CSUN Professor Offers Tips in
Selling Yourself Through Your Resume
(NORTHRIDGE, Calif., Sept. 14, 2004) -- When applying for a job, your resume often represents the first time a potential employer gets to "meet" you.
To ensure you make a good impression, Cal State Northridge management professor Jay Christensen has some tips on making sure your resume delivers the impression you want to leave.
"People really have to think outside the box these days when it comes to resumes. They have to remember that a resume is really a selling document, the kind that sells your highest qualifications," said Christensen, who noted that September is "International Update Your Resume Month" according to the Professional Resume Writing and Research Association.
For first-time resume preparers, Christensen has five elements to keep in mind:
- Sharpen the verbs and properly describe what you have done.
- Organize the work story of your life so a prospective employer can easily find what is needed.
- Think about projects you have done--term papers, group presentations or profound essays--and chronicle these accomplishments in about 45 words.
- Chronicle each of these accomplishments and results, not duties and responsibilities.
- Revise, revise and revise.
"Your polished resume needs to impress an employer and express what you can contribute," Christensen said.
For a person re-entering the workforce, Christensen has this advice:
- Probe deeply into your memory bank and find those accomplishments you think will impress an employer.
- Organize your resume in a standard format, such as chronological, functional or hybrid.
- Consider preparing your resume in an electronic format or as a Web portfolio. Secure the necessary Web site help and book or manual to develop such a resume.
- Examine your workplace knowledge and skills valuable to an employer. If you haven't worked in 10 years, for example, what have you done in management for your household?
- Secure a good book on resumes and study the best examples.
Christensen also has advice for those who have been laid off after more than 20 years with one employer:
- Look critically at your current resume, and tweak the categories for the new positions on Monster.com, word-of-mouth positions or cold calling.
- Look at whether the verbs you used on a previous resume now satisfy current employers.
- Change resumes and accomplishments to fit different jobs and job categories.
- Look for accomplishments from your old job and summarize them.
- Sell, sell and sell.
"You hear of resume preparers sending out hundreds of resumes and not getting back even one response," Christensen said. "People can't think that way. Look at every word, every verb, every accomplishment and every piece of education. Look for ways to enhance and promote accomplishments that weren't listed before."
Christensen said his suggestions don't represent panaceas.
"They represent hard-headed realities of how difficult obtaining a position is," he said. "The resume represents the first and most important step. Update or start your resume with the goal that you will succeed."
