The Wild Rover
09-14-05, 12:38 AM
Well Guys,
I thought I would start this forum off with the first step to getting an overseas job, and possibly the most difficult task. Human resource officers see this as a way to either put you on the job, keep it for later reference, or trash it. I've been on many projects, and have seen a lot of resumes passed to me to pass on to various managements, and I have a few tips, and of course welcome and expect your feedback.
List your technical knowledge or trade first, in an organized way. Your technical strengths must stand out clearly at the beginning of your resume. Ultimately, your resume is going to be read by a thoughtful human being, but before it gets to that point it often has to be categorized by an administrative clerk, and make its way past various sorts of key word searches. Therefore, you should list as many directly relevant buzz words as you can which reflect your knowledge and experience. List your trade and the skills with which you're experienced. Make it obvious at a glance where your strengths lie - whether the glance is from a project manager, a tradesman, or a particular machine/craft.
List your qualifications in order of relevance, from most to least. Only list your degree and educational qualifications first if they are truly relevant to the job for which you are applying. Abandon any strict adherence to a chronological ordering of your experience.
Begin sentences with action verbs. Portray yourself as someone who is active, uses their brain, and gets things done. Stick with the past tense, even for descriptions of currently held positions, to avoid confusion.
Don't sell yourself short. This is by far the biggest mistake of all resumes, technical and otherwise. Your experiences are worthy for review by hiring managers. Treat your resume as an advertisement for you. Be sure to thoroughly "sell" yourself by highlighting all of your strengths. If you've got a valuable asset which doesn't seem to fit into any existing components of your resume, list it anyway as its own resume segment.
Be concise. As a rule of thumb, resumes reflecting five years or less experience should fit on one page. More extensive experience can justify usage of a second page. Consider three pages (about 25 years or more experience) an absolute limit. Avoid lengthy descriptions of whole projects of which you were only a part. Consolidate action verbs where one task or responsibility encompasses other tasks and duties. Minimize usage of articles (the, an, a) and never use "I" or other pronouns to identify yourself.
Omit needless items. Leave all these things off your resume: social security number, marital status, health, age, scholarships, irrelevant awards, irrelevant associations and memberships, irrelevant publications, irrelevant recreational activities, a second mailing address ("permanent address" is confusing and never used), references, reference of references ("available upon request"), travel history, previous pay rates, previous supervisor names, and components of your name which you really never use (i.e. middle names).
Have a trusted friend review your resume. Be sure to pick someone who is attentive to details, can effectively critique your writing, and will give an honest and objective opinion. Seriously consider their advice. Get a third and fourth opinion if you can.
Proofread, proofread, proofread. Be sure to catch all spelling errors, grammatical weaknesses, unusual punctuation, and inconsistent capitalizations. Proofread it numerous times over at least two days to allow a fresh eye to catch any hidden mistakes.
If mailed, laser print it on plain, white paper, and use a resume program available online, or from one of those office stores. Most of the time the resume is sent online or faxed, so handwriting, typing, dot matrix printing, and even ink jet printing look pretty cheesy. Stick with a simple format. Don't waste your money on special bond paper, matching envelopes, or any color deviances away from plain white. Do not put pictures on the header. Your resume will be photocopied, faxed, and scanned numerous times, defeating any special paper efforts, assuming your original resume doesn't first end up in the circular file.
Don't lie. People looking at these resumes have seen many, so sounding like you pulled the job out of the hole by yourself, looks as if the entire team watched you in your glory. The contractor looks for team players, not stand out loners. Don't list yourself as an electrician because you helped pull some wire on a project. That is an insult to the skilled tradesmen that have worked hard and long perfecting their craft. You will not only look foolish on the project, but someone could get hurt. This costs us all money.
Ask a close friend to see his. Ideas come to those that do the research. Don't copy his words and skills verbatim, or someone will catch on, and you are both in the circular file. There are also many firms out there that will write a resume for you...but you will pay for it.
Make sure to list a contact phone number and e-mail. Respond to all phone calls and e-mails in a courteous, professional manner. Follow up all correspondance as soon as possible, and let the contractor know if you are serious or not up front. Someone else may be competing for the same job.
Hope this helps. All feedback is welcome.
I thought I would start this forum off with the first step to getting an overseas job, and possibly the most difficult task. Human resource officers see this as a way to either put you on the job, keep it for later reference, or trash it. I've been on many projects, and have seen a lot of resumes passed to me to pass on to various managements, and I have a few tips, and of course welcome and expect your feedback.
List your technical knowledge or trade first, in an organized way. Your technical strengths must stand out clearly at the beginning of your resume. Ultimately, your resume is going to be read by a thoughtful human being, but before it gets to that point it often has to be categorized by an administrative clerk, and make its way past various sorts of key word searches. Therefore, you should list as many directly relevant buzz words as you can which reflect your knowledge and experience. List your trade and the skills with which you're experienced. Make it obvious at a glance where your strengths lie - whether the glance is from a project manager, a tradesman, or a particular machine/craft.
List your qualifications in order of relevance, from most to least. Only list your degree and educational qualifications first if they are truly relevant to the job for which you are applying. Abandon any strict adherence to a chronological ordering of your experience.
Begin sentences with action verbs. Portray yourself as someone who is active, uses their brain, and gets things done. Stick with the past tense, even for descriptions of currently held positions, to avoid confusion.
Don't sell yourself short. This is by far the biggest mistake of all resumes, technical and otherwise. Your experiences are worthy for review by hiring managers. Treat your resume as an advertisement for you. Be sure to thoroughly "sell" yourself by highlighting all of your strengths. If you've got a valuable asset which doesn't seem to fit into any existing components of your resume, list it anyway as its own resume segment.
Be concise. As a rule of thumb, resumes reflecting five years or less experience should fit on one page. More extensive experience can justify usage of a second page. Consider three pages (about 25 years or more experience) an absolute limit. Avoid lengthy descriptions of whole projects of which you were only a part. Consolidate action verbs where one task or responsibility encompasses other tasks and duties. Minimize usage of articles (the, an, a) and never use "I" or other pronouns to identify yourself.
Omit needless items. Leave all these things off your resume: social security number, marital status, health, age, scholarships, irrelevant awards, irrelevant associations and memberships, irrelevant publications, irrelevant recreational activities, a second mailing address ("permanent address" is confusing and never used), references, reference of references ("available upon request"), travel history, previous pay rates, previous supervisor names, and components of your name which you really never use (i.e. middle names).
Have a trusted friend review your resume. Be sure to pick someone who is attentive to details, can effectively critique your writing, and will give an honest and objective opinion. Seriously consider their advice. Get a third and fourth opinion if you can.
Proofread, proofread, proofread. Be sure to catch all spelling errors, grammatical weaknesses, unusual punctuation, and inconsistent capitalizations. Proofread it numerous times over at least two days to allow a fresh eye to catch any hidden mistakes.
If mailed, laser print it on plain, white paper, and use a resume program available online, or from one of those office stores. Most of the time the resume is sent online or faxed, so handwriting, typing, dot matrix printing, and even ink jet printing look pretty cheesy. Stick with a simple format. Don't waste your money on special bond paper, matching envelopes, or any color deviances away from plain white. Do not put pictures on the header. Your resume will be photocopied, faxed, and scanned numerous times, defeating any special paper efforts, assuming your original resume doesn't first end up in the circular file.
Don't lie. People looking at these resumes have seen many, so sounding like you pulled the job out of the hole by yourself, looks as if the entire team watched you in your glory. The contractor looks for team players, not stand out loners. Don't list yourself as an electrician because you helped pull some wire on a project. That is an insult to the skilled tradesmen that have worked hard and long perfecting their craft. You will not only look foolish on the project, but someone could get hurt. This costs us all money.
Ask a close friend to see his. Ideas come to those that do the research. Don't copy his words and skills verbatim, or someone will catch on, and you are both in the circular file. There are also many firms out there that will write a resume for you...but you will pay for it.
Make sure to list a contact phone number and e-mail. Respond to all phone calls and e-mails in a courteous, professional manner. Follow up all correspondance as soon as possible, and let the contractor know if you are serious or not up front. Someone else may be competing for the same job.
Hope this helps. All feedback is welcome.