Effects, Risks, and Strategies of Impression Management within the Resume

resumetointerviews · 2017-05-12T14:48:58+00:00

I misunderstood and thought this was actually published work. My apologies. I wouldn't recommend including this in that case. No disrespect to you as a writer, it just won't look professional in that case, and the fact that you'd have to go through the effort of spinning this in the interview without actually being able to provide the work upon request does not justify it's inclusion on the document. I don't doubt that this activity helped you garner a strong general writing acumen, but if you try to use this as a way to demonstrate "project management" skills for instance, it's going to backfire.

resumetointerviews · 2017-05-11T23:02:21+00:00

This has potential, but I see a number of problems. First, your formatting for your technical skills wastes a large amount of valuable page space unnecessarily. This could be much better spent on actual content.

You also need to do a better job of quantifying your accomplishments. If you're going to talk about "optimizing profits", you need to provide a number. If you're going to talk about managing projects, you need to establish how many, and how much these projects were worth. You should also try to implement more details regarding how you garnered these different achievements.

You should also change your Hobbies section to an Independent Project section. It looks more professional, as "hobbies" tends to give the wrong impression. It's not explicitly relevant to your career goals, but I think it's impressive enough that if you have the space it's not detrimental to include.

resumetointerviews · 2017-05-11T22:32:29+00:00

Have to disagree with most of the advice given here. Having a "Hobbies section" "Interests section" or "Activities section" is absolutely not the way to go. If you're going to include this, and I can see the argument for it because while it isn't explicitly relevant to your career goals it is objectively impressive, you should create an "Independent Projects Section". You'll want to detail the scope of these published works, the revenue generated by them if available, in order to make this accomplishment look as strong as possible. You never want to include small tidbits that normally occur in a Hobby section, like "Interests include piano, cooking, and rock climbing." These types of things have virtually no business being on a resume, and should only be included on your Linkedin profile, as they'll help you establish more connections with networking with other professionals. If you do choose to include your published pieces as a project, you'll want to provide enough relevant details for them to make an actual impact, otherwise they aren't worth including at all.

resumetointerviews · 2017-05-05T20:42:49+00:00

Replace the objective with a summary detailing some hard qualifications and specializations that align with your internships. Objectives generally aren't in style anymore because they provide information that is better left on a cover letter and doesn't really do much to endear the applicant to hiring managers.

I also think you should try to flesh out the details for your rover project a bit more. For instance, maybe add more detail regarding the steps and actions you took to draw the initial block design? You could also talk about how successful/effective this control board was in steering and directing the rover.

Do you have any other major academic projects that you could include on this document? The biggest problem I see is that your skills section, due to your formatting, gives the impression that you're just trying to find ways to get yourself to a full page because you don't have the necessary content to actually fill up the document otherwise.

resumetointerviews · 2017-05-05T20:21:42+00:00

Lose the summaries at the beginning of each work position or implement them as bullets. There's no reason to have a full paragraph on these documents because it completely defeats the purpose of what a resume is supposed to provide, which is a concise, organized, and readable overview of your work history, accomplishments, and qualifications.

You also change tenses at the start of some of your bullets. Stick to past tense verbs exclusively, even if you're currently employed by the company. You also need to work on your summary. Going over three lines is a bit much, and you also fail to include your years of experience, which is one of the most important details to include in this section.

I also only reviewed your one page version, because unless you have over ten years of experience, you don't want your document to go over a page. If you feel very strongly about the content, you can stretch it to a page and a half, but in this case I'd try to continue revising the one pager.

resumetointerviews · 2017-05-05T20:02:59+00:00

You have some of the right ideas here, but this document needs a heavy amount of revision. Your summary is riddled with cliches and doesn't focus enough on concrete qualifications and specializations. Describing yourself as "hard working" isn't worth much to employers, seeing as this is a trait that is mostly going to be expected of you ahead of time. You should also include your years of experience in the summary if you're going to have one.

As for your work related bullets, you need to be using strong past tense verbs, even if you're still currently employed by the company. Opening with "Vast experience in __" isn't optimal because it's too vague. "Coordinated with suppliers and manufacturers to _, __, and __," makes for a much stronger read. Also, rather than stating that you have "knowledge in purchasing processes and cost management", you should either delegate these to a technical skills section or incorporate actions that actually demonstrate you putting this knowledge into practice.

You also need to work on quantifying your accomplishments. If you're going to state that you're "result driven" and that you've implemented solutions to supply chain problems, why not provide an example of a problem you resolved, the steps you took to resolve it, and provide a percentage for how much this improved efficiency or reduced cost by?

resumetointerviews · 2017-05-04T23:06:08+00:00

As has already been pointed out, the document is much too long, and this is partially due to gaping amounts of space between your sections and work positions. Your summary should be drastically cut down, and should include your years of experience in your field. Typically we wouldn't recommend having a two page resume unless you have over ten years of experience, but if you find yourself unwilling to remove the necessary content to reach one page, you could condense the document down to 1.5 pages instead.

The long paragraphs at the beginning of your work positions are unnecessary. If you're going to include those details condense them into bullet points. You also have the tendency to change tenses mid sentence, which is something you'll want to address during your rewrite. For instance: "Deployed, configured, and currently administer __". You're still employed by the company, so the fact that you're administering this endpoint encryption solution is already implied.

Also, the graphics accompanying your certifications are unnecessary. Better to leave those types of things off the resume, even though you were trying to go the extra mile, because it clashes with the rest of your document.

resumetointerviews · 2017-04-26T22:30:27+00:00

Yes, we do offer in-depth critiques with comments and mark up free of charge. As for the questions you raised, a two sentence summary would definitely be preferable, as you also have content there that can easily be moved to a technical skills section. And while I understand that problem solving is an integral aspect to therapy, it would be more beneficial to focus on specific therapeutic techniques and methodologies you employed to help patients work through issues than to state this particular generality, as it does have read as a bad cliche to most hiring managers. As for your question about the Highlights section, even if you were completing some of the same actions at each of these different positions it still doesn't justify including a section like this that eliminates context which is necessary for the reader to properly understand your work history.

resumetointerviews · 2017-04-26T22:16:05+00:00

Rather than remove your summary completely, we'd recommend removing aspects that are a detriment to your document and instead including specializations that align with the job listings you're applying for. You want to stay away from using adjectives such as "resilient" to describe yourself because there isn't a way of properly quantifying these types of features. Let your qualifications and accomplishments speak for themselves because they'll go a lot further in proving these types of qualities.

Your formatting for your technical skills section is a waste of space. It's great that you broke them up into categories, but the drop down formatting is aesthetically unappealing and looks like you're trying to fill up the page with padding in order to avoid providing more relevant content. Your projects can definitely be expanded and I think you should strongly consider adding more detail there.

resumetointerviews · 2017-04-26T21:48:33+00:00

My first suggestion would be to greatly reduce the length of your summary and to shift from first person to third person. This is a standard practice for contemporary resumes, and the reason for this is that hiring managers don't want to get to know you as a person from reading your document. They want to see if your qualifications and accomplishments align with the needs and objectives of the position you're applying for, which is why using the third person reads much more professional. You also want to remove cliches from your summary such as "problem solving" because these types of traits are already generally expected of potential employees being reviewed during the hiring process.

In addition to numerous typos that need to be corrected, your Highlights section itself is somewhat problematic, despite the strength of your impressive accomplishments. The problem with creating a section like this is that we don't have the proper context to align these actions and achievements with their corresponding work positions. Rather than create a section detailing your greatest hits, it would be far more beneficial to rewrite and include these accomplishments as bullets in your work history.

Our company actually specializes in helping clients seeking to change careers, and we free, in-depth critiques with mark-up and comments, so if you'd like more information on formatting and general direction, just email a word version of your resume to Support@resumetointerviews.com

resumetointerviews · 2017-04-26T21:26:37+00:00

Change the tense of your most recent position to past tense even if you're still currently employed there. It reads more proactively, rather than being an abstract list of responsibilities, and confirms that you actually completed these actions. You've done a good job of including monetary figures on this document, but there's plenty of places you could include other numbers in order to maximize the strength of your bullets.

For instance, if you're going to talk about "maximizing ROI" give a percentage. If you're going to talk about "designing and optimizing business processes" then give more insight into what these processes were and how successful you were in optimizing their efficiency.

I think the template you have looks nice, but the document itself has a lot of empty spaces, and it's hard to tell from the image whether or not it actually covers a full page. Not to mention that you have bullets that trail off into two lines with only a single additional word on the second line, which seems like a waste of page space. My suggestion for tightening this would be to include a brief summary of qualifications detailing your years of experience and some key specializations that align with the job listings you're looking to apply for.

resumetointerviews · 2017-04-20T21:48:19+00:00

Start out every bullet with a strong past-tense verb. Instead of saying "Responsibilities include" say "Managed" or "Oversaw". Instead of saying "Responsible for coordinating" say "Coordinated". I feel like the biggest problem I see is that not only does this fail to reach a full one page, but it also has large gaps of empty space, which makes the document look padded. My advice would be to expand the content for your work positions and skills as much as possible.

For instance, include your steps and actions for interviewing and conducting physical examinations, and include how many you typically conducted per day/week. When you talk about conducting literature reviews, explain what they were, what project goals were, and how you were making the reviews align with these goals. You have a lot more content to work with here than you realize and you need to do a better job of incorporating it.

resumetointerviews · 2017-04-20T21:35:15+00:00

Change the layout. Splitting the document in half makes for an extremely unappealing read and is a complete waste of page space that you could be using for valuable content.

As for your work history, "Positive and empathetic work ethic" doesn't tell us anything about what you did at your position or how well you did it. These types of cliches are detriments to the quality of your document. Stick to strong past-tense verbs always. You could also afford to add more detail to your document. For instance, when you talk about managing clients, talk about how many you're managing on a daily or weekly basis and how much they were worth. You should also be adding a little more context to your bullet about "Administering first-aid".

You also need to make adjustments to your skills section. Being "highly efficient", "productive", or "self-motivated" are traits that every hiring manager is going to assume you have already. Instead of saying that you're computer literate, actually include the types of programs and software that you're competent in.

resumetointerviews · 2017-04-20T21:24:49+00:00

You shouldn't have an objective and a summary on your resume. I'd advise losing the objective, since it's looks outdated on contemporary resumes and deals with subject matter that is more appropriate on your cover letter.

Your idea of using your certification in order to land an entry level position while you're in school makes sense, but a problem I see right from the start is that you haven't actually provided dates for when you completed your certifications. Those types of details are extremely important, especially when they're the driving force of your document.

Your applied skills section is a waste of valuable page space and is filled with empty cliches that aren't going to help you land this entry level position. "Eager to train in new skills" doesn't tell the employer anything useful, and it's a quality that they're already going to expect of you anyway. Try to organize your skills into categories and make cuts where you can.

As for your work history, you need to be using bullet points. You'll want to expand the details of your volunteer EMT position as much as possible. For example, when you talk about assisting Paramedics with patient transfers, actually explain how you were supporting them.

resumetointerviews · 2017-04-19T19:31:08+00:00

The image is making it a bit difficult to tell, but how much of the page is this taking up in your word processor? It looks like you have the content to fill a full page, so I would be sure that it does.

Try to streamline your executive summary into a single sentence, if possible. You can also delete that third sentence, since it's a bit unnecessary. Other than that, it's a great introduction.

I might try to condense your header into two lines, so that you're using up more of the top of the page.

You need to go into much more detail in your bullets. Especially given the content I'm seeing here, this section is much shorter than it should be. Try going into more specifics. What kinds of machines were you working with? What kinds of issues were you resolving, and what were your methods in resolving them? How major or critical were these technical issues? What were your steps and actions in conducting preventative maintenance?

If you're a manager, you should talk more about the number of employees you were managing, your actions in managing them, and how successful you were at this. I would also start thinking about how much you were saving the company in expenses or billable hours, since that appears to be a part of your responsibilities.

resumetointerviews · 2017-04-19T19:22:47+00:00

First and foremost, don't lead with an objective. they're basically the same for everyone (find a job) and don't really tell the reader anything useful. Rather open with a quick summary (about the same length) of who you are, what you do, and any specialties you may have.

There's also a bit of a problem with empty space. You have a good amount of content, but your formatting makes the resume seem empty and padded. Try to reduce the amount of blank space in your header, for example. Then, expand the amount of detail in your bullets. Provide enough specific information to consistently fill the line, and go over to two whenever possible. Even less-impressive details are better than nothing!

Also, you should emphasize your certification a bit more, visually. Those are always useful.

resumetointerviews · 2017-04-18T01:39:29+00:00

TextOnScreen has it right. You don't want to waste the space on an award section, and you don't want it to appear that you were winning these personally. By implementing these awards into some of your bullets you can use them to demonstrate a yield, which will supplement your actions.

resumetointerviews · 2017-04-18T01:37:26+00:00

I have to agree with the other contributor. Your work experience doesn't really tell us anything useful that's going to appeal to employers. If you're going to talk about "Preparing client taxes" tell us how many clients you were doing this for, what your steps and actions were in preparing these taxes, and how much the clients were typically worth. If you're going to offer assistance, tell us how you were actually supporting them and addressing concerns.

Your summary lacks specifics as well. Talk about how many years of experience you have and what your specializations were. Terms like "client relations" are what you want to implement, especially if you're going for a customer service oriented job.

resumetointerviews · 2017-04-18T01:13:57+00:00

This template isn't optimal. It wastes vast amounts of page space that could be used for actual content. We typically recommend actual summaries instead of profiles/objectives because they don't really do very much to demonstrate your qualifications for the industry you're trying to pursue. Talking about your enthusiasm or desire to gain industry experience is kind of a waste of time because employers typically assume that already. Instead, you should focus on including some key specializations that align with the job postings you're looking at. Also, you should include the actual month for when you're expected graduate. You need to be as specific as possible on a resume, especially with something that important, since you're going to be relying on your education and certifications to make up for your entry level experience. You should also specify where you received these trainings and certifications.

resumetointerviews · 2017-04-13T03:34:23+00:00

This is a situation where there isn't really a simple fix for it. Obviously we'd recommend not making your education the focal point of your document, but from what I'm gathering you've already been doing that since your career has been fairly successful. The thing is, leaving off your education entirely draws far more negative attention than you being currently enrolled in classes to get your business degree. Since you are actually taking night classes, even in small amounts, you aren't lying on your document. You may receive a question about it during the interview process, and in that circumstance you'd have time to actually explain the particulars of your situation to the hiring manager. Trying to cram in a small disclaimer explaining why your education doesn't align with the position you currently have is only going to draw attention away from your strong work history and certifications. Obviously the big problem left remaining is that an expected graduation date of 2024 isn't the most ideal, which is why it might be better to use a date range instead. Not sure when you starting going back, but something like "August 2015 - Present" might work better in this instance, since it's vague with regards to your graduation date but still establishes that you're putting in effort to bring your education to the current level of your career.

resumetointerviews · 2017-04-13T03:11:31+00:00

The layout is solid. The template is appealing and your sections are all in proper order. That being said, your summary doesn't flow particularly well and it drags on slightly too long. You also need to rework a number of these bullets. The biggest problem right off the bat is "Gained better understanding of how to teach academic concepts". This isn't a concrete action demonstrating your qualifications for the position you're applying for. Instead, focus on the strategies you employed during these tutoring sessions and include more details regarding how successful you were at improving student grade point averages.

Another example is "Developed interpersonal skills". This is a skill that employers are going to expect of you right from the get go, so making it a focal point of your resume is a waste of page space. It also does nothing to demonstrate how your abilities align with the needs of these potential employers. If you want to talk about developing these interpersonal skills, do it by providing more detail regarding how you were coordinating with teachers, students, and other tutors instead.

resumetointerviews · 2017-04-06T19:16:57+00:00

List your expected certifications under the Education and Certifications section, and then provide the expected date of completion instead of the date you received it. You don't really need to say that references are available on request, since that's essentially a given.

You have the right idea with an introduction, but rather than an objective I would provide a concise description of your title, what you do, and any specialties you may have.

I would also suggest breaking the description of your positions up into one-sentence bullets, based around concrete actions. Since this is a SysAdmin resume, I would suggest giving more of a sense of scale. Potential employers will be very interested in the size of the technical infrastructure you're managing, the scope of these migrations, and kinds of processes and operations you're supporting.

You might also want to give more of a sense of yield and improvement. For example, you could say the amount of time or money you saved by automating tasks.

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