Want forty-five grand in your pocket? Hit me the right way!
Dec 24 '00 (Updated Dec 29 '00)
I will give you $45,000 if you hit me the right way. Plus a bonus and benefits. Am I nuts? Yes. But if you don't hit me in the first five seconds of me reading your resume, I will never let you have an interview. No interview, no job. Here is a discussion of what to keep in mind as you write your resume...
Why does this matter?
Everything that you work for in college boils down to your resume. Sad, but true. If your goal in life is to get a great job, then you will have to write a spectacular resume that will make your accomplishments jump off the page and smack the recruiter in the face. If you fail to impress the recruiters at first glance with your resume, you will never get your toe in the door to get an interview. If you don’t get an interview, you can never show the boss-of-your-dreams how perfect you are for this particular position. Fortunately, most colleges have some sort of career development center that can help you with your resume. I wholeheartedly encourage you to take full advantage of any services your school has to offer. However, they prefer to be the final editors on your masterpiece. I have compiled a number of things to keep in mind when crafting your resume so that you can get a good running start when you go in to talk to your school’s career counselors.
What gives me the right to write about this?
I work as an investment banker in Philadelphia, handling mergers and acquisitions. My department is small (five people, and counting), but each year we have added a first-year analyst – straight out of college – to our roster. I am the first contact point for all incoming resumes, so I have been fortunate enough to see hundreds of resumes come across my desk – some that work, and many that don’t.
Just to give you a sense of the numbers of resumes I get to see, I will tell you some numbers: I posted the job five days ago. In those five days, I have received over 200 resumes. Out of those 200 resumes, I have whittled it down to five or six I thought worthy of showing to our V.P. Of those, maybe one will get an interview. Keep in mind – the ad has only been live for five days, and it will be run for another three weeks. Also keep in mind, we targeted our ad to Ivy League and Ivy-caliber colleges and universities (only 15 schools in all), so these stats are among the best and brightest in the country.
What does all this mean? This means that the numbers are working against you when you submit a resume to a recruiter. You either strike me as impressive immediately, or you go to the top of the “Reject” pile. There are no second chances.
Here are some basic tips to keep in mind as you start to write your resume:
1) Realize that you have only page to knock my socks off.
I once read that even the President’s resume is no longer than a page; there is no reason why your should be longer. Recruiters are expecting to see a stack of single-page resumes, so if yours goes on and on, you will be looked at with suspicion for your inability to be concise (of course, I am one to talk – but that’s another issue!)
2) Are you sure you are applying for the right job?
I can not tell you how many times I have said this to myself while I was reading someone’s resume: Ok, let me get this straight. You are a Bio major, you have worked in three laboratories, and you've interned with a Bio professor studying molecular reactions. I work in an investment bank and perform discounted cash-flow analyses for a living. Why are you applying for this job???
I want to see a clear indication that you have some interest in the field in which I am hiring. You don’t have to have had a summer internship at Goldman Sachs investment banking (although it won’t hurt!), but I want to see that you have a clear understanding of what the position entails. If you were a Bio major and you have suddenly decided in your senior year that you hate all multi-and-single-celled organisms, attach a cover letter that explains your choice to apply for a finance job. However, I will want to see that you have been academically prepared, so list any-and-all finance, economics, accounting and math classes you have taken. At least with our applicants, we want to make sure that you will be up to the analytical challenges of our position. Keep this in mind as you are submitting your resume for any position; almost any recruiter will want to see a list of courses relevant to your intended job, any relevant experience you have had and the grades you have received in classes relevant to your intended field. Otherwise, you come off as unfocused and you will be “ding-ed” (rejected).
The exception to the rule will be any large firm with a structured training program, such as a Merrill Lynch or an Andersen Consulting. They don’t care what you have done in college, because they are going to reprogram you to do things their way anyway. However, it can’t hurt to show that you have an active interest in your intended career field.
3) For God’s sake, I am only human!
Please, please, please make your resume easy to read. I can’t tell you how many resumes I have read that are so cluttered that my head spins, or which use a fancy font to be “cute”, only to become unreadable. Use at least an 11-point font and keep the margins at least .75 inches from the edge of the page. I know I said above to keep it to one page, but don’t cram three pages worth of information into one page, with 9-point font and non-existent margins. I won’t be able to concentrate on the content of your resume, and you will be ding-ed.
Also, although many huge firms have started to pre-screen resumes using computer programs that look for certain keywords, don’t assume that the company to which you are applying uses this. I once got a resume that consisted of nothing more than a list of “action verbs” (the impressive words the computer looks for, like “managed”, “organized”, etc.). Nice. No interview offer.
4) Don’t worry about the “Job Objective” line.
When I was writing my resume, I was told I needed to have a “summary” line at the top of my resume – no longer than a sentence – to summarize my career objective. I came up with something pithy, but now that I am reading other people’s Objectives, I realize how needless they are. Save the room for putting more info in later on.
Also, don’t worry about including a “References Available Upon request” line at the bottom. No one ever includes their references on their resume, and we will always assume you have them. When we want them, we will ask for them anyway. If you don’t have any names to produce when we ask, we won’t hire you. Use the room to fit more stuff in about your experience.
5) A laundry list of what every resume should include, in descending order down the page:
- Your name
- Your current address, phone and fax number (if appropriate)
- Your permanent address, phone and fax number (if appropriate)
- Your email address
Below that, in reverse chronological order (most recent to least recent) you should include:
- Your undergraduate college
- Years attended
- Your major(s)
- Your major GPA
- Your cumulative GPA
- Your SATs, if over 1400
- Relevant courses taken and average grade received (if over 3.3)
- Any other colleges you have attended
- Years attended
- Any undergraduate awards received, including merit scholarships, dean’s list, or honors
- Recent, relevant work experience
- Dates in each job
- A brief description of what that job entailed. Quick sentences will suffice, no more than three lines per job on the resume.
- Extracurricular activities you have pursued, and any positions held or awards won
- Dates you pursued these activities (it shows that you didn’t suddenly become a “joiner” just to look good for your resume)
- Other interests (if you like karaoke, say so. Stuff like that gives good talking points in an interview and shows that you are human with social skills)
If you think you will be slick by not including your GPA if it is not so good, guess again. Many places will throw out your resume if your GPA is not included. I tend to be a little nicer, and I email people asking them for it. Either way, excluding pertinent information like your grades will show that you are hiding something, and it will most likely come out in the end anyway.
If you had a rotten freshman year (as I did) and your entire GPA is destroyed as a result (as mine is), say so. Just add a line like: GPA for past five semesters, 3.92. Most people understand that not everyone is a superstar straight of the starting block at college, and that is ok. The point is to show marked improvement. I will wind up seeing your entire transcript anyway in the end, so you might as well get your toe in the door by showing me that you are no longer the beer-guzzling slacker you were freshman year.
If you have only worked in a restaurant during college (or some other non-Merrill-Lynch-type job), has it provided you with any good experience? When I was waitressing, it taught me excellent customer service, time management, cash flow management and eventually I learned leadership skills when I became a manager. On my resume, I didn’t mention the cranky, crotchety customers I almost killed, the nasty food I served ,or the mopping and cleaning that comprised the bulk of my job. Sculpt your experiences so that your relevant experience is truly that – relevant!
6) A short list of what not to include on your resume (but all things I have seen):
- Your marital status
- Your age (I know, you are a college senior, but we run into legal problems if you include a birthdate)
- Your height, weight or other physical attributes (unless you are applying for a theater, acting or modeling job)
- A picture (unless the above applies)
- Your religious beliefs
The last one is a tricky one, I know. If you have had great leadership experience in your local youth group, say so. However, be careful – you don’t know what the beliefs of the recruiter are. Controversial? Sure. But why risk it unnecessarily?
Buy a book! Seek help!
The choices and resources for job-hunters are almost overwhelming. Talk to your career development coordinator to get some hints on books to use when crafting your resume. Read some sample resumes to get a sense of how they should flow, and for goodness sakes, seek help! Recruit people to look at your resume! Not your roommate, but your parents, your boss (assuming they realize you were not intending to stay in your menial job forever), your professors, your career development office, and any adult you know who is working in your intended field.
Best of luck in your job hunt, and feel free to email me with any questions. If you want to send me your resume for review, feel free to send me an email.
- Jen
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BunnyJav
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