by PC Marks

Created on: April 17, 2008

Today's employers want to know who you are not what you aim to be. An objective on a resume is obsolete and has been replaced with a summary or what is referred to as your "calling card."

Example of objective:

I am looking to be employed with a company with the potential to advance within the company.

The employer is seeking someone who will make significant contributions to the position and is therefore scrutinizing your resume to see if you will be a good fit for the company and if you have the potential to advance within the company.

Example of a current summary:

Operations and Processing Supervisor with expertise in training, problem solving, counseling, coaching, process enhancement and improvement. Excellent communication and customer service skills. Known for professional attitude and having the respect of peers and managers.

This summary tells what you are capable of, shows that you know the importance of being a good fit and will get you noticed by hiring managers.

The next step should be writing your work history. In this section it is best to list your title, the company and location and the time period of which you were employed. It should be precise to what your primary functions were. Also in the work history section there should be bullet points of your achievements.

Example of a standard work history:

Bank, N.A. Cleveland OH June 1998-July 2005

Administration/Research Loan Servicing Coordinator
Assistant Manager of Loan Servicing

Wrote mail procedures

Example of a detailed work history:

Bank, N.A. Cleveland OH June 1998-July 2005
Administration/Research Loan Servicing Coordinator

Responsible for assisting in managing 15 employees and all incoming mail, check processing, phone calls, faxes, legal paperwork conducting the account review, corresponding with customers and handling escalated/executive issues and phone calls.

Established mail processing procedures insuring that all checks received were prepped and forwarded to Accounting on the date received minimizing any delay in processing.

The detailed work history offers some insight into how you manage. It shows that you thought about the outcome and the end result.

Next there should be a listing of education. In this section any degrees obtained and course work should be noted.

Example:

Business Administration, BA
Cleveland State University, 1998

Real Estate Finance course work
Cuyahoga Community College 2000

Following your education section and to further show your qualifications, list all professional development courses and training you obtained from each job.

Example:

PROFESSIONAL TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT

- Quality Service Skills
- Diversity Awareness
- Business Writing
- Intermediate Excel
- Intermediate Access

Last is a recap of what you've shown you can do. Here is where specifics are listed. These are categorized as Technical Skills.

Example:

TECHNICAL SKILLS

-Microsoft Office
-10 key/alpha and numeric
-Type approximately 65wpm

Some like to add references at this point. I do not. This is my secret weapon. Though I usually have my references readily available on a separate sheet, I choose to leave them off the resume until asked. This way I can determine if the company is seriously considering me for the position.

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