
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
The formatting is correct when it's in word, so that isn't an issue, but how does it look otherwise? I wrote this thing ... fuck, 13 years ago or so and have just been adding new info. I have deleted certain info as privacy issues, but have attempted to give you an idea of what that info pertains to. Thanks for the help.
(Name here)
(Full Address here)
Phone: (Number) Email: (First.last)@(provider).com
Objective
• To obtain a full-time position with a company that will utilize my skills and knowledge to their fullest extent.
Employment
Customer Service Representative
Asurion (city), CO 2008 - 09
• Assisted customers with making insurance claims.
• Assisted other agents with knowledge base questions.
• Took supervisor escalations when necessary to ease concerns of customers.
Customer Service Representative
Center Partners (city), CO 2007- 08 (company phone here)
• Assisted students with necessary paperwork to obtain private student loans
Front End Supervisor 2007 – 07
Michaels (city), CO (company phone here)
• Ordered and stocked front end impulse buys
• Assigned cashiers as needed to best assist customers
Customer Service Representative 2004 - 07
Page Plus Cellular (city), OH (company phone here)
• Activated and changed service on cell phones, I also handled billing and technical calls.
• Provided assistance to both customers and dealers.
SME (Subject Matter Expert) and CSR 2001 - 04
Convergys (city), OH (company phone here)
• Took supervisor escalations when necessary to ease concerns of subscribers.
• Traveled to Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada to help train over 100 agents in a new call center for cable television in the Chicago market.
Assistant Manager 2000 - 01
Bob Evans (city), OH (company phone here)
• Coordinated a staff of up to 30 to meet patron needs quickly and efficiently.
• Assisted employees on a one to one basis to ensure knowledge of assigned tasks.
Manager 1996 - 00
Burger King (city), OH
• Coordinated a staff of up to 20 to meet patron needs quickly and efficiently.
Completed nightly, weekly and monthly financial reports, including inventory, accounts payable and profit/loss reports.
Education
Bachelor of Science - Biology 2010 - present
• University of Northern Colorado (city), CO
Associate of Science 2008-10
• Aims Community College (city), CO
Diploma 1993 - 97
• Calvin M. Woodward High School (city), OH
(Full Address here)
Phone: (Number) Email: (First.last)@(provider).com
Objective
• To obtain a full-time position with a company that will utilize my skills and knowledge to their fullest extent.
Employment
Customer Service Representative
Asurion (city), CO 2008 - 09
• Assisted customers with making insurance claims.
• Assisted other agents with knowledge base questions.
• Took supervisor escalations when necessary to ease concerns of customers.
Customer Service Representative
Center Partners (city), CO 2007- 08 (company phone here)
• Assisted students with necessary paperwork to obtain private student loans
Front End Supervisor 2007 – 07
Michaels (city), CO (company phone here)
• Ordered and stocked front end impulse buys
• Assigned cashiers as needed to best assist customers
Customer Service Representative 2004 - 07
Page Plus Cellular (city), OH (company phone here)
• Activated and changed service on cell phones, I also handled billing and technical calls.
• Provided assistance to both customers and dealers.
SME (Subject Matter Expert) and CSR 2001 - 04
Convergys (city), OH (company phone here)
• Took supervisor escalations when necessary to ease concerns of subscribers.
• Traveled to Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada to help train over 100 agents in a new call center for cable television in the Chicago market.
Assistant Manager 2000 - 01
Bob Evans (city), OH (company phone here)
• Coordinated a staff of up to 30 to meet patron needs quickly and efficiently.
• Assisted employees on a one to one basis to ensure knowledge of assigned tasks.
Manager 1996 - 00
Burger King (city), OH
• Coordinated a staff of up to 20 to meet patron needs quickly and efficiently.
Completed nightly, weekly and monthly financial reports, including inventory, accounts payable and profit/loss reports.
Education
Bachelor of Science - Biology 2010 - present
• University of Northern Colorado (city), CO
Associate of Science 2008-10
• Aims Community College (city), CO
Diploma 1993 - 97
• Calvin M. Woodward High School (city), OH
Switch SW-5832-5050-0149
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Elin on
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When I graduate and look for a grown up job I'll be doing this, and cover letters. This is my "generic phone job # 3 resume." Plus, having someone pick apart language errors or telling me it looks dated will help me avoid those mistakes on a big girl job resume
PSN Hypacia
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You need to remove the "I" here to be in keeping with your format.
- Nobody cares where you went to high school, unless you went somewhere super prestigious like Exeter. Delete it. You might also consider listing your cumulative GPA in college/university (if they look good), and any classes you've taken that would be directly applicable to the job.
- I think the "Objective" section should be deleted as well. It sort of states the obvious, and worse, it indicates that you're working off a cookie-cutter resume template that you found online, which doesn't speak well to your creative abilities. If you want potential employers to know that you want "a full-time position with a company that will utilize my skills and knowledge to their fullest extent" -- which is a good thing to tell them -- I'd save it for the cover letter.
- You ought to list the months as well as the years when talking about your times of employment, if possible. Just listing the years makes you look like you're trying to hide significant employment gaps.
-I like that your entries about your work are concise, but many of them don't really speak much to your abilities. Wherever possible, you need to talk about the skills you learned and the responsibilities you had. Remember, you're selling yourself to future employers; it's important that you use strong language and play up your strengths.
Here's an example from my own resume:
This was an unpaid, part-time internship, and trust me when I say that it wasn't as interesting as I make it sound. But I did lots of little things to make this a strong entry: I listed it as "Communications Intern" rather than "Intern," to make it sound more important; I described the specific software I worked with to give you an indication of my skills; I listed every single little duty that might be applicable to future employment. (A lot of places are looking to hire communications staff to handle their blogs, social network pages, and other new media concerns, so I made sure to stress my experience with that.)
You really ought to go through your resume and find more ways to sell yourself through your experiences. For instance, your Burger King entry is probably the strongest one on the resume, because it describes your specific leadership functions (managed a staff of 20) and your management skills (your work with financial reports). Your Asurion entry, on the other hand, is too general and weak. What customer service skills did you carry away from that job? What responsibilities did you have? What the heck is a supervisor escalation and why should I care?
- You should also probably look to trim and streamline your resume a bit. 7 work entries stretching back 15 years speaks well to your continued employment, but it doesn't do a lot for you otherwise. 4-5 entries is around the number you should shoot for, in my opinion. You might actually consider drafting multiple resumes that target different job markets. For example, list all your customer service experience when applying for a customer service position; list all your management experience when looking for a management position.
- If you've won any awards, list them. Did you win an employee of the month award? A book award in high school? Doesn't matter how obscure or stupid they are... winning awards makes you stand out.
- Finally, you should add a skills and interests section. Do you have any foreign language knowledge? (Spanish fluency is a huge plus for any job.) What operating systems and software are you proficient with? (Mac OS X? Windows XP/Vista/7? Microsoft Office 2004? Online databases like LexisNexis and IBSS? Any specialized stuff like Photoshop or NGP? This stuff might be obvious to you, but even saying that you're proficient with something as simple as Windows and Microsoft Office Suite wins you points with employers.)
Another nice thing to add here is a line about your hobbies. While it doesn't speak to your work-specific abilities, saying that you like to play guitar, cook, and run marathons reminds the person reading your resume that yes, you are a real person. It also helps you stand out from the pack, believe it or not.
Get rid of Objective section.
Trim some of the shorter or less-important entries.
When describing duties, use more action words like 'served', 'used', and 'contacted', and describe tasks where you went beyond the job, or more specifically, where people would think you went beyond the job. I.e, "Revised and implemented safety training for all new employees; including equipment and operations." Means you showed the new kid where the fire extinguisher was.
edit: I'm anti-hobbies, but could depend on the career or even company. Guess I feel it would add too much liability in that it's personal info that could be used for a discriminatory suit so company wouldn't risk it.
I guess it's kind of situational. If your hobbies are video games, D&D, BDSM, dressing up in fur suits, or something else considered immature or weird, you should keep that stuff to yourself. You don't want to invite discrimination.
On the other hand, some hobbies reflect well on an applicant. Playing an instrument for 5+ years shows that you have commitment and the patience/will power to stick with a tough, long-term project. Photography, arts and crafts, Photoshop, and even knitting all reflect on your creativity. Sports can show that you're a team player.
Hell, sometimes hobbies can help you in really strange and unexpected ways. I knew a guy who (probably) got an interview because he likes trivia and the office he applied for wanted new blood on its weekly trivia night team.