In the spirit of sharing great information about how to create a great resume, here are some of our philosophies about how a resume comes to life, and it has everything to do with good food.
Think of the resume as a sandwich – you are the sandwich artist.
Think of the blank page as your bread. It can be white or wheat, even logo basil cheese (because that"s totally delicious). The top piece of your bread is the header, where you present your contact information, and the bottom piece of your bread is the footer, which is the end of a sandwich, but totally essential for holding it all together. Do not under any circumstances try to eat the paper! It is not delicious.
What kind of sandwich are we building? Beside the bread, there is no flavor yet, and people can not subsist on bread alone. They need something that tastes good and brings out the flavor of the other layers, so we need to choose the right sauce to entice them to eat the whole sandwich and not stop after one bite.
THE BREAD – Stylistic Elements & Layout
Style choices – fonts, sizing, use of bold and italic emphasis. Have you ever seen a best-selling book printed in a Courier font? Probably not. Your font choice should be first attractive, then effective. You can not go wrong with using Arial or Times New Roman, but even choosing these faithful fonts should be based on the taste of your career. If you are involved in sales or enjoy an executive-level career track, Times New Roman should be high on your list. If you are in technology, use Arial. If you are in advertising or entertainment, Garamond can be very effective. A deliberate choice of font determines the entire tone of your resume. Choose wisely.
THE SAUCE – Qualifications Statement
Statement of Qualifications vs. Objective Statement. Since time immemorial, people have been opening their discussions with an objective statement. This is akin to applying a thick coat of tasteless mayonnaise to an awkward inspired sandwich. It steals the flavor from all of the other layers.
Instead of using an Objective statement, use a Statement of Qualifications at the top of your resume. Why? Here it is: The job market is impersonal. We live in the Information Age, and everyone is looking for the facts, not external statements about what kind of job you would like. Viewing the job market as a field of contract instead of a wishing well is a healthy perspective and telling an employer that you are "seeking a job where I can employ my knowledge in engineering widgets to the benefit of an organization" just wasted valuable time. Do not you think they already know you"d like a job using your widget engineering prowess? Instead, why not tell them what they are seeking? Which is …
YOU!
Now, toot your horn!
Tell them how many widgets you"ve made, the rewards you"ve received for widget engineering, and if at all possible, use numbers. Show them what you"re made of.
For example:
Senior widget engineer owns over 10 years of strong widget engineering experience. Has outstanding installs in the design and integration of business processes to efficiently drive widget-focused projects to support mission-critical business initiatives. Notable accomplishments include the research, design, and implementation of a quality assurance process that reduced production downtime by 15%, reclaiming $ 200,000 in revenues representing 20% of company income.
Delicious!
The reason that this opening technique works is that it will quantify your experience by showcasing what you have accomplished during your career pursuits, effectively proving that your talents have a direct, positive impact to the success of any business .
If you are early in your career or are a student, do not worry if you can not show number like we used in the above example. Your experience can still be quantified effectively through the use of strong, confident writing. If you can not think of anything, contact us, and we"ll help you mix up the right kind of sauce for your sandwich.
THE CHEESE – Notable Achievements
Around here, we prefer lots of cheese. Preferably different cheeses – and almost any cheese will do. (Limburger, stay home!) The number of cheeses that you use on your resume sandwich really depends on the type of job you would like to land. Your choice of cheese is the last layer in the top of your resume sandwich, and is the layer that will either impress or disappoint the reader – or eater in our case.
The concept in this very important layer is to provide an up-front exhibit of specific accomplishments that have a direct parallel to the job that you want. Placing accomplishes directly following the sauce (Statement of Qualifications) serves the purpose of adding bold flavor and emphasis on what makes you an irresistible candidate because you know what the company needs, and you"ve already been there, done that.
Let"s imagine that a Project & Program Manager is looking to move forward in their career and has an excellent lead on a recent opening. Using their knowledge of the career and a good investigation of the job requirements, they decide on three cheeses that will attract the attention of the Human Resources department:
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
REVENUE GROWTH
PROCESS IMPROVEMENT
These three choices are obvious because the job seeker knows that the employer will need to see a great example of project management. Revenue growth is a good choice because if a hiring manager sees that the candidate has led projects that asserted in increased revenues or cost savings (which augments the bottom line), then the manager is more apt to want an interview to learn more about how the candidate achieved such results.
THE VEGGIES – Education and Training
List all of your training, giving priority to education that directly relates to the work you are pursuing. Keep it fresh, like good veggies should be. Your degree and most recent training should be listed first, with older, irrelevant training omitted, like I just omitted this moldy head of cage from my fridge. PU!
THE MEAT – Professional Experience
Nice marbling, thick slicing. Not too much or it will overpower all of the other flavors. Not too many bullets. Everyone uses them. It"s better to use line spacing between each item. No longer than two lines, and no more than four items for the two most recent positions.
Most meat is good no matter which way it is cut; however, there are those prime slices that will turn a mediocre sandwich into a mothership of flavor. This is where strong writing comes in. Many people will try to cram this part of the sandwich full of any kind of meat, expecting that a towering sandwich equals a good sandwich. Although their intentions are good, they destroy the overall quality and impact of the resume by going into minute detail about day-to-day tasks. This type of over-stuffing makes for a boring read and without the reader is enamored with the intricacies of your workflow, your resume will be relegated to the circular file. Guaranteed.
In the "Professional Experiences" section of your resume, only include tasty morsels about what you do that is relevant to the needs of your potential employers. Serve up examples of your day-to-day work that you feel directly relates to what employers are looking for. Check out job descriptions of positions similar to the type of job your seeking, and make sure that the professional experiences section, the meat of your resume, has a flavor that fulfills the employer"s desires.
LAYERING – Putting it all together
Two of the layers in your resume sandwich are absolute: the bread and the sauce, meaning that your stylistic choices and contact information should always be front-and-center.
Depending on the direction of your job search and your professional and educational background, the other layers can be moved, toward the top or the bottom. Choosing the order of presentation is very important to how your resume (and rarely you) are perceived.
We hope this helps you to understand how to approach a good, completely delectable resume that you can use to supercharge your job search!
How to Make a Resume Sandwich
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