Resume Writer Matthew Greene, M.Phil.
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| *About Matthew Greene: Since 1984, Matthew Greene has written (or edited or critiqued) about 6,000 managerial and executive resumes. The vast majority of these have been very successful. Greene is a resume writing expert and consultant, job search maven, and author of the best-selling book, Winning Resumes --"Sure-Hire" Tactics.... (Penguin), a selection of the Fortune (now Money) Book Club. |
In 2010, management resumes should be carefully designed, constructed, and written to showcase and market your best "selling points" — UP FRONT and throughout your resume. They MUST include your strongest management skills and accomplishments in order to "sell" your value or worth to recruiters in only 10-15 SECONDS.
A good management resume is much more than a plain or "basic" resume. It is a job search tool that you need to create or build for the strategic MARKETING of two things — what you have to offer and the likely benefits of hiring you. All management resumes need to include such a VALUE STATEMENT.
Resume writing has changed a lot because resumes need to be stronger and better in this recession. A few years ago, you were advised to use "action words"; today it is to emphasize "keywords" for easy scanning by a reader or OCR machine. Moreover, for maximum effectiveness, your management resumes should target each employer's SPECIFIC needs and "sell" you UP FRONT — from Line One onwards. This will impress recruiters and continue to sell you during the interview as well as later to a selection committee.
In any resume for a manager or executive, selling yourself starts in your Job Objective! A well-written Job Objective is crucial because it is the attention-getting and marketing "head" of your resume. First, it tells the reader what position you are seeking. Second, it starts to offer the benefits of hiring you such as your most qualifying work experience and/or track record of accomplishment and/or valuable skills — a few selected items that will impress, back up and support your application. [Modern Job Objectives can be 3-7 lines in length and are marketing-oriented. They should include strategic sales "hooks" such as one or two or even three bulleted accomplishments. These will start to "sell" you immediately in management resumes -- even in 2010.]
The next section in management resumes is a bulleted Summary or Qualifications Statement or Profile that presents your job-related education, your most impressive or related job experience, your track record of success or promotions, the names of major employers, your most impressive accomplishment(s), and your strongest skills and strengths. Such items should support your job objective. (If possible, bulleted items should address each of the SPECIFIC requirements that are stated in job advertisements.)
Since you are a manager or executive, you should also list your areas of experience or expertise in two or three columns so that the reader will quickly see that you can offer "Leadership" or "Project Management" or "Operations Management" or "Strategic Planning" or "Solutions Selling" or "Team-building" or "Negotiating Skills". (But DON'T write amateurish stuff like "A true closer" as a top sales executive recently did.)
Thus, in only 10-15 lines, your management resume or resumes will make you LOOK like the candidate they are eager to interview and hire in 2010.
"Where's the Beef?" and Other Resume Questions
Is your management resume still on one page? In 2010, most managers and executives will NOT be able to do themselves justice on a single page! Take a long, hard look at your own management resume or resumes and ask yourself the crucial question: "Where's the beef?" Is your management resume like a hamburger where the "beef" (your "sell") is hidden? Reverse your job search telescope and look at your management resume in the way a super picky employer or recruiter is sure to do. Can you see why they should hire you in 2010?
Thousands of self-written management resumes omit or mess up the Job Objective and/or bulleted Summary. This is a fatal mistake. Why? Because these resume sections have a crucial function or role to play in winning management resumes. Their role is similar to attention-getting, Point-of-Sale promotional materials in a store that motivate shoppers to check out and buy a product.
Does your Work Experience section consist of 5-7 solid, gray paragraphs with run-on lines? Do keywords or impressive numbers or phrases "jump out" at the reader? Are the names of your major customers or clients highlighted? Do your Accomplishments lie buried in the text where they'll be overlooked or do they stand out? Such management resume mistakes will cost you dearly in 2010. Frankly, the "mashed potato" look that I see in many management resumes will NOT sell! It hardly ever did.
Are you using 20-40 decorative, black "bullets" or arrows to make your resume look more interesting or to give it "eye appeal"? I see this in many management resumes. Please DON'T do this! They will be ignored because they are only pretty "dingbats".
Important keywords should always be bolded, underlined or italicized to draw the reader's attention to them. They should "jump" off the page. If the reader is searching for buzz words or phrases such as "cost reduction" or "turnaround" or "start-up experience" or "process improvement" or "strategic or tactical selling" or "selling to C-level executives" or "creative marketing" or "business strategy" or "business process re-engineering or improvement" or "customer-centric", these should be highlighted. In the recession of 2010, they are a MUST in all management resumes.
Above all, your resume should be easily scannable in 30 seconds or less. What the reader wants to see must "jump out" at him or her. (But DON'T bold or highlight too many words or phrases or sentences in the resume as a top sales executive recently did. That will backfire.) A copy-and-paste online application will require a proper ASCII or text-based resume format where the document has been reformatted in plain Notepad (with a maximum of 600 characters per line) instead of MS Word. Because sending a resume on-line will destroy the valuable attention-getters and highlighters in a Word document, new attention-getters such as using CAPS and "+" or "*" will need to be added. In addition, put all HEADINGS in CAPS with lots of white space between sections.
Finally, laser printing on first-class resume paper is essential for creating that all-important first impression. (KINKO's # 2 resume paper is ideal. It is 24lb linen and the color is off-white. Use their laser printers to prepare master copies of your documents.)
IMPORTANT NOTE: The awful reality is that many highly
qualified management candidates in 2010 will probably fail to land job interviews.
Most of these applicants will usually be beaten by a less-qualified candidate
with the best
resume! It's an old story but that is how the hiring system works. Don't fight
it! Management resumes must sell you to picky employers in today's recession. Please wake up, smell the coffee and get professional help before your time and money run out. The Great Recession of 2009 will continue in 2010. Please visit WINNING RESUMES BLOG for valuable recession "tips".]
mattgreene@aol.com ©1999-2010 by Matthew Greene
URL:
http://www.winning-resumes.com
Tel.: 1-718-436-3504
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