creating winning resumes - university of pennsylvania
TRANSCRIPT
Creating Winning ResumesSunshine SingerDirector of Student AdvisingWharton MBA Online Session
Agenda
• Motivation
• Understanding your audience
• Creating winning resumes
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Your Resume is Critical
You probably realize a resume:
• is the frontline document for your overall marketing message
• helps you get the interview
You may not realize it:
• communicates more about you than the content on the page
• shapes what you talk about in interviews
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Your Resume is NOT…
Resumes have limited real estate, they are not:
• laundry lists of everything you have done
• novels of creative fiction
• packed with industry jargon
• time for humility or modesty
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Your Resume Matters
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“My pet-peeve is consistency. If the resume has inconsistency, how can I trust the candidate’s financial modeling skills”
- HR Executive, Leading Private Equity Firm
“If I don’t see bullets that quantify measurable results, I don’t select the candidate for an interview, regardless of experience”
- Partner, Consulting Firm
Employer’s Perspective
An employer looks for a resume to quickly demonstrate:
• Critical competencies and skills
• Relevant experience
• Track record of accomplishment
• How smart you are
• Ability to produce a flawless professional end product
• Focus
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Be Relevant
Put yourself in the shoes of the recruiter – what do they want to know about you?
Most common MBA skills:
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Analytical Skills
- Problem Solving- Quantitative
- Strategic Thinking
Interpersonal Skills
- Leadership- Communication
- Teamwork
A Winning Resume
Has three components:
1. looks good enough to read
2. has the right (relevant) stuff
3. says it powerfully with impact
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A Winning Resume
Has three components:
1. looks good enough to read
2. has the right (relevant) stuff
3. says it powerfully with impact
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Visually Compelling Resumes
The majority of employers form an opinion
before reading content!
Readable resumes have:
• White space, neat margins, variety of
opening words
• Bullets versus paragraphs
• Consistency of formats
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Don’t Be Inconsistent
Inconsistency indicates:
• Sloppiness
• A candidate who can’t be trusted with quantitative, analytical or
detail oriented work
Where to look:
• Degrees, units, dates
• Periods, capitalization, bullets, spacing, fonts, alignment
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A Winning Resume
Has three components:
1. looks good enough to read
2. has the right (relevant) stuff
3. says it powerfully with impact
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Be Selective with Content
• Edit out irrelevant information
• Avoid wordiness
• Emphasize the most important experiences:
• order lists thoughtfully• more real estate signals more emphasis• watch out for content that signals a more junior candidate
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Additional Information Section
Opportunity to highlight your unique talents, achievements and awards:
Interests: Traveling, community service and personal investing
Mentored 30 children from single parent households from age six through high school graduation, increased graduation rate by 40%
Manage $2M friends and family investment portfolio. Earned 50% annual return 2002-present.
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A Winning Resume
Has three components:
1. looks good enough to read
2. has the right (relevant) stuff
3. says it powerfully with impact
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Say It with Impact
• Create results-oriented accomplishment statements
• Use active language
• Use the strongest and most specific language
• Use proper grammar
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Accomplishment Statements
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Problem Action Result
Accomplishment Statement
Accomplishment Statements
Presented findings to senior management to determine the most appropriate course for the future
Built model to quantify market size and attractiveness by segment. Presented findings to senior management, recommending new business targets and redeployment of resources, resulting in 11% market share gain.
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Accomplishment Statements
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Recognized as effective manager
Managed team of 20 engineers and programmers. Promoted twice in three years. Rated in top 20% of managers each of last three years.
Quantify Results
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Increase:• Revenue• Profits• Customer satisfaction• Quality• Ratings
Decrease:• Costs• Turnaround time• Error rate• Resources required• Complaints
Quantify specific results with amount or percentage change
Strengthen Your Language
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Was responsible for
Efforts
Multiple, numerous, various
Extremely, very, key
Led, managed, oversaw, created
Initiatives
Over 100, 37, (do you mean diverse?)
Delete it
Don’t Use: Instead try:
Grammar Rules
• Avoid typos! (Get others to proof-read)
• CAPITALIZE: names of countries, nationalities and languages
• Do not capitalize: disciplines or industries such as “marketing” or
“biotech industry”
• Abbreviate state for employer locations, spell out all other address
information
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Grammar Rules (continued)
• Use % sign, do not use < ,>,+
• Spell numbers less than 10, and at the beginning of a sentence
• Use consistent formats for million, billion, etc.
• Either end all sentences with a period or none of them with a
period, just be consistent
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The Final Review
Before your resume is “employer ready”:
• Review again for grammar, typos and consistency errors (or get another set of eyes)
• Read through each bullet and ask yourself:
does it add relevant information? is it achievement focused, have a “so what?” what impressions do you want to leave about yourself and your
professional skills – does your resume accomplish this?
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Resources to Support You
Resume Format • Wharton Resume Templates • Wharton MBA Resume Book Standards and Resume Book Fixes • Action Verb List
Resume Tips • Resume FAQs and additional Exercises • Wharton Resume Book• Wharton Resume Guidelines for Global Careers • Wet Feet and Vault Guides
Resume Feedback • MBACM Resume Review process (Fall) • Student Club resume reviews (Fall) • VMock• Career Fellow Resume Reviews• MBACM Advisors (All school year)
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