Rate Your Rusume
The resume is a statement about you, written by you. Obviously, a special effort will be needed to make an objective self- assessment! The modest amongst you will be too reticent, not laying claim to credit really due to you. The less inhibited may go too far; making claims that could be difficult to uphold during the interview.
There is need therefore, to pause now that the first draft is ready. After the first flush of creative energy, there is need for reflection and systematic, objective evaluation so that the rough edges can be smoothed and the entire product can be polished till it shines. The revision is fig often far more difficult than the drafting itself. You may use the following techniques for an objective self- evaluation. As an additional input, recruit an experienced and trusted friend to critique your resume if you can.
You be the Judge
The resume needs to be strong and concise. The objective should clearly state your career goals while the body of the resume should support the objective logically. Your resume makes a personal statement about you and your career. It is a written down snapshot of your work, education and your professional life. It is important that you feel comfortable with your resume's format and content. If the final product doesn't make you feel proud to use it as your personal sales tool, take time to make the changes necessary to achieve this goal.
Use the two evaluation forms given in the next section of this chapter to check your resume. The resume critique form covers:
1. Overall Appearance. 2. Specific Attributes.
Under each of these two main factors are several sub-factors. Rate each sub-factor as one of the following:
1. Accept. 2. Rework.
There is no need to use more gradations such as a scale of 1 to 5. Either the portion under review is okay as it is or, it needs more work. There is no middle ground!
The Critique Form
Critique your resume in two parts, overall appearance and specific attributes. first part deals with overall appearance and the second with specific attributes. The first part addresses the structure and the appearance of the resume. The second part evaluates the resume's actual contents. Evaluate each part on its own merits. That is, do not let the contents influence the evaluation of the appearance, or, appearance influence the evaluation of the contents. Give a break of a day or two between the initial drafting and the critique of your resume to bring to bear the objectivity you will need.
Multiple Evaluations
If possible, hand out a copy of your draft resume and a set of evaluation forms to one or two trusted friends.
If you compare their evaluation forms with your own, you will get more than one dependable input to help you edit and polish your masterpiece. Having your friends use structured evaluation forms will yield much more useful information than just a quick overall feedback which may merely say "excellent" or "okay".
| Is the layout pleasing to the eye? | ||
| Does the written matter fit comfortably on the page without overcrowding or too much white space? | ||
| Is the resume on good quality bond paper and the typing clear and un-smudged? | ||
| Is the resume easily readable? (Bullets used, no long sentences, no obscure fonts, no abbreviations) | ||
| Does the resume use bold, italics and underlining to highlight strengths? | ||
| Is important information located prominently at the left and near top of the page whenever possible? | ||
| Overall rating for Appearance |
Assuming that the resume passes the appearance test, let us look at it once again from the point of view of the quality of specific attributes.
| Goal Focused: Does the text support the objective? | ||
| Length: Can it be shortened? Is a page comfortably filled? | ||
| Relevance: Is the material relevant and sequenced in order of importance? | ||
| Format: Is the format (Chronological, functional, combination) appropriate for the most favourable presentation? | ||
| Action Orientation: Do sentences and paragraphs begin with action verbs? | ||
| Specificity: Does the resume avoid generality and focus on specific performance and achievements? | ||
| Completeness: Are all relevant information included? | ||
| Bottom Line: How well does the resume accomplish the ultimate purpose of getting the employer to want to interview the applicant? | ||
| Quantified Results: Are the results of your past work experience quantified as far as possible? |
If any of the criteria gets a rework rating in any of the two parts, do go through your resume once again, even if the overall ratings for appearance and/or attributes are acceptable. Pay particular attention to the deficient criterion this" time around.
Armed with these two forms, filled in by yourself and one or two trusted friends, you should now have all the inputs you need to produce a masterpiece of a resume.
While we encourage you to get independent evaluations from friends, and to look at these evaluations objectively, it is good to remember that it is your resume and their advice should be acted on only if you are convinced that by doing so, you will indeed improve on your resume! So, base your corrective action primarily on your self-evaluation and use the friendly critiques as secondary inputs.
The end of Chapter 6 may be a good time to pause and review the contents of this book. You should now have all the tools you need to professionally plan, draft, format and review your resume. By following these steps, you will surely produce a masterpiece that was so long hidden inside you, waiting for the right inspiration; to come out and impress the world!