November - December 2001  

Does Your Résumé Read More Like An Obituary?

by Russell H. Kinner, P.E.

I recently talked with a job placement specialist about how best to prepare for a job change. Our discussion quickly centered on résumés and the mistakes people make most often when preparing them. The specialist's most sage advice was this: be sure that your "… résumé isn't your obituary." I was intrigued by this comment and asked him to amplify that remark.

Is "Been There, Done That" Enough?

Most résumés include a personal "career objective" statement and then list the jobs you have held, the titles that accompanied those positions, and the corresponding dates of employment. In general, this information confirms that you are "qualified" for a particular position. What résumés often lack, however, are descriptions of how you can solve employers' problems (the reason most employers are looking for new hires).

If your résumé emphasizes what you have done, it probably reads similarly to the quarter-column final mention of your life that your family would place in the local newspaper. Instead, your résumé must show what you can do for a prospective employer.

The Five Ws

For your résumé to be effective and make you "stand out," it's important to describe the skills you have by explaining what you did in your past positions. Adequate explanations include more than mere statements of what you have done, however.

In preparing a solid résumé, answer the five Ws:

• Who (you, of course)
• What you did
• When you did the work
• Where you did the work
• Why it is important to the prospective employer

Of the five Ws, the Why is overlooked most often, and even when it's not, it doesn't always stand out. The skills you display in your descriptions often apply to many positions in multiple industries. But your descriptions need to differentiate you from other job candidates. Remember, résumés are often the only documents employers use to choose the two or three candidates they actually interview.

To strengthen the Why, use your résumé to describe the impact your actions had on the projects you describe. For example, adding "…This modification saved two to three percent overpack on the production line, which resulted in savings of $10,000/week per line" to a description will most certainly get some attention!

Don't Save Stand-Out Information

I reviewed my own résumé to see where I could add impact statements. I found that there were more things in my background worth mentioning than I had ever realized. Even my work in the broadcast industry during college, and passing my FCC 1st Class Radiotelephone License, became part of my "big picture" experience. Managing several programmers early in my career turned out to be another highlight that I probably never would have considered essential if I had not gone through this exercise. Instead, I would have saved it for an in-person interview. Of course, the risk of holding back such potentially valuable stand-out information is that you just may not get that in-person interview.

As the Boy Scouts Say…

While I am fortunate to be working right now, the Boy Scouts' "Be Prepared" motto is as true in my professional life as it was when I was a boy. None of us really know when we will be looking for a new job, so get ready — and be ready — now. You can start by breathing some new life into that résumé of yours.

Russell H. Kinner, P.E., is an engineer with AVCA Corporation in Maumee, Ohio. He specializes in the food processing, glass and petro/chemical industries. Mr. Kinner is also IEEE-USA’s Region 4 PACE Coordinator.