Last week, we wrote about working through the first part of the search process. Do your research to determine what you want to do, who you want to work for, where you want to work and know how much you are looking to make by following the F.I.L.L. method. In case you missed it, check out last week’s entry here. Now that you are able to make an educated decision on what career option you would like to pursue, it’s time to put a plan into action. The first step is putting together a resume that is geared specifically toward a given opportunity that you are looking to pursue.

Starting from the top, your choice of career path you would like to take is also known as your objective. It is important to develop an objective statement and to be sure you have made it precise and simple. After you have created an objective statement, you are able to begin building and crafting your resume so that you are show casing the skills and experiences in your background that relate back to that objective statement. Your statement should clearly define the purpose of your resume. An example: “Obtain a Territory Sales position that will enable me to use my strong sales skills, marketing background and abilities to work well with co-workers.” In this example you see that the desired position is related to a number of skills. A lot of times if your objective statement is too vague or off topic, you run the risk of your resume being over looked or tossed aside.

Now that we have the objective statement, we can get into the core of the resume. Below is an outline of items you want to make sure are included in your resume:

• Contact information: Name, Most Current Phone Number, Email and Address
• Education: List all degrees and/or certifications and dates they were received
• Previous Experience: Be sure to include previous employers, your title, dates of employment as well as a list of your experiences, accomplishments and any related awards or accolades you received as a result of your time with each company. Also, try to keep it relevant to the job you are seeking. For example, if you are looking to get into an Accounting role and you worked at a bar or restaurant back in college, you won’t need to include that information.
• Additional Information: Volunteer experience, charity work, athletic experience, etc. are all important to include as well because they help your resume paint a picture of you as a human being rather than just a list of experiences

This is where it is important to address the former athletes in the room. Whether you are coming out of a collegiate locker room, a professional program or fresh from competing for your country in the Olympics, there are a few things you want to remember when it comes to your business resume:

• Include: Awards and accomplishments that pertain to things like leadership and dedication, such as captain awards, coach’s awards, community involvement, etc.
• Don’t Include: Items such as player stats, game logs, and athletic achievement awards such as MVP or All-star. While these items are great achievements, unless you are looking to get into a role coaching a sport, these do not pertain to the corporate world.

Some of you may be sitting there at this point and think “I just graduated” or “I just finished my career” and “I don’t have any relative experience that employers would look for”. If that sounds like you, here’s some good news: You’re Wrong! Companies are looking for people just like you because of the following much needed skill set:

Now what we need to do is articulate those skills on paper and relate them to positions within a business setting. Once we have been able to do that, you have now made yourself an even more valuable candidate in the eyes of a potential employer. However, we don’t want to leave it up to fate and hope someone finds you; you want to be proactive in actively marketing yourself. There are many ways to do this including:

• LinkedIn: Be sure to brand yourself as actively looking for employment

• Career/Job boards: Check with your college advisors about job boards and upcoming career fairs

• Job sites like Monster.com, CareerBuilder.com, Indeed.com, ZipRecruiter.com, etc.

• Getting your information to recruiters

Essentially what you want to do is to begin building a brand for yourself. Once you begin to develop that brand, it’s all about networking and meeting new people, asking questions and getting your resume in front of people that wouldn’t have otherwise seen it. Again, as we mentioned in our last blog, looking for a new career is a full time job in and of itself, you have to work hard in order to be successful.

Join us next week as we discuss what to do once you have made a successful connection with an employer and how to go about the interview process like a seasoned professional.

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