By now you should be rested and ready to take the next step on this journey which is either creating or updating your résumé.

Before we begin, however, you should know that I am assuming that you wish to rejoin the work force as an employee.

For those of you who wish to start your own business, I suggest you check out www.seanroach.com. Sean is an entrepreneur of the highest caliber and I am sure you will find value in his work.

Oh, one more thing. From this point on my posts on this subject will be titled with “steps” rather than “days” because the time it takes to complete each suggestion really depends on you.

STEP 6:
Write the résumé.

Many of us hate the idea of writing a résumé. I am not sure why this is so. I suspect that it has something to do with the fact that a résumé forces us to distill our entire work history down to a few short and seemingly two-dimensional sentences. By two-dimensional, I mean that a résumé does not and cannot reflect all of the overtime we put in so that we could “get the job done”; nor does it take into account the workplace political minutia we had to deal with on a regular basis. It cannot tell the reader how many times we ran out of the house with a piece of toast in hand so that we would not be late for work. It does not describe all of the sleepless nights we spent worrying about work related issues. It does not list any of the times we had to “cover” for a coworker’s ineptitude. Simply put, I think many of us feel that a résumé “short changes” us.

While this may all be true you still need to have a résumé if you are to be truly prepared for the road ahead.

To those of you seeking civil service positions such as working for a police department, a university, or a government agency, while a résumé is not required, it will be helpful in terms of organizing your work history information. Lengthy job applications tend to be a bit impersonal; submitting a résumé in addition to the required application gives you an opportunity to leave a more personal impression.

I want you to know that I have personally reviewed over three-thousand résumés during my career. I have personally been responsible for unilaterally hiring over fifty midlevel employees for several large companies. I have personally submitted my own résumé over two-thousand times with a 92% callback rate; which brings me to a very important point. Always keep in mind that a résumé has only one purpose, to get you an interview; that’s it and nothing more. I really want you to focus on this point for a moment. A résumé is not intended to get you hired but merely to get your proverbial foot in the proverbial door.

In my opinion, the only true measure of a résumé’s effectiveness is its “callback” ratio. That is, the number of potential employers who call for an interview as a result of receiving your résumé.

As there are so many, many resources available that show you how to create a résumé, I will not endeavor to do so here. I will, however, offer a few suggestions.

1.
Keep the formatting simple and easy to read. Use white paper with black ink. The font size should be 12 point. If you find that using a font size of 12 point will cause your résumé to be longer than one page then use a 10 point font size. I prefer to both send out and receive single column résumés.

2.
A good résumé states just the facts. It is not a story and, therefore, should not be written as a narrative.

3.
When it comes to résumés, the shorter the better. One page is best but two is acceptable.

OK, it’s time to get started.

I am excited for you.

Remember, the only thing your résumé needs to do is get you an interview, nothing more.

Trust me, you can do this.

Mark