Certification - June 2008 - (Page 16)

VIRTUAL VILLAGE Resume Tutorial DANIEL MARGOLIS Building a resume seems simple enough, but when you actually sit down to do so, it’s possible to draw a blank. More difficult is figuring out how to target your resume toward a specific desired outcome or tailor it for better success. Members of our CertMag.com discussion forums recently saw fit to conduct an impromptu resume advice session. It started with junior member dsa1971 posting: “I’ve been working on my resume and am looking for some good IT resume examples to help me with my resume, preferably examples for programmers and analysts. Any links to some examples would be great.” Regular forum contributor Wayne Anderson responded with a lengthy breakdown of this subject: “A solid resume is indispensible in being able to properly represent yourself to potential employers. The good news is that because of how critical this is to each professional, the Internet provides a wealth of information and resources on how to guide your career materials. Monster’s Basics: This provides basic tips on building a technical resume and using it to stand out from the pile to get the interview. If you are new to resumes or looking to brush up your resume-writing skills and concepts because it has been a while, this is a good place to start conceptually. http://content.monster.com/resume/home.aspx Microsoft’s Resume Template: Obviously 100,001 candidates are using the templates posted here. Use these as a starting point and customize them from there to stand out from the crowd. Do not be afraid to modify the template. Use visual cues — such as certification logos — near the top of your resume to stand out from the stack. http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/te 33.aspx?av=ZWD Dice Resume Ideas: Any discussion of technology resumes would not be complete without featuring some of Dice’s ideas on the matter. Dice is focused on technology jobs as a technology job board, so all of the resources on Dice are going to be specifically focused for that audience. This provides a good set of resources for resume tips for various situations and how to handle changes in your job-seeking status. http://career-resources.dice.com/tec articles.shtml Finally, a personal tip. I am very involved personally on the Internet. I contribute to several technical communities, run my own personal Web site, write a per- sonal and a technical company blog and give small presentations locally. Over the years as my visibility has increased, I have picked up some experiences that I would advise anyone implement as soon as possible, before you encounter any of the problems I have: 1. Remove your intimate contact info from any Internet-posted resource. I am not saying do not provide your contact information to Monster.com to create an account, but if a job site offers the ability to mark your address and phone number confidential, I would strongly advise you to do so. On Word documents that you host on personal Web sites or post as CVs for speaking or other presentation engagements, remove your address and phone number. An e-mail is all the contact that an interested party will need for the first contact. If you trust them or want the opportunity to go further, you can always provide a resume with full contact information on a private channel such as e-mail. 2. Keep two versions of each resume that you use. One is your “elevator pitch” resume. One is your full CV. The elevator pitch resume is the one that you use to get attention. This is one in which you compress your experience and skills, throw down logos 16 CERTIFICATION MAGAZINE June 2008 http://CertMag.com http://content.monster.com/resume/home.aspx http://Monster.com http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/te...33.aspx?av=ZWD http://career-resources.dice.com/tec...articles.shtml

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Certification - June 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Data Stream Tech Careers Academic Connection Dear Techie Virtual Village Online Degrees: Are They Right for You? Inside Certification New Opportunities and Challenges: Are Application Developers Ready? Interface Where Have All the Help Desks Gone? Ad Index Endtag

Certification - June 2008

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