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Hiring decision-makers surveyed for the book, Top Notch Executive Resumes identified this as one of their Top 30 Executive Resume Pet Peeves: Resume language is egotistical and self-congratulatory. Harlynn Goolsby of the Human Resources Department at OSRAM Sylvania compares this type of resume verbiage to a “bio or the introduction for a guest speaker.”

Some examples of puffed-up phrases include “inspirational leader,” “as quoted in …,” and “winner of countless awards.”
See all 30 peeves: executive resume peeves 1-10 in Part 1, executive resume peeves 11-20 in Part 2 and executive resume peeves 21-30 in Part 3.

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“The most effective technique career changers can use in their resumes and cover letters is TRANSFERABLE SKILLS, TRANSFERABLE SKILLS, TRANSFERABLE SKILLS,” writes regular contributor Maureen Crawford Hentz. “I … gave a workshop specifically on this topic for career changers at the National Environmental Careers Conference. I was shocked at the number of competent, successful individuals who kept referring to themselves as ‘totally unqualified for a job in the environment.’ These were adults with four to 12 years of experience as managers, editors, and engineers.” Read Hentz’s full article, Career Changers’ Most Powerful Resume and Cover-Letter Tool: Transferable Skills, on how you can use transferable skills to portray yourself as qualified for a new career.

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You may wish to present a Qualifications Summary or Profile section on your resume. In addition to Profile and Qualifications Summary, these resume-topping sections go by numerous names: Career Summary, Summary, Executive Summary, Professional Profile, Qualifications, Strengths, Skills, Key Skills, Skills Summary, Summary of Qualifications, Background Summary, Professional Summary, Highlights of Qualifications. All of these headings are acceptable, but our favorite is Professional Profile.

Twenty-five years ago, a Profile or Summary section was somewhat unusual on a resume. Career experts trace the use of summaries or profiles to include information about candidates’ qualities beyond their credentials to the publication of the late Yana Parker’s The Damn Good Resume Guide in 1983. For the last 20-plus years, resume writers have routinely included these sections; however, the age of electronic submissions has now caused the pendulum to swing the other way.

On one hand, electronic submission means that hiring decision-makers are inundated and overwhelmed with resumes and have less time than ever before to peruse each document. That means that many of them do not read Profile or Summary sections.

On the other hand, the age of electronic submissions has increased the importance of keywords so that candidates can be found in database searches. Even some of the hiring decision-makers who don’t read Profiles and Summaries advise including them as a way to ensure sufficient keywords in the resume.

A vocal contingent of decision-makers, especially among recruiters, strongly advocate for a Summary section — but one that is quite succinct — a short paragraph or single bullet point. They want to see in a nutshell who you are and what you can contribute.

For a detailed discussion of these sections, including guidelines for crafting them and samples, see Chapter 3 of our e-book, The Quintessential Guide to Words to Get Hired By: Your Professional Profile: Bullet Points that Describe Your Strengths in a Nutshell.

And use our Resume Professional Profile/Qualifications Summary Worksheet to help you develop bullet points for this very important resume section.

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“Distinguish yourself from the vast majority of resumes and online profiles that do not appeal to any target audience, contain insipid or non-existent messages of value, and rely on the ‘throw-it-against-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks’ mentality” said Susan Guarneri, the “Career Assessment Goddess,” in the Q&A interview she did with Quint Careers. Even a standardized online application can stand out from the crowd through the content you choose to input. For example, the content can:

• demonstrate an understanding of your target audience’s needs and culture through online company research and inquiries with individuals in the profession and industry,
• showcase value-added results, links to a web portfolio and other online “proof” of success, and a unique personal brand that permeates your past track record, and
• gain positive traction with the employer through auxiliary means of connection (such as employee referrals and social networking).

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Hiring decision-makers surveyed for the book, Top Notch Executive Resumes identified this as one of their Top 30 Executive Resume Pet Peeves: Resume language is replete with “fluff,” flowery words, and “resume speak” instead of specifics. Your resume “needs to have good factual information and be clear as to what it is that you actually do; it doesn’t need to be fluffy and overwrought,” said survey respondent Thomas Burrell. Meg Steele, director of recruitment and employment mobility at Swedish Medical Center in the Seattle area, decried the lack of specifics in resume language: “The most irritating characteristic on senior-level resumes is an overuse of flowery language without substantiation,” she said. “I want to see actual accomplishments, not summary statements that imply an understanding of functional areas that reported up to the individual. A good leader knows enough about what his or her people are doing to speak intelligently about the problem that was being solved by this or that initiative. So, if [candidates] say ‘oversaw development of strategic solutions,’ they should have some more specific examples of said ‘strategic solutions’ and what the impact was to the business [and] the employees.” Agreed survey respondent Alison: “Weed out the garbage and tell me what you made, saved, achieved and make it quantifiable.

Characterized as “resume speak” by survey respondents were words like “visionary,” “thought leader,” “evangelist,” “innovative,” “motivating,” “engaging.”
See all 30 peeves: executive resume peeves 1-10 in Part 1, executive resume peeves 11-20 in Part 2 and executive resume peeves 21-30 in Part 3.

Need help with your resume, cover letter, or other career-marketing document? Order today from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters, powered by CareerPerfect.

“Self-marketing success requires three essential elements,” said Susan Guarneri, the “Career Assessment Goddess,” in the Q&A interview she did with Quint Careers
:

1. understanding who your target audience is and their needs,
2. having a credible and compelling message that your target audience values, and
3. capturing that target audience’s attention.

Resumes have been the primary tool for self-marketing in the past. Whether they will continue to serve that function in the future depends largely on:

• how the selection and hiring industries (HR and recruiting) of various professions evolve to accommodate other types of self-marketing tools, such as the web portfolio, and
• how the available talent pool chooses to promote their candidacy.

Some professions welcome creative approaches, often involving new technology, while others seem to push towards standardization of online application forms. Similarly, many highly desirable candidates promote themselves to selective target audiences and use distinctive approaches, while other candidates default to generic resumes hoping to catch anyone’s eye. Unfortunately, the path of least effort for many candidates is the generic resume, which is ironically the least effective in meeting the three self-marketing essentials.

Whatever the means of self-marketing (resume, bio, online profile, or web portfolio), best practices indicate that the type chosen needs to be appropriate to the target audience (profession and industry) and the candidate, and it needs to be effective in conveying a message of value and distinction.

Need help with your resume, cover letter, or other career-marketing document? Order today from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters, powered by CareerPerfect.

Hiring decision-makers surveyed for the book, Top Notch Executive Resumes identified this as one of their Top 30 Executive Resume Pet Peeves: Resume contains inexplicable acronyms and industry-specific jargon. Here’s an example of a head-spinning array of acronyms and jargon from one resume reviewed for this book. The reader can figure out many of them, but it would so much easier if they were spelled out;

• Manage the Asia Pacific WCS IT Outsourcing Transition & Transformation Programme Waves 1& 2. This is part of the Global Transition & Transformation Programme, a cluster of 82 major projects over a period of 3 years for an APAC budget of 8.7M Euros, executed by EDS but controlled and monitored by ABN.
• Transitioned to EDS ~300 Technology staff in Singapore, H Kong , Sydney, Tokyo, Shanghai including the ABN Regional Processing Centre on time and within budget.
• Negotiated Wave 2 T&T budget cost avoidance of 0.5m Euros.
• Provide direct management support to the A/P Technology CIO & Management Team, encompassing Financial Control Process Co-ordination, Resource Management, Portfolio & Project Control Project (A/P 320 projects with a budget expenditure of ~34M Euros). Responsible for the functional & organizational development of the Global Retained Technology Organization (NTO) and the development of the Global Governance Framework schedule (part of the Global Service Agreement contract).
• Established & Implemented the Value Management Plan to achieve best practices within WCS Technology.
• Developed the Global Retained Organization & Functional model on time & within budget.
• Managed the TOI - WCS (Investment & Commercial Banking) Global IT Operations and Global Change Control Teams.
• Provided Global Infrastructure Operational Services, defined/set Global Standards and Global IT Processing Services Strategy. This encompassed managing the Global IT Ops/Change Control Teams of > 300 staff and relevant expenditure budgets of >100M Euros.
• Restructured Global Lotus Notes Ops Team - FTE Savings by 70 % and London Change Control Team-FTE Savings by 35%.
• Implemented Automation and AS/400 LPAR technologies to reduce RPC Singapore & Amsterdam Operational Costs by 25%.
• Negotiated a new TCO with IBM in Singapore with a cost savings of over 2.3M Sing. Dollars.
• Expanded Singapore RPC Processing Services Capabilities to establish a Centre of excellence.
• Established ISAP Global Change Control TAT Acceptance Criteria Policy & Standards.
• Established Global IT Processing Services Strategy / Business Model.
• Developed the WCS Global SLOs and Major Contributor of the first TOI Service Catalogue

“Acronyms that are company-specific need to be reworked into a generic description of the same type that is easily understandable to those outside of that environment,” advised Melissa Holmes, senior technical recruiter, at Levi, Ray & Shoup Consulting Services, Springfield, IL.
See all 30 peeves: executive resume peeves 1-10 in Part 1, executive resume peeves 11-20 in Part 2 and executive resume peeves 21-30 in Part 3.

Need help with your resume, cover letter, or other career-marketing document? Order today from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters, powered by CareerPerfect.

A current trend in resumes is to use a branding statement, sometimes in combination with a headline.

A “headline” atop your resume usually identifies the position or type of job you seek.

A branding statement is a punchy “ad-like” statement that tells immediately what you can bring to an employer. A branding statement defines who you are, your promise of value, and why you should be sought out. Your branding statement should encapsulate your reputation, showcase what sets you apart from others, and describe the added value you bring to a situation. Think of it as a sales pitch. Integrate these elements into the brief synopsis that is your branding statement:

• What makes you different?
• What qualities or characteristics make you distinctive?
• What have you accomplished?
• What is your most noteworthy personal trait?
• What benefits (problems solved) do you offer?

See a good discussion of branding statements and headlines, with samples, starting in this section of our e-book, The Quintessential Guide to Words to Get Hired By.

Need help with your resume, cover letter, or other career-marketing document? Order today from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters, powered by CareerPerfect.

Hiring decision-makers surveyed for the book, Top Notch Executive Resumes identified this as one of their Top 30 Executive Resume Pet Peeves: Resume is not tailored to the targeted vacancy. Shawn Slevin, HR and human capital solutions provider for Chair Swim Strong Foundation in the New York City area, called resumes that are the same for every position “cookie cutter.” Instead, your resume should closely match the requirements of the job you are targeting. While hiring decision-makers don’t pay much attention to Objective Statements, the headline technique can be effective in telling the recipient immediately what job or type of job you’re targeting. When targeting a job advertised by a corporate recruiter in a specific company, demonstrate in your resume that you’ve researched that organization and can tie your accomplishments to the employer’s needs.

As recruiter Lisa De Benedittis, president of Elite Staffing Services in the San Diego area, noted: “Resumes are auditions without the benefit of you being around. I will decide if you are a match for my job/client within 20 seconds. Your resume will speak volumes about your communication skills. Do you use words to demonstrate your value or is it boilerplate? Did you put thought and effort into this audition?”
See all 30 peeves: executive resume peeves 1-10 in Part 1, executive resume peeves 11-20 in Part 2 and executive resume peeves 21-30 in Part 3.

Need help with your resume, cover letter, or other career-marketing document? Order today from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters, powered by CareerPerfect.

Objective Statements on resumes have fallen somewhat out of favor. Many employers and recruiters claim they don’t even read them. That’s because most objective statements are badly written, self-serving, too vague, and not designed to do what they’re supposed to do, which is to sharpen a resume’s focus.

For a very detailed discussion of the pros and cons of objective statements, guidelines for how to write a good one and samples, see Chapter 1 of our e-book, The Quintessential Guide to Words to Get Hired By: The Perfect Objective to Sharpen Your Resume’s Focus

Also see our article, Should You Use a Career Objective on Your Resume?

Need help with your resume, cover letter, or other career-marketing document? Order today from Quintessential Resumes and Cover Letters, powered by CareerPerfect.