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YOUR RESUME
MS Word as a format is quite imperative in the current computer
operating system requirements for most of our employers. If you do
not have MS Word format, copy the resume from your current format
into the body of an email and send it to your EHS representative.
TARGET YOUR JOB….
EHS suggests that each time you send your resume out, you should attempt
to match the requirements of the employer. Typically, you should know
what skills and experience that particular employer is requiring for
the position to be filled, and make those specific areas stand out
through stating accomplishments. Be prepared to go beyond the job
description and daily duties. A Manager is a moniker that already
associates your ability to do inventory, hiring, firing scheduling
and maintaining costs within the four walls. You may have to do additional
research to find out more about the company and position you are applying
to. Also, do not take up space illustrating skills that are not relevant
to the job you are seeking.
CREATE A STRONG OBJECTIVE.....
The top quarter of your resume is the most crucial. Your reader should
know who you are and what you do within five to 10 seconds of looking
at your resume. Think of this as a headline to a news story. What
will GRAB your reader and make them want to read on? As a practical
matter, never write that you have “15 years of management experience”.
Hopefully EHS can find that position that you can retire with, but
if you have to look again, what are you going to do when you are 50
or 60 years old……”Manager with 35 years of experience…”---best
way to describe this in a more justifiable way is “Manager with
multiple years of experience…”
USE BULLET POINTS...
Use bullet points throughout your entire resume. Stay away from long,
dense paragraphs; THEY will not be read. Paraphrase your accomplishments
and be concise. Numbers are your key to success in getting a hiring
managers attention. Not only do you want to grab your readers attention
with a good headline, but a STRONG sense of accomplishments through
numbers will put your resume at the top of the heap. Your resume should
be very easy to scan through so a hiring manager can peruse and quickly
ascertain your value to their operations. Use MS Word's “Arrows
or filled Circle Bullets” rather than Squares, Diamonds or Dashes.
CONCENTRATE ON YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS…
Again, stay away from listing your duties. If you are in the food
industry, it is a given what managers do. Food Service hiring managers
are NOT interested in what your duties or responsibilities were. You
need to emphasis “What did you achieve WITH your responsibilities?”
Did you impact Food Cost, Labor Cost, Secret Shopper Scores(what was
it when you got there and how quickly did you do it?). What makes
you stand out from another candidate with the same experience? Is
your unit #1 or #2 in the concept out of 30 other units for Sales,
Food Cost or Labor Cost, etc.—EXAMPLE: “> Part of management
team that impacted Food Cost by 4.2% within two months of transfer”.
This type of information creates questions that YOU can answer, it
is something YOU did. Ten bullets like the above and you can take
up twenty minutes of a hour long interview.
INCLUDE ONLY RELEVANT INFORMATION. ….
Leave out your hobbies unless they are related to the job you are
seeking. Do not include your marital status, age, irrelevant affiliations,
etc. Also, there is no need to go into grave detail about past employment
that is not related to your desired position. If needed, simply create
an “Other” or “Previous Employment” section
and briefly document this experience.
KEEP IT TO TWO PAGES MAX….
Do not overwhelm your reader by making your resume too long. Unless
you have over twenty years of employment with one company, we suggest
you stay within a 10-12 year history of work experience. Recruiters
are only interested in details of the last 5-8 years, 10 tops. Important
details tend to get buried in a long resume.
NAME YOUR RESUME…..
Imagine being a recruiter and getting several hundred resumes per
week all named: "resume.doc." Keep it simple, make it easy
for your reader to find you and name your resume document: "Smith,
John Resume.doc."
PROOFREAD….
One of the quickest ways for your resume to end up in the trash is
one that contains misspelled words, typos, and wrong grammar usage.
Also, be sure to use the correct verb tense. Mistakes on your resume
can reflect carelessness as an employee.
FINALLY……
Regardless of your ideas on the way a resume should read, these suggestions
are well proven in our Food Service Industry. If you choose to utilize
other than accomplishments and direct information as to the Food Service
background, paper space is wasted, the hiring manager is less interested,
with your resume going on the “tall stack” and passed
on, due to that lack of interest.
Please consider these suggestions. EHS wants to be a partner in your
search for a new position. We emphasize that we are not going to be
anything but a source for your search. WE will never promise that
you will get the job, we just assist in allowing you to be able to
put the “Best Foot Forward” so to speak.
EHS
