Hows This Honesty Please!!!!!!!
Attention Please!. Please critique my resume, I have sent over 30 resumes and haven't got a call even for an interview yet. There has got to be something wrong here. I just don't see it. Please help, I have a 6 year old daughter that I have to take care of and nobody is even giving me the chance to show them I'm a hard worker. I don't have the city and state and the employer of course for privacy and also I took out the city and state of the college I am attending. Also the format doesn't look like that (Skills Section). Please you all don't just read please critique. God will bless you!
OBJECTIVE: Seeking employment as a Customer Service Representative in a fast-paced, high volume company. I am an enthusiastic team player able to preserve a positive attitude under pressure.
SKILLS
•Payment Verifications •Bank Deposits •Staff Scheduling
•MS Word •Daily Reconciliation •Filing
•MS Excel •Multi-line Phone •Accounts Payable
•Typing 40 WPM •Call Center •Accounts Receivable
•Data Entry •Claims •Client Accounts
•Customer Service •Credit Cards • Dispatch
one quick note... you may want to change your objective or remove it completely. Sometimes a very specific objective can limit the amount of jobs/companies that fall into that category.
Also, I personally would thin it out a bit. Try using only the most important skills in a particular job. For instance, pick 3 or 4 and concentrate on those. If there is a skill that is "easier" and everyone that is applying for this type of job has that skill, leave that off and pick one that makes you stand out.
Sometimes less is more. Depending on the job you're applying for, the employer may think you are overqualified and would be bored or not challenged and end up quitting. Or want too much money.
A sharp, professional, and to the point resume is the best bet.
Try making some modifications and send it out. (resend it to the other companies as well).
Hope this helps, and good luck.
Also, unless your GPA is 4.0, you may want to leave that out. Not that there's anything wrong with 3.3, but you want to look as good as possible. On that same note, you may also want to change "intermediate" Microsoft Office skills. I would find a better word, "very good" sounds better than intermediate.
2. Your job start and finish dates all overlap by a month. Is that correct, that every job transition had you working two jobs for a month?
3. Your expected graduation date is May 2007. What happened?
4. Eighteen skills in the Skills category is a lot. Could you cut it down to 9 or 12? Customize them for each position you apply for, just giving the ones that are relevant.
5. Thanks for promising the blessings from God. I could use some.
HR lurking with an honest response. Pay the money and have your resume done by a professional resume writer. Find someone local, ask to see some of their work and if it impresses you, it will impress someone else. A good resume should run you about $300. If you can't afford it, then have one done as soon as you can.
Most resumes that I read are terrible. You have 15 seconds to make your point. Why jeopardize your chances when you can outsource the job and concentrate on your interviewing skills which cannot be outsourced.
Understand that even the best resumes have a low response rate and that is simply due to the number of people applying for each job now. Figure on a 3% response rate. 100 resumes should get you 2-3 call backs - not job offers but calls. The Resume Game is a number's game. Don't kid yourself.
The top 3rd of your resume is what gets read the most! Are your strongest attributes there? Move the Keyword Section to the bottom, as this is necessary when someone searches by keyword. Move the Summary of Qualification bit to the top and move the Objective Statement to your cover letter. Don't make your Objective Statement too flowery. If it says, "Seeking a challenging, rewarding position with a company whose vision matches my own, blah, blah, blah...", this is going right in the trash. I have read this a thousand times. Companies want to know exactly which position you are applying for and little else.
Be careful of just throwing nouns and adjectives around. MS Word? MS Excel? How proficient are you on these applications? Any Certifications? In the past, how have you use them. Some people know how to use Outlook and some people know how to program Outlook - big difference.
A company will hire you if you can show them: 1. How you can make them money. 2. How you can save them money. 3. How you can make their headaches, your headaches. Make each statement or bullet appeal to one of these needs.
Finally, the resume is a marketing tool. Test, test. test it.
- Good Luck!
Okay well $300 is out of the question. Also, I need a job to have money. That's the whole point of me sending resumes is to get a job and earn money. So, I need more suggestions please. Okay, sameoldsong your in HR so tell me some other critiques. I moved my skills to the bottom and removed the objective. What is wrong with my bullet points under my jobs? Come on give it to me, I need to here more.
Thank You
I understand that $300 is out of the question in your current financial condition. I am sympathetic to your current plight. I charge about $200 myself and do them from home. It can be expensive when you are looking for work but done right, can be the best thing to find the right job.
I think you need some major re-evaluation of your resume. However, the best place you can find that has free resume assistance is your local unemployment board. They have classes that are about one hour in length. You receive free reference materials to get you started. Further, you can create a resume right there or bring an existing one and experts will tell you what you need to improve upon. (Bring your own floppy and/or a R/R CD.) It's all free. I don't think you need to be unemployed to take the class.
If that doesn't help you, you can go to the library for resume reference materials or seek information on the U. S. Department of Labor's website. They give you free samples of various resumes. Functional, chronological and curriculum vitae, in various formats.
Further, sending out 30 resumes is nothing. I read an article recently that 200 resumes bring 5 responses in this job market. Flood the market with your resume when it is complete and make sure you put it on all the job boards you can find including your local unemployment board as appropriate.
I hope that helps you. Best of luck!
Your resume is too broadbased and it lacks a definite focus on customer service/call center operations. If the bullet doesn't directly relate to an outside customer, either rewrite it or get rid of it.
Summary of Qualifications:
Yours isn't bad but it is typical. We are all dedicated, hardworking, trustworthy and good with people. That might get you an online date but its usually not enough to make HR pick up the phone. We're very fussy about who we go out with.
Your qualification statement is a basic generalization and I have read this a thousand times. I would redo this until I have something that is unique to me and compelling. Each statement either moves you towards an interview or away from it.
The same is true of Objective Statements. Stay away from the "...seeking a stimulating, challenging, rewarding position drivel, blah, blah, blah". Companies don't want to see this anymore.
Keyword Statement:
Bank Deposits, Filing, Data Entry, Customer Service, Credit Cards, Typing 40 WPM? What is special about this? What separates this from the 50 other admin resumes on my desk all competing for just the ONE opening? Typing 90 WPM and willing to work nights weekends and Christmas Day is special but typing 40 WPM isn't.
Accomplishments:
Action words ending in -ed need to have supporting statements.
"Increas-ed sales by 32%? How did you do this?
"Prepar-ed monthly expense reports?" Using what and for who?
It's not easy to write a good resume and actually I learned how myself by having read so many bad ones.
Peonies is right. Your local Employment Development Department (Unemployment Office) has classes and free critiques on Resumes.
Also make sure you are targeting your market and testing your ads, oh sorry, your resumes. . For example: http://www.callcenterjobs.com/
It's coming along.
Angel,
You do not need to pay someone money to do your resume. Writing a resume is not easy. I have easily written 20 plus drafts tweaking my resume. The local unemployment office may offer classes on resume writing. These are free. You may check with your college to see if they offer anything for people who are going to be graduating. You may even check with your local churches to see if any of them have ministries to help the unemployed. I know we are in different parts of the country. In my experience, these things are free or cost very little.
There are a couple of books you should look into which will give you some help. These should be easy to find at your local library.
- What Color is Your Parachute by Richard Nelson Bolles -- a must read for any job seeker.
Resume books: A couple that I have found helpful.
- Resumes That Knock 'em Dead by Martin Yates
- 101 Best Resumes: by Jay A. Block and Michael Betrus
As far as the format goes, maybe it is just the way it posted.... In some places you have a section title with no spacing (single space). In other places you have double spacing between the section title and the information. The bullets look messy. There is no spaces between the bullet and the start of the statement. One of the bullets is actually a circle vs.the rest which are squares. You should probably pick a sans serif font (a font without feet), like Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, etc.... Times New Roman is a serif font (with feet). Sometimes using a serif font can be harder for the eyes. Using a sans serif font, just gives it a clean and neat appearance.
Also, your going to need more than one version of your resume. You will need a version in Word which has some formatting. These you would take to job fairs, interviews and when applying for some jobs. However, most online job application will ask for a resume... Sure, it may take your word resume, but it will convert it to plain text and mess up all the spacing and carriage returns... Only one company in which I have applied for a job has accepted the attachment as a whole. For the plain text resume, you won't be able to use the square bullets. You could use an asterisk or maybe a dash to indicate a bullet.
I'm not sure how you are sending your resumes. Blasting resumes to companies, may not get you anywhere to be honest. It's not worth your time to do this.
Most jobs nowadays are found via networking. I am finding that even when I apply to a company, I have to go that extra step, to see if I can network in to get my resume pulled from the system and physically in front of someone.....otherwise it just goes into that black hole of a company database. Maybe it will be seen, maybe it won't be seen.
Best of Luck!