|
Ok, so I'm applying for a job that I have absolutely no experience in, but I have an "in" to the company. I have to submit my resume, as well as some contacts of current or previous supervisors (but that's probably not important). I'm trying to consider everything this company could want, and even though my previous employment experience does not exactly apply to this line of work, I think that I can show a desire and personality that would be suited for the work I'm applying for.
What I'm applying for is an entry level tech position at BP (the gasoline company). And here is my current resume. Any help/advice you can give is greatly appreciated.
_____________________
Objective To work in a professional environment that may provide opportunities to move up in a given company. Also to broaden my knowledge and work experience to one day further my career.
Work experience
2008-Current Shoe Show Inc./Shoe Dept Belvidere, IL
Sales Associate, Key Holder (Assistant Manager)
§ Job duties as a sales associated included working with customers face-to-face, selling shoes and shoe care accessories. As a key holder job duties included handling of sometimes upset customers and diffusing situations. Three subordinates to manage, had to help team members to meet personal and store sales goals, suggest new ideas for improving sales, and help control payroll.
2006 - 2008 SyncreonUS Logistics Belvidere, IL
Process Technician
§ Job entails reading part numbers, verifying their correctness, and then moving them from one bin to another in a specified sequence. Also drove a tugger and moved parts on dollies from one area to another.
2004-2006 Jiffy-Lube Intl. Streamwood, Illinois
Courtesy Tech, Upper Bay Tech, Lower Bay Tech.
§ Greeted customers, detailed the Jiffy-Lube services, and generally helped them in any way possible as a Courtesy Tech. As an Upper Bay tech I check all the car’s fluids, and added oil. As Lower Bay tech I removed oil filters and lubed areas underneath the car. The job involved high levels of teamwork for efficiency and safety purposes.
2003-2004 Jewel-Osco Streamwood, Illinois
Courtesy Clerk
§ Greeted customers, made sure they found everything quickly and easily, bagged groceries, and helped customers to their car if needed. Also if needed, I would direct a customer to an item they could not find, and often times walked them to the area.
Skills Proficient in various computer programs, such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint.
Education
2006-Current Rock Valley College Rockford, Illinois
Incomplete
§ Basic classes have been taken, including English 101, Micro Economics, Into to Computer and Information Systems, Fundamentals of Communication, and Interculteral Communication. GPA 3.185
2003-2005 Christian Liberty Academy Arlington Heights, Illinois
High school Diploma
§ 2001-2003 Streamwood High School Streamwood, Illinois
Awards received First Class Scout in the Boy Scouts of America.
___________________
All that said, I know it's not an incredibly impressive resume or anything, but it's obviously better than nothing. And while, as I have said, I don't have direct experience with the field I'm applying for, I have some of the general knowledge that would be required for this work (it's incredibly simple from what I'm told, and I have, at least, basic knowledge of how computers work and operate.), and certainly have the communication skills that are required (which are probably equally important to the job, as the support requires talking to people that work at gas stations).
I PM'ed this to t_co if anyone was going to suggest using TL Manpower, but I'm not sure if he still visits the site or not, and figured there would be a few other people that know how to write resumes to make them look proper.
Anyway, if anyone here can help/critique that would be greatly appreciated.
|
Either use bullet points or write in complete sentences; half of your sentences are awkward fragments. The objective is way too generic and plain, and you make your previous jobs sound incredibly bland. Try to highlight skills that you either demonstrated or learned on the job instead of just describing what you did. Embellish your responsibilities to make them seem more important than "adding oil" and "bagging groceries."
|
change your fragments into sentences with strong action words (verbs!!!). also, get rid of those qualifiers in your sentences. examples:
Three subordinates to manage, had to help team members to meet personal and store sales goals, suggest new ideas for improving sales, and help control payroll.
Managed three subordinates, assisted team members in meeting personal and store sales goals by suggesting new ideas for improving sales and controlling payroll.
Also if needed, I would direct a customer to an item they could not find, and often times walked them to the area.
Helped customers find items within the store and directed them to the specific aisle.
If you find you are using the same verbs too often, open up a thesaurus and find some synonyms. Just make sure you understand them and are using them in the correct context.
You're in college so you should take out education info prior to high school. If you need space on your resume (to fit it on one page or whatever) you can take out your high school information too. You didn't go to a noteworthy high school and your employer can make a safe assumption that you have a high school diploma if you are already in college so it's sort of superfluous.
Add your expected date of graduation to your college information. You should try to only list course work that will be somewhat relevant to the job you are applying to.
Basic classes have been taken, including English 101, Micro Economics, Into to Computer and Information Systems, Fundamentals of Communication, and Interculteral Communication. GPA 3.185
Relevant course work: English 101, etc.
You should be in your 4th year of college, so it should be a no brainer that you've already taken the basic classes. Try to include classes that will be relevant to the job you are applying to. You should be able to list some more impressive classes than English101 and other intro level classes.
|
Try to clean it up a little bit. Thats a lot of reading to find out what your previous work experience has been like. Try to make your sentences short and succinct as possible, while still giving information on what you did.
For example
Instead of writing
Skills Proficient in various computer programs, such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint
Just say Proficient in microsoft office xp, 2003, 2007 etc. (I find it looks good this way even though word hasnt exactly changed much over the years)
|
When describing your past jobs. Write about accomplishments. Did you improve sales during the time there? "Improved sales by $20,000 during holiday season" and/or "improved department sales rank to #1" or something like that. Or "Improved store efficiency by Processing additional 18 customers per hour" Im sure you must have had some information given to you by managers/supervisors on how you impacted the business. Use that information.
|
Spenguin
Australia3316 Posts
Skills Proficient in various computer programs, such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint.
Separate this from the body paragraph, this should be important (I think) if your going for a tech position. Also try and focus your resume around the skills/activities involved in the job you are applying for however don't forget about your other years of work experience.
|
be more specific in your objective, e.g.:
To join an organization where I can apply my skills and knowledge in finance and risk management and to attain a level of expertise in the analysis of financial markets.
if this new work is not related to your previous jobs, may be your objective can be this:
To work in a professional environment where I can have the opportunities to learn and strengthen my knowledge in ____________ (insert the nature of your potential new job here).
- I prefer bulleted formats in resume so it could be easily read.
- Always check parallelism in your statements, just like what skronch's 1st suggestion. if you started your statement with verb, then always start with verb.
- In the Education section, you could also include the number of units completed.
- In the Proficiency section, you could simply say proficient in MS Office and it's better if you could also expound the "various computer programs", I'm sure you know more than MS Office. If your new job involves typing skills, you could also include your word/minute.
I hope my these help  good luck to you.
|
It was bulleted in the document, but it didn't transfer here for whatever reason.
I should be in my fourth year of college, but I'm not. I took a year and a half off after high school, so I'm just finishing my second, really. I totally forgot about updating that though, because I have 65 credit hours, and am looking to transfer in the fall to uni. I haven't received the AA yet, but it's completed. But, as of now, it's been all entry level classes. Most of the people they hire on don't even have that much college experience, so...
On December 16 2009 19:25 itzme_petey wrote:
When describing your past jobs. Write about accomplishments. Did you improve sales during the time there? "Improved sales by $20,000 during holiday season" and/or "improved department sales rank to #1" or something like that. Or "Improved store efficiency by Processing additional 18 customers per hour" Im sure you must have had some information given to you by managers/supervisors on how you impacted the business. Use that information.
That is actually impossible to say. It's the first year for this particular store. I've been the top sales person the whole time, pretty much, though. I don't really know how I would word that.
Thanks for all the tips and such, guys. I will definitely apply them.
|
Consistently top sales person per season. (or quarter)
|
|
|
|
|
|
EPT
