Arthur D. Rosenberg - The Resume Handbook: How to Write Outstanding Resumes and Cover Letters for Every Situation

THE
RESUME
HANDBOOK
FIFTH EDITION

How to Write Outstanding
Resumes & Cover Letters
for Every Situation

Arthur D. Rosenberg

Copyright 2008 by Arthur D. Rosenberg
All rights reserved.
This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher; exceptions are made for brief excerpts used in published reviews.

Published by Adams Media, a division of F+W Media, Inc.
57 Littlefield Street
Avon, MA 02322
www.adamsmedia.com

ISBN-10: 1-59869-459-6
ISBN-13: 978-1-59869-459-8
eISBN:978-1-44051-642-9

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Rosenberg, Arthur D.
The resume handbook / Arthur D. Rosenberg. 5th ed.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-1-59869-459-8 (pbk.)
ISBN-10: 1-59869-459-6 (pbk.)
1. Rsums (Employment) I. Title.
HF5383.H53 2007
650.142dc22
2007016521

Printed in the United States of America.
J I H G F E D C B A

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From a Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations

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DEDICATION

My friend and coauthor, Dave Hizer, is no longer able to share with us his insights and guidance. As with the previous edition, The Resume Handbook 5thEdition is devoted to his fond memory. Heartfelt thanks to my dear Catherine and to my publisher, Adams Media.

About the Authors

Art Rosenberg is a New York/New Jerseybased consultant specializing in business analysis, project management, and U.S. Customs Compliance. His major publications include Career Busters: 22 Ways People Mess Up TheirCareers and How to Avoid Them, Manipulative Memos: Control Your CareerThrough the Medium of the Memo, contributed chapters to The Requirementsof Programming and Preparing for a Successful Interview, Chess for Childrenand the Young at Heart, and numerous articles.

Art is a former textbook publisher, translator, and language teacher who continues to provide career-related seminars to professional and minority groups. His eclectic interests include sports, chess, wine, fine dining, travel, music, and good books.

Dave Hizer was a Detroit-based executive search consultant who dedicated his efforts to matching talented executives with his clients organizations. He brought to his profession more than thirty years of experience in executive searches, organizational development, public speaking, human resources, and outplacement.

Dave used to read more resumes per week than the number of newspaper headlines skimmed by most people in a year. He authored countless articles on career planning, self-marketing strategies, and related topics, including The ABCs of Cover Letters in National Business Employment Weekly. He also made time to frequent conduct workshops and seminars on leadership and career/life planning.

Contents

CHAPTER ONE:
Looking for a New Job

CHAPTER TWO:
The Basics of Writing Resumes

CHAPTER THREE:
Describing Your Accomplishments

CHAPTER FOUR:
The Best Resumes Weve Ever Seen

CHAPTER FIVE:
The Worst Resumes Weve Ever Seen

CHAPTER SIX:
Presentation

CHAPTER SEVEN:
Using the Internet

CHAPTER EIGHT:
The Art of Networking

CHAPTER NINE:
Advice for Job Seekers

CHAPTER TEN:
Cover Letters

CHAPTER ELEVEN:
Personal Promo Letters

CHAPTER TWELVE:
Following Up

CHAPTER THIRTEEN:
Other Job-Search Methods

CHAPTER FOURTEEN:
Trends

Preface

The purpose of your resume is to obtain an interview.

A successful resume will attract an interviewers interest in meeting you.

What, exactly, is a resume? It is a summary of your skills and employment background. It is not an autobiographical profile, nor is it intended to make people like you or admire you.

Think of your resume as a special tool with one specific purpose: winningan interview.

Bottom line: Youve got to make an effort to win your interview, and only the inexperienced and nave think otherwise. Your resume is a wedge designed to get your foot inside the doors of companies where you might like to work. Obviously, if you fail to win the interview, youre not likely to get the job.

Equally obvious, there are other resumes out there in competition with your own. So yours must be at least as good as all the others if youre to stand an even chance. If your resume is better, it may give you the advantage.

Writing an interview-winning resume requires an understanding of what to say, and how to say it. For this, you need The Resume Handbook.

Just as the purpose of your resume is to obtain the interview, the purpose of The Resume Handbook is to illustrate successful resume techniques. The Resume Handbook tells you what kind of information to include in your resume and what to leave out. Then it provides you with the tools and techniques to present your chosen facts in a convincing and engaging manner.

The Resume Handbook will help you win the interview.

The rest is up to you!

Introduction

After reading many thousands of resumes over the years, one recurring impression looms large and dominant: An astonishing number of resumes are poorly written, and the overwhelming majority are overwhelmingly dull!

Ah, but a veritable work of art vitae does happen by on rare occasion, illuminated with a spark of creative thought and pleasing to the eye. If this alone is not enough to render life exciting, it may at least make your resume interesting to read, and perhaps inspire sufficient curiosity to get you invited for a closer look, which is, of course, the purpose of your resume.

To this end, the purpose of this book is to improve the quality of some of the resumes we, and others, may be called upon to read over the coming months.

We have taken care to avoid the fat and wordy formats to which some resume books are prone. Instead, weve tried to heed our own advice on writing resumes by making our book interesting and relevant. The Resume Handbook presents the essential ingredients that go into successful resumes, with lucid explanations and the clearest of examples.

You can read through this book in less time than it takes to write a resume, then use it as a reference source when you are ready to begin writing your very own.

You will find many examples in Chapter 4, The Best Resumes Weve Ever Seen. Once youve learned what makes them so effective, you will be able to apply these winning techniques to your own purposes. Chapter 5, The Worst Resumes Weve Ever Seen, illustrates some of the pitfalls to be avoided.