Executive recruiter Jeff Lundwall spoke to us for a Retooling feature on how Mercury Group is managing through the downturn (you can read the story here). Below are Mercury’s guidelines for reworking your resume in the recession. Please contact Jeff or his partner JD Rehm at Mercury Group for more details and additional suggestions and strategies.

RÉSUMÉ GUIDELINES/SUGESTIONS
A résumé is nothing more than your personal sell sheet as a candidate with a singular purpose of getting a meeting with a hiring manager. Your resume should serve as your personal branding document. The typical hiring manager will spend only ten (10) seconds with a résumé before deciding to read on (potentially leading to a meeting) or discard your résumé as not being interesting enough to distract them from other work. To this end, your résumé should be focused and succinct.

COVER LETTER
Your cover letter should demonstrate your knowledge of the company to which you are applying as well as give a quick overview of what you have to offer; how that applies to their needs and tell the reader why you are the best candidate for an interview. It should also “tease” your reader by including a couple of your best accomplishments to draw them in. A test of a good cover letter is to ensure it tells your career “in a nutshell”, sets the focus and makes the reader want to know more about you.

BIO
A bio can be an effective way to create a narrative around your experience and also act as a good basis for your cover letter. If you have made changes in company, role or industry it can help walk the reader though your decisions and progression. In addition, the bio can explain any time off between jobs (travel, children, etc) as well as expand on your interests outside of work. This is also your opportunity to demonstrate your writing skills and ability to cohesively connect thoughts.

INTRODUCTION/SUMMARY/OBJECTIVE: NOT NECESSARY
These are not necessary elements for a few reasons:

• an introduction is too general, anything specific should be in a cover letter
• a summary is out of context, everything you might say in a summary should be evident in the résumé itself and demonstrated by your achievements
• an objective is inherently self-serving, what you are seeking in a job is not as important as what the hiring manager needs for his/her organization
• it is a waste of valuable space

DESIGN AND FORMAT
You need to treat the design and formatting of your resume with as much care as you use in crafting your responses to interview questions. Hiring managers expect you to have a professional presentation of yourself because they expect you to give a professional presentation to customers, vendors, and others with whom you would be dealing with at their organization. Mistakes in formatting on your résumé would certainly lead hiring managers to think you are sloppy, which would potentially be a bad reflection on them if they were to hire you. Some suggestions are below:

• 9pt font is generally fine for bullet points, 10pt for company/title/contact info, 12pt for name
• san serif fonts are easier to read on a screen (we suggest Arial, in which this document is written)
• include the URL of companies for which you have worked
• it is important to clearly label the company, title and timeframe of each position and, if necessary, provide a one-line sentence with a description about that company if it is not a household name.
• make sure your dates match up…whether professional or personal, all time should be accounted for (potentially in “other experience” section at bottom of résumé)

CONTENT
Be sure your résumé is not a task-based resume but rather a result-based resume. Make sure your statements list what you achieved, not what you did.

Include specific, measurable and quantitative results in every part of the résumé. A good rule of thumb is to have more numbers/percentages/bullet points for more recent/relevant positions. Numbers and percentages will stand out to a Hiring Manager whether for a sales/revenue position or a non-revenue producing position.

MECHANICS
Don’t give too much information on your résumé. Remember, the résumé’s purpose is to get a meeting…nothing more. If you give too much info on your résumé, you eliminate the reason to meet with you. For example, if you are a operational manager who implemented an process that resulted in 30% savings for your department, and then you explain how you did that, you have just taken away the reason to meet with you…include the achievement but not necessarily how you did it, make them meet you to find out.

Be careful of word redundancies. Do you start your bullets: “Manage”, “Manage” and “Manage”? When the reader skims the resume (and only glances briefly at the beginning of the job descriptions), she/he should get a dynamic message — and perhaps be motivated to continue reading more. Focus on “action words.”

EDUCATION

• include the school, year, major(s) and honors on one line
• include any extracurricular activities (sports, organizations, affiliations) on one line

OTHER EXPERIENCE
This section should be used to account for any time off (children, travel, etc.).

INTERESTS
These are important, as it will give people a way to connect with you personally. Be specific; as an example, “travel” or “reading” is not as interesting as “adventure travel” or “reading biographies of American Presidents.”

OTHER SUGGESTIONS

AFTER THE MEETING/FOLLOW UP
This is one of the most important elements to finding a job…following up.

First, ask the hiring manager how he/she prefers communication (email/phone). In this world of over-stuffed email inboxes, a hand-written note really breaks through the clutter…your initial follow up note should be sent in a timely manner, be concise and clearly convey your desire for the job. After your initial follow-up make sure you are using the method requested by the hiring manager (phone/email).

STAY IN TOUCH
If a hiring manager gives you :30 minutes of his/her time, but decides you are not a good fit for the open position, the conversation doesn’t have to end there. Depending on the meeting, you may want to consider letting them know how your search is going and, eventually, where you land. In some cases, letting the hiring manager know how you are progressing will keep you top of mind should any other positions open in their company, as well as potentially put you in touch with others who might be hiring.

Contact Mercury Group for more info.