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Locut0s Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-24-10 01:54 AM
Original message
Resume overview?
So I'm just about to start canvasing stores looking for a job. I'm aiming to get with an assistant managers position or failing that just a sales associate position in a computer hardware sales environment. Either something at a brick and mortar store like Circuit City in the US, here I'd be looking at Future Shop. Either that or EB Games or something similar. Yes I know 1/2 the replies are going to be go back to school, yes I plan on it but I still want something in the way of a job first. Given my experience and interests seems to me this type of thing would be the best to aim for. At any rate here's my resume that I have written up as of now. Let me know if you think it looks good or really shitty (by shitty I don't mean the experience I mean the formatting, layout and wording). As for why I don't have any experience between the last job and now well... that would be because I've been working through a lot of emotional problems at home but I'm just going to say that I've been on vacation to anyone who asks.



Note I have since revered the order of the job experience section so that the most recent work is first. And I have reduced the length of the objective section.
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Tobin S. Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-24-10 02:02 AM
Response to Original message
1. Looks good
If it were mine I'd center the personal details at the top, but I think what you have there looks pretty good.
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Phentex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-24-10 07:16 AM
Response to Original message
2. I think it looks/sounds good. But be consistent...
it's a small thing but either put a period after all of your items or don't.

Good luck!
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Minimus Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-24-10 07:32 AM
Response to Original message
3. Check your years...
You have Dec 2006 - Mar 2006 and then Mar 2006 - Jan 2009. Shouldn't it be Mar 2007?
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Locut0s Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-25-10 03:58 AM
Response to Reply #3
6. No because I'm using Mar 2006 as the dividing line to separate the 2 positions...
Up to Mar 2006 I was a Sales Associate. After Mar but still in 2006 up to 2009 I was an assistant manager.
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Blue_Tires Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-24-10 07:36 AM
Response to Original message
4. send it to Rabrrrrrrrrrr
Edited on Mon May-24-10 07:36 AM by Blue_Tires
he's also good at editing
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lukasahero Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon May-24-10 02:04 PM
Response to Original message
5. I think the formatting looks good
I would hide the table lines though. I would also recommend checking for consistency of language (in some places you use the word "I..." and in other places you omit it. I would recommend not using the word "I" but strongly suggest at least going one way or the other. (Example: in your computing experience section you have "I have been building..." as one bullet point followed by "Knowledgeable with...")

I know you didn't want to hear input on more than the formatting but I would be remiss if I didn't say something about ditching the "objective" for a skills "summary" section. Here's my reasoning: companies really don't care what you want in life, they want to know what you have to offer them. Perhaps you could combine your "computer experience" with some of your objective statements and put that at the top of the resume? A potential rewrite might look something like:

- Extensive retail experience
- Over 10 years experience building personal computer systems
- Knowledgeable of all major computer brands including...
- Passionate and positive team player driven to improve sales and provide excellent customer service

I had originally considered putting something about the computer classes in the summary but I can't figure out from your resume if you have a degree or not. If you do, I would include that information in the summary as an additional bullet point:
- Computer science degree from x

I would leave out the # of years the degree was for - it's irrelevant - if you have a degree, you have a degree and it doesn't matter how long the program was. (For example: at one point in my history, I took a 9-week intensive certificate program and list it on my resume as "x-certificate program, school abc.)

That said, I really can't tell if you have a degree or are in a degree program. It's unclear in both your education and you computer skills section. If you don't have a degree, don't use the word - it's confusing (and worse, could be seen as misleading). It's also likely irrelevant for the position you are seeking. I would consider leaving out the line in your education area entirely. Just leave it as SFU, Mathematics/Computer Science program. (You're not indicating you have a degree, you're indicating you're in school or have been in school.) Once you have a degree, you will list it as X Degree, ABC Universiy.
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6000eliot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-25-10 04:10 AM
Response to Original message
7. I teach business writing.
List the jobs in reverse chronological order. It's the standard.
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Locut0s Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-25-10 04:32 AM
Response to Original message
8. **UPDATED RESUME** - I think this is close to final.
Ok I've taken some of the suggestions from here and elsewhere and changed some of the formatting. I think this update is close to final.

Thanks for all the help so far guys!

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Phentex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-25-10 06:48 AM
Response to Reply #8
9. That'll be ten dollars...
;)


Looks good!

Good luck with your search!
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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-25-10 07:15 AM
Response to Reply #8
10. You need to do something about that blurry patch in the upper left corner.
Very unprofessional.
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Bucky Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-25-10 07:18 AM
Response to Reply #8
11. Much better. Remember: Job hunting is like fishing. You measure success by time, not by bites
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LeftyFingerPop Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-25-10 09:08 AM
Response to Reply #8
12. My suggestions...
1) In the skills section, take the "..." off after the "etc" and just use a single period. It looks less cluttered.

2) In your experience section, you repeated the name and address of the same company 3 times. This is redundant, takes up space, and forces the reader to determine him/herself to determine that you have held different positions at the same location.

What I would do here is the following: List the name and address of the company once at the top of the experience section. Bold it.

Then, Bold and italicize each of your position titles.

3) My opinion is that you should not use periods after statements in a resume. Most items in a resume are fragments rather than complete sentences, and the less unnecessary punctuation on a resume, the better.

4) Make use of bolded font in your education section...I would probably bold the name of the school. If you received a degree from Simon Fraser, state so. Finally, there appears to be and unnecessary space between the listing of your two schools.

Good looking resume! Good luck with your endeavors.
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Rabrrrrrr Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue May-25-10 08:07 PM
Response to Reply #8
13. OK, I'm going to toss in my 2 cents.
That redone resume is a VAST improvement over the first one - it reads far more professional, and is way more interesting than the first one.

That said, you have some issues. Not awful issues, but the deal with a resume is that you need to stand out above the crowd and get noticed - and it's the little shit that will get you noticed.

The little shit that will get you noticed (sounds silly, but it's true)
1. Consistent formatting
2. Every word spelled correctly
3. One space after all punctuation - not two, not zero. One and one only.
4. Perfect grammar
5. Making it look professional: formatted beautifully, printed on quality paper with a quality printer
6. Personalized for the specific job at the specific company that the resume is being sent out for
7. No goddamn buzzwords or adjectives unless absolutely necessary
8. Bullet points are the suck; narrative is WAY more interesting, and also gives you a chance to prove that you can string sentences together. If you're in sales, that's important.

Resume readers want any excuse to toss one before reading it.

If you give them a resume that's grammatically pure, formatted beautifully, everything spelled correctly, with an interesting narrative and easy to read they'll go "Holy shit - look at this - this guy ACTUALLY FUCKING CARES about his resume; I bet he'll actually care about the quality of work he does as well!"

My suggestions:
1. ALL CAPS is annoying as hell

2. San serifs fonts are unprofessional

3. Take out the lines - let white space define the boundaries

4. No bullet points. Just say what you did in the job. And don't use empty words like "competent in" or "experienced with". I'm "experienced" with driving semis in the sense that a semi hit me once. For example, you have the line "Performed markups and markdowns to facilitate inventory turnover". That could mean many things. Does that mean that the boss told you take the pricing gun out and mark some stuff down to $5.00 because it was shit and he wanted it out of the store before anyone noticed, or does it mean that you were in charge of deciding if and when and by how much to price down older inventory because you also knew that new stock was coming in soon and you needed to make room for it?

Anything that you were in charge of, led, or were responsible for - spell it out. Say it. Show me that you are competent with something, not just say "competent in". For example, "At XYZ store I started as an assistant sales associate responsible for selling ABC products, stocking inventory as it was depleted, and balancing the cash drawer at the end of the day. In six months I was promoted to full sales associate with responsibility for ordering and maintaining inventory for such and such a department in the store, discounting merchandise when we needed to make room for new products, and balancing the daily cash drawer for the entire store and making deposits. After promotion to Acting Manager a year later, I hired and trained new employees, negotiated relations and provided conflict resolution between employees and also between employees and management, oversaw the accounting for the store, met with executives to set sales goals for the store and then was responsible to implement those goals with my staff, and slid cans of frozen grape juice at old crones."

And then, in those narratives, if you did anything extraordinary, list that as well, such as fastest promotion in store history; had the best sales record for 2005; led the store to be the company's highest grossing store in 2007; invented a more efficient way to layout a department or the entire store; helped to introduce new product category and led our store to be the biggest seller in company; even as store manager, still made sure to understand how every product worked and what the features were so I knew what we were selling and could help out on the floor when needed and resolve customer issues more gently and knowledgeably. Stuff like that. List any and all awards (employee of the month, highest sales, least doctrinal, best store spirit, most crones knocked down, etc).


5. Use a consistent font size throughout - headings can be bigger, that's fine; but, for example, in your school listing, "Southerland Secondary" is a large size than Vancouver, BC (and there's also a LOT of space after that comma). You also have a half-line of space between the "Secondary" line and the "Graduate 2001" line. And that should probably be "Graduated". And if you have a degree from that university, list it.




That's it - looks to me like you've done some great stuff at the store you worked at, and are clearly competent and able to do so. But that resume has to shine above the others so that you get noticed, because in this current economic environment, I'm sure you have a lot of competition.

Also, customize it for every specific company and position. And ESPECIALLY tailor your cover letter to be about each specific job you're seeking. Show them that you aren't just generically looking for some kind of sales job in some kind of store that deals with computers. Let them know that you read their ad and know who they are, and why you are the right fit.

You might also want to put something in there about how you deal with customers and customer service - I don't see anything in there about that at all, and that seems pretty important for someone who's going to be selling stuff to folks.

Good luck!!
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