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A fresh resume gives you an edge in tight economy
By Suzanne DeVries
January 14, 2009
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| Suzanne DeVries is president and founder of Diamond Staffing Solutions Inc., one of the jewelry industry's leading placement firms and an official American Gem Society sustaining member. |
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Layoffs, cutbacks and restructurings can happen to even the best employees, with little or no warning, especially in a bad economy. If this happens to you, the last thing you will want to do is create a current resume from scratch.
Despite grim economic times this year, we are all hoping that the jewelry industry can pull a major turnaround and finish with a strong holiday season.
Unfortunately, the ongoing uncertainty in the market means we can almost guarantee that some, perhaps many of you, will be out of a job and looking for work on Jan. 2 or Feb. 15, right after Valentine's Day. This is one of the reasons why it is so important to keep your resume updated.
Layoffs, cutbacks and restructurings can happen to even the best employees, with little or no warning, especially in a bad economy. If this happens to you, the last thing you will want to do is create a current resume from scratch.
However, if you have been keeping your resume updated all along, you can start your job search efforts almost immediately without delaying applications and interviews. We have seen numerous candidates lose opportunities for which they were a perfect fit because they did not have an updated resume.
Even if you are not thinking about making a career change, it is always a good idea to keep your resume fresh. You never know when a friend, family member, colleague, acquaintance, recruiter or other interested party may call with an enticing new career opportunity, and you do not want to be caught unprepared.
While it is critical to have an updated resume, your resume also needs to look professional and well-written so that it can market you in the best light. Your resume is your own personal "branding statement"--it is an advertisement of your skills, talents and experience meant to entice hiring managers. It is also likely to be a company's "first impression" of you, so make it count. You would be surprised to learn how often we work with job candidates whose resumes are, quite frankly, awful.
Here are some of the most common mistakes we see on candidates' resumes:
--Not listing all previous employers. All previous employers should be included (in reverse chronological order) on a standard resume, regardless of how long you were employed there. Leaving a previous employer off your resume can raise a red flag for prospective employers and rouse suspicions that you are trying to hide something.
--Not listing accurate dates of employment. Any date discrepancies can prompt a hiring manager to question your diligence, accuracy and honesty. If you want to minimize gaps in employment or play down certain positions, consider a functional resume (focused on skills, experience and achievements rather than on specific jobs, dates and employers) instead of a traditional chronological format.
--Listing routine job responsibilities without highlighting achievements. Your resume should not read like a job description. While describing job responsibilities is important, your achievements make your resume stand out and show prospective employers the value you have brought to other companies--and that you can bring to them as well.
--Stretching the truth. Inflated job titles, unfinished or imaginary degrees, non-existent awards, bloated job responsibilities, unwarranted achievements, and missing or inaccurate dates/employers are just some of the things we have uncovered on resumes. Lying on your resume is a huge gamble. Chances are you'll be found out and taken out of the running for any position. It is also grounds for immediate dismissal if you have already been hired, and can even prompt an employer to take legal action.
--Omitting key words. Many experts advocate creating, right upfront, some type of "Core Competencies" section that will include key words, important skill sets and experience relevant to the position you are applying for. There are two reason for this: First, it allows hiring managers to quickly identify that you have the talents and background they are looking for. Secondly, since resumes today are often sorted through a digital keyword scanner, this section will help ensure that your resume "makes the grade" and passes on to the next level.
--Not using spell check. There is nothing that screams unprofessional, unconscientious and uncaring more than a resume riddled with spelling, grammatical or format-related errors. Employers have even been known to completely disregard an otherwise strong candidate just because of one typo in a resume. While using spell check is important, it also pays to have several sets of fresh, trustworthy, unbiased eyes proof your resume before you send it out.
Editor's note: Suzanne DeVries' "Personnel Matters" column first appeared in the November 2008 print edition of National Jeweler in the Your Store section.
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