Resumes

[Jeraly 4]

I just got my EAD approved and the one thing I have been putting off is now a major factor in my future career here in the USA... scary stuff!!

I've been looking at example resumes online:

http://www.resumetemplates.org/

http://www.freeresumesamples.org/

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/template...1043371033.aspx

and am finding them incredibly sparse compared to a UK Curriculum Vitae which is the equivalent...

What are other people's experiences of putting together a resume? Are they meant to be so vague? How do you make yours stand out from the crowd? Do you have any resources to share?

Just thought this might be a helpful thread to others in the position of looking for work

[milimelo 4,477]

I just got my EAD approved and the one thing I have been putting off is now a major factor in my future career here in the USA... scary stuff!!

I've been looking at example resumes online:

http://www.resumetemplates.org/

http://www.freeresumesamples.org/

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/template...1043371033.aspx

and am finding them incredibly sparse compared to a UK Curriculum Vitae which is the equivalent...

What are other people's experiences of putting together a resume? Are they meant to be so vague? How do you make yours stand out from the crowd? Do you have any resources to share?

Just thought this might be a helpful thread to others in the position of looking for work

Here's what I did for mine:

First, Last name

address

email address

cell phone number

Skills summary (bullet points starting from the MS office package to language, special skills I have)

Work experience (last 3 ones)

Education

Honors (since I had a US Dept. of State scholarship)

Legal Permanent Resident - green card holder (not on all of them though, just the important ones)

Took me 13 weeks to get a job (They say an average time these days is 20 weeks).

PM me if you want me to send you my resume.

Good luck in job-hunting! I hope you get a job very soon!

[Jeraly 4]

So do I! I sent off my first application and cover letter today so fingers crossed - there isn't a whole lot out there but I put my resume online and have signed up for e-mail alerts... just have to keep looking...

[TBoneTX 45,266]

I just got my EAD approved

Si, man!

There are as many schools of thought about resumes as there are schools... er, thoughts. Some say to keep things to one page (impossible, if you're loaded with skills or experience), while others have other opinions. I personally prefer the CV to a one-pager, anytime. However, a lot depends on what type of work you're applying for (professional = CV; other fields = maybe less) and whether the application is going to a Subhuman Resources department (in my experience, usually the most incompetent dregs of any organization to which I've ever applied, barf man).

I hedge my bets by maintaining a "skeleton" (one-page) resume and a more comprehensive "full" CV, so that I can readily send one or the other. In your cover letter, if you believe that the application will get 7 seconds of judgment before it's passed along (due to expected high volume of incoming applications), or the application instructions say "one page only," put in your cover letter "comprehensive CV available for review." (I have even put "A skeleton resume is appended to this application. A comprehensive CV is available for your review in a personal intervew, si man.")

The cover letter is even more important than the resume, it's generally agreed.

One thing that I have always done is to immediately trash any application where there was a misspelling in either the cover letter or the resume. Be careful, si man! It should be charitably noted that British English is definitely misspelled but acceptable and charming, si man.

[*Snowdrop* 604]

Here are some links I have been gathering ahead of the US job hunt...

http://www.rockportinstitute.com/resumes.html - resume tips

http://career-advice.monster.com/job-inter...tions/home.aspx - interview tips

http://www.fiveoclockclub.com/articles/2002/5-02-advice.htm - job hunt advice

http://www.eoslifework.co.uk/transmgt1.htm - interesting article on managing big life changes

[reeses16 8]

I recommend making sure to use key words directly from the announcement in the resume. This is super important because often the people doing the first line screening are not in the same field that's outline in the announcement.

[tom&tata 2]

Here's what I did for mine:

First, Last name

address

email address

cell phone number

Skills summary (bullet points starting from the MS office package to language, special skills I have)

Work experience (last 3 ones)

Education

Honors (since I had a US Dept. of State scholarship)

Legal Permanent Resident - green card holder (not on all of them though, just the important ones)

My US version is 1 page resume too. Pretty much containing the same above info. I do have more detailed one that I had from before. I have it with me in case somebody ask or for my own reference but I do not send it out.

Good luck.

[StillThePrettiest 3]

It should be charitably noted that British English is definitely misspelled but acceptable and charming, si man.

oh, MAN; pistols at dawn

and then marshmallows at dusk

[kaffy 2]

Mine was about 2 pages long and I used the following format:

Name, address, phone & email

Career Objective - short (one sentence) and to the point

Health care Work History- incl dates, position held, company and skills/responsibilities. I also included Voluntary Work and Work Experience since they were both health care related also.

Skills - computer skills, foreign language skills and other skills

Education - tertiary, secondary and other. Including qualification obtained, name of institution and dates

References - I gave three professional references and included their names, position, company, contact number and email

My mother in law is a (hiring) manager in the same industry reviewed my resume and cover letter for me and I found a job within 3 weeks.

Good luck!

[Mononoke28 135]

The rule of thumb is to try to keep your resume down to 1 page, mainly because recruiters and HR personnel have to read a ton of resumes when hiring and a long one makes it dreadful to read. But if you can't, you can't, especially if you've been working for a ton of years.

Every time I have to look for work I get better at writing out my resume. I keep the font small but readable so I can jam in as much info as I can. I make sure every year is accounted for with names and dates of my employers. And bullet ever task I had to do for them as well as all accomplishments.

It may look vague at first but if you try to get as much info as possible onto one page, you're good to go.

Diana

[tucson_chick 0]

When I went to Business College here in Arizona for my exchange year I had to take classes in resume riding and interviewing and stuff.

If you want I can send you a copy of my resume. (it's not perfect and stuff, but probably some inspiration )

Jobhunt in a foreign country stinks. lots.

[aidan80 9]

I haven't had much in the way of luck finding a new job, not that my current job is bad. I did however manage to squeeze my 2 page CV down to a 1 page resume listing just the critical (for the job I'm applying for) skills and credentials. I actually keep two slightly different CV/Resumes on file just in case my preferred job type isn't available I'll fall back to the secondary.

My CV/Resume is broken down as follows:

Name, Address, Contact Info

Employment History (past 5 years for me at least)

Education

Training/Experience

I found a decent template on office online and just modified it so it was more what I wanted. I also had my wife Americanise it as well which I'm sure has helped.

[JVKn'CVO 11]

The rule of thumb is to try to keep your resume down to 1 page, mainly because recruiters and HR personnel have to read a ton of resumes when hiring and a long one makes it dreadful to read. But if you can't, you can't, especially if you've been working for a ton of years.

This is true specially in the current state of things, because there's more people applying for jobs

Other things you can do:

Make sure dates, employer and title are highlighted/ bolded for easy viewing. Leave a blank line in between jobs.

Read the job description and look for the required experience listed. Make sure that you have included key words in your resume that reflect this experience (if you have it, of course )

Only last 5 years of work experience.

Most jobs require chronological resumes, not comprehensive.

Saludos,

Caro

[JVKn'CVO 11]

Also,

If you have temporary assignments, clarify in parenthesis next to employment dates "Temp Assignment" or something similar, so that it is not mistaken for job hopping.

Saludos,

Caro