Let Us help tailor your resume to the individual opening

A bad resume can sink a good career.

We've all seen them; the resumes that remind you of fingernails on a chalkboard. A resume with mispellings, grammatical errors, or an odd font; they're all the kiss of death. [Bet our deliberate misspelling caught your eye, didn't it!]

Be aware however, many more subtle flaws can shipwreck your most vital document. Some of the very suggestions you'll find on other sites are absolutely wrong for the technical sales field. With that in mind, we encourage you to visit both our Basic and Advanced sections. The Basic section contains good, solid, generic, suggestions to which every resume must adhere or risk a fast trip to the waste bin.

The Advanced section contains hints specific to the technical sales field, compiled from years of talking with candidates, hiring authorities, and other recruiters.  Be sure to visit both sections!


The following tips are copied from Yana Parker's site, "The Damn Good Resume."

While Ms Parker is not connected with the Dowd Group, Inc., her site provides excellent information for supercharging resumes and handling difficult interview situations.

1. What IS a resume anyway?


2. What should the resume content be about?


3. What's the fastest way to improve a resume?




5. What's the first step in writing a resume?







You could start by looking at it differently.



1998-02 Full-time parent -- or
1999-00 Maternity leave and family management -- or
Parenting plus community service

9. What if you have several different job objectives you're working on at the same time? Or you haven't narrowed it down yet to just one job target?




1999-2002 Secretary/Receptionist; Jones Bakery, Micro Corp., Carter Jewelers -- or
1995-97 Waiter/Busboy; McDougal's Restaurant, Burger King, Traders Coffee Shop.


11. What's the best way to impress an employer?




12. What if your job title doesn't reflect your actual level of responsibility?

When you list it on the resume, either replace it with a more appropriate job title (say "Office Manager" instead of "Administrative Assistant" if that's more realistic) OR use their job title AND your fairer one together, i.e. "Administrative Assistant (Office Manager)."

13. How can you avoid age discrimination?

If you're over 40 or 50 or 60, remember that you don't have to present your entire work history! You can simply label THAT part of your resume "Recent Work History" or "Relevant Work History" and then describe only the last 10 or 15 years of your experience. Below your 10-15 year work history, you could add a paragraph headed "Prior relevant experience" and simply refer to any additional important (but ancient) jobs without mentioning dates.

14. What if you never had any "real" paid jobs -- just self-employment or odd jobs?


A&S Hauling & Cleaning (Self-employed) -- or
Household Repairman, Self-employed -- or
Child-Care, Self-employed

Be sure to add "References available on request" and then be prepared to provide some very good references of people you worked for.


Far enough; and not too far! About 10 or 15 years is usually enough - unless your "juiciest" work experience is from farther back.

16. How can a student list summer jobs?

Students can make their resume look neater by listing seasonal jobs very simply, such as "Spring 2001" or "Summer 2001" rather than 6/01 to 9/01. (The word "Spring" can be in very tiny letters, say 8-point in size.)

17. What if you don't quite have your degree or credentials yet?

You can say something like:

Eligible for U.S. credentials -- or
Graduate studies in Instructional Design, in progress -- or
Master's Degree anticipated December 2003



19. What about listing hobbies and interests?


20. What about revealing race or religion?


21. What if your name is Robin Williams?

Don't mystify the reader about your gender; they'll go nuts until they know whether you're male or female. So if your name is Lee or Robin or Pat or anything else not clearly male or female, use a Mr. or Ms. prefix.


You can say "Degree equivalent to U.S. Bachelor's Degree in Economics-Teheran, Iran."

23. What about fancy-schmancy paper?

Employers tell me they HATE parchment paper and pretentious brochure-folded resume "presentations." They think they're phony, and toss them right out. Use plain white or ivory, in a quality appropriate for your job objective. Never use colored paper unless there's a very good reason for it (like, you're an artist) because if it gets photo-copied the results will be murky.

24. Should you fold your resume?

Don't fold a laser-printed resume right along a line of text. The "ink" could flake off along the fold.


Note: Some of these suggestions are specific to high-tech sales and sales management. They may not be applicable to other fields.

Use a chronological format. Hiring authorities are more concerned about who you worked for than about a vague skill set or "bag of tricks."

Be truthful! Present your best side, but don't overstate your experience or try to rewrite history.

Be sure it is scanner friendly. Ask us to show you how.

Be specific in your accomplishments. Use action words; avoid doublespeak and confusing jargon! Use short sentences.

Generic resumes land generic jobs.

Keep it short. One page is ideal, a second is OK, but a third is deadly unless it's an extremely technical resume.

Contact us:    (732) 747-8100          recruiters@dowdgroup.com