Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Revisiting the Resume

We're not sure if it's all of the frustrated snowed-in moms across the East Coast reading our blog or further confirmation that the prolonged recession is driving more women back into the workforce, but a quick analysis of our blog shows a huge up-tick in readers looking for resume help for moms returning to work. We provided several tips in June, but it's worth revisiting.
  • Address the Gap: Avoid clever terms like "household manager" on your resume for time spent away from the workforce but instead highlight your volunteer work, continuing and professional education classes and anything else over that tine period that would be relevant to the hiring manager.
  • 5 Red Line Edits: Get at least 5 people (husband, friend, neighbor, even kids!) to read your resume with a keen editorial eye. A single typo or a format that's not pleasing to the eye is enough to knock you out of consideration in this very crowded market.
  • Change the Layout: If you've been out of the workforce for more than 10 year or you are switching fields, you might consider a functional format. Check out our website for a good example of how you can highlight your functional skills in a non-chronological format.
  • Objective: Add an objective at the top of your resume that lets the resume reader, who statistically spends an average of 14 seconds on your resume, know who you are and what you're looking for. Make sure you modify that for every single job to which you are applying.
And if you get stuck, reach out to us. We've got fantastic resume writers on staff who can provide advice, assistance and the professional voice your resume is missing.

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