Every week, NETSHARE hosts Ask the Coach, a phone-in coaching session with leading career management experts. Here is an excerpt from this week’s session with our newest expert to join Ask the Coach, Christine Dennison, The Job Search Coach.
This week’s call started with a question from a professional who has been transferred from one job to another throughout his career. As a result, it appears that he doesn’t have a focus. How do you combat that in presenting yourself in a resume or cover letter?
The best way to approach a resume these days is to put a summary of your qualifications at the top or a value proposition. It’s no longer useful to start with a career objective at the top if the resume. Instead, you need to show your value from the outset, and provide your background in a nutshell and guide the reader. You can use accomplishments or themes around your background.
For example, even if you have had a number of different kinds of positions, you can usually take a step back and figure out if there are themes, things you are good at. Think in terms of what difference you made for each company you worked for; what did you inherit, how did you solve problems, and how do you add to their bottom line. If you can summarize that kind of information it will demonstrate your value in a nutshell. If you have a diverse background with many career changes, you still can identify a recurring theme.
It’s also important that you not ask the reader to have to figure you out. You are not asking them to choose from the long list of possibilities and isolate the matching elements that fit the position. Don’t worry about getting in all the key words and experience that might fit the job. Pick a main theme and develop two or three different versions of the resume to cover the different hats you might wear.
