Referred by a friend or this web site?
Please be sure
to use it when
communicating with Human Resources personnel
and email your friend that you applied.
Experience Documentation Required:
• Cover letter highlighting
experience – include date of availability
• Military oriented resume reflecting chronological experience
• DD Form 214 (copy 4 – if still on active duty, forward upon
receipt)
• Copy of all civilian education and training diplomas and certificates
• C411 Form
Pre-Employment Certification (click to download
it here)
• C550
Form (click to download it here)
Then contact our HR department click here
Personnel
Qualification Record:
• U.S. Army: DA Form 2-1 or Officer Record Brief (ORB)
• U.S. Navy: NAV 118 and Basic Training Record Brief
• USMC: NAV 118, Master Record Brief, Service Record Book (SRB),
and Officer Qualification Record (OQR)
• USAF: Career Brief
• Copy of all MOS and leadership certificates and diplomas for military
courses attended
(i.e., ANCOC, BNCOC, Master Gunner)
Sample
Chronological Resume Format:
Contact Info:
• Full name
• Street Address
• City, State, Zip Code
• Home, Office, Fax Number(s) and Email Address
Objective:
• A short description of your job or career objective.
Professional Profile:
• Personal skills, responsibilities and/or accomplishments.
Professional Experience:
• Date(s) of Employment, Job Title(s), Place(s) of Employment.
• Job skills, responsibilities and/or accomplishments.
Education:
• Type of degree(s), date(s) of graduation, name of school(s).
Activities: (Optional)
• Member or Officer, Name of Organization(s), Membership Date(s).
• Description of activity(s), role(s), accomplishment(s).
Additional
Resources
Resume Writing Tips & Formats:
Article by Robert Lindsey, copyright,
all rights reserved.
Resumes are designed for one thing, to get you an invitation for an interview!
The average employer spends
just 20-30 seconds reviewing a resume!
Your resume must stand out above the rest to get you an interview.
Your resume should be a concise, preferably one page (certainly not more
than 2-3 pages), factual and positive listing of your education, employment
history and accomplishments. The information in your resume should be relevant
and should support your job or career objective directly and your character
in general.
Revising Your Resume:
If you already have a resume - even if it's a few years old - scan it for
less than
ten seconds and consider it based on the following criteria:
What kind of impression does it make?
Does it appeal to your eye?
Look at your resume's details.
Critique its content. The biggest weakness of most resumes is lack-luster
or unclear job skill descriptions. Now, based on your review, re-design you
resume's layout and format. Use dynamic terms and clarify your skill descriptions.
Some Resume Suggestions:
• Choose a specific resume format, e.g., functional, chronological,
CV, etc.
• Keep the resume visually neat and easy to scan.
• Keep the resume easy to read (no complicated jargon or acronyms).
• Keep the resume short so it will be read.
• Relate your objective to the position for which you're applying.
• Keep the vocabulary oriented to the targeted audience.
• Stress your responsibilities and accomplishments.
• State all information in a factual and positive manner.
• Keep all material relevant to your abilities and objective.
• Be concise by carefully weighing your choice of words.
• Have the resume critiqued by several observant people with
experience in the specific career field.
• Accept positive criticism to improve your resume.
• Make certain that there are NO mistakes or typos.
• Print the resume on white or off-white, high quality paper.
• Keep a list of references to made available upon request.
• Send a personal cover letter with every resume (unless it is specifically
requested not to).
• Use matching business envelopes with resumes and letters.
• Remember, your resume is one of your key tools getting you in the
door for an interview!
Resume Formats:
While there are many different ways to designing a resume (e.g., chronological,
functional,
combination, analytical, targeted, curriculum vitae, etc.), there is no universally
accepted
format. However, of the many different resume formats, two types are more
used and
recommended than the rest. These are the Chronological and Functional resume
formats.
In both types of formats, you should use a career Objective statement to target
a particular
type of work, job or industry. Use a Professional Profile section to highlight
your strongest
personal responsibilities, achievements and skills.
Chronological Resumes:
Use a chronological resume format, if:
• You've worked for employers likely to be known to the people who will
be reviewing your resume.
• You're applying for a job in a conservative field such as banking,
accounting, or law.
• You have a strong, continuing work history directly related to the
career direction you now wish to pursue.
Many people choose the chronological format because it is easier to write
and employers find it easy to
read and interpret. Arrange your work experience starting with your current
or most recent job (or degree,
if you're a student or recent graduate) and work back from there, ultimately
listing your first job last.
Job titles, past employers' names and dates of employment should stand out.
Be conscious of the
continuity of your employment history, don't leave a large gap of unaccountable
time. If you have such
a gap, you may want to use the functional format instead.
Targeting Your Resume:
In theory, you should address each individual employer with a custom resume
targeted to meet that specific employer's needs. You can do this by writing
different variations of your objective statement and professional profile,
and by
writing the skills to match those different objectives. Depending on the targeted
company, you can customize your resume by choosing whether you want the skills,
or even the entire job, to appear in your current resume, (i.e., marketing
skills for
an advertising company or operations skills for a manufacturing one).
Resume Job Skills:
When describing your job skills and accomplishments - be concise. Weigh your
choice of words carefully. Use phrases and/or bullets rather than complete
sentences.
If you don't have a definite purpose for something, leave it out. Select strong
action
verbs, concrete nouns and positive modifiers for emphasis (see the article
below for
an excellent list of these), e.g., "Designed, implemented and managed
a new cost
effectiveness program saving the agency $15,000.00."
Resumes that "Get You in the Door"
Article by Robert Lindsey, copyright, all rights reserved.
20
Seconds is All You Get!
This is the average time that a potential employer takes to scan your cover
letter and
resume and determine whether you should be granted an interview or not. While
you
might have spent hundreds of dollar on resumes and thousands of dollars on
education,
you have 20 seconds to sell yourself to a prospective employer! Your resume
must
market you by projecting a professional image. Your resume and cover letter
should
present your abilities and what you have accomplished in your previous jobs.
It should
make the reader want to meet you by asking - "How did he or she accomplish
that?"
Eight Steps to Designing a Successful Resume:
1. Inventory your skills: Review your skills, attributes, accomplishments,
abilities,
strengths, weaknesses, personal interests, desires,
etc., to determine the most pertinent
examples to include in your resume.
2. Define your objective: Be as specific as you can. It will make you look
as if you've
done your homework.
3. Target your field/industry: Use a specific job objective, resume format
and
appropriate language to target your chosen career
field or industry.
4. Specify your desired employer: Use a specific job objective, description
of
your accomplishments, skills and abilities, as well
as the style and language of the employer's
corporate culture to target a specific company or
agency.
5. Choose a resume format: Base your resume on one of two formats: Chronological,
to emphasize your past experience, or Functional,
to emphasize your skills. Either should
be targeted at a specific industry and tailored to
each individual employer.
6. Cover the basics: Make sure you include in your resume at least the following
basics:
name, address, email address, phone and fax numbers,
job objective, education and training,
pertinent job experiences, relevant activities and
interests.
7. Write your resume: Before actually writing your resume, it is wise to read
a resume
writing guide or book and to study the examples provided
for different industries and formats.
8. Add a cover letter: Always include (unless there is a specific request
not to) an
explanatory cover letter as to why you are submitting your
resume. Paragraph one should
include who you are and why you are writing. Paragraph
two should summarize your strongest
and most relevant skills and accomplishments and their
importance to the job, employer and/or
company/agency. Paragraph three should conclude with a
suggested action, appreciation for
being considered and relevant contact information. The
paper of your resume, cover letter
and envelope should match and be of high quality.
Eleven Tips for Designing a Successful Resume:
1. Know your audience - use the vocabulary and language of your targeted industry.
2. Write your job objective from the stand-point of what you can offer your
prospective employer
and/or company/agency.
3. Describe your experiences from an accomplishment point-of-view
(see "Accomplishment Statements" below).
4. Present all information positively; if anything could be determined as
negative, leave it out
or rewrite it in the most positive way possible. Be honest,
but don't present an easy reason to
eliminate you from the selection process. Remember, a resume
just gets you in the door for
an interview; don't let a poorly written sentence eliminate
you for even being considered!
5. Use strong action verbs: achieved, directed, managed, initiated, created,
developed, etc.;
and positive modifiers: actively, substantially, effectively,
efficiently, quickly, etc., for emphasis.
6. Make your resume easy to scan and read. Use a layout and formatting that
allows for quick
viewing. Leave lots of open space. Keep it short and to
the point. Eliminate all typos - use a
spell checker and have others read it.
7. A resume is flexible, if you feel that the standard headings; Objective,
Experience, Education,
and Activities do not emphasize your strengths, try alternative
section titles; e.g., Community
Service, Professional Affiliations, Awards, Achievements,
etc. Include specialty items like MOS's,
security clearances, ranks, etc., as many employers using
resume databanks "search" using these criteria.
8. Test your resume for relevancy - all information should directly support
your job objective or work skills
and abilities and target the job, employer and industry.
If it doesn't, leave it out.
9. Develop and maintain a list of references and have it available upon request.
Don't clutter up your
resume with references or include them in an initial mailing
with your resume and cover letter.
10. Make sure that the information in your resume and cover letter, e.g.,
employer's name title, address,
position, etc., are accurate and up-to-date.
Call ahead, if necessary, to get the proper information for the cover letter.
11. Keep your resume and cover letter short and to the point. The longer they
are, the less likely they will be read!
Seven Things to Avoid When Designing a Resume:
A resume is your advertisement. Anything that
distracts the employer's attention from
your strengths may cause them to discard your resume. The following is a short
list of possible distractions:
1. Lack of blank space: Too much text is imposing, and prevents easy scanning
and reading. Be brief
and concise. Use a clean format, as well as bold type and
underlining to highlight section headings.
2. Typos and incorrect grammar: Spelling errors show that you are sloppy or
did not bother to take
the time to proof your work.
3. Mixing verb tenses: Be consistent in whichever tense you decide to use,
past or present.
4. Titles: It is obvious, and therefore unnecessary, to put "Resume of
(name)" at the top of your resume.
However, it does help to clearly title the sections
of your resume, (e.g., Objective, Education, etc.)
5. Irrelevant activities: Unless your hobbies and activities demonstrate an
aspect of your strengths,
use the space to list other, more relevant information.
6. References: Do not put references on your resume. Instead, at the bottom,
put "References
Available Upon Request."
7. Health, Age, Race, marital Status: An employer assumes you are in good
health if you are
looking for a job, do not put your health status in your
resume. It is illegal for an employer to ask about
the other items, so do not volunteer the information, as
it should be irrelevant.
Accomplishment Statements:
When preparing a resume, most people make the critical mistake of detailing
their duties and
responsibilities instead of highlighting their accomplishments. In advertising
jargon, this would be
selling the steak instead of the sizzle - a marketing error that could cost
you an important interview.
A potential employer has only a secondary interest in the duties and responsibilities
you performed in
a previous job. So what if you commanded a tank platoon, or sold widgets to
the aerospace industry,
or were the senior accountant in a candy factory, or even the Vice President
of Marketing for a furniture
company? Titles and duties say nothing about performance (the sizzle), or
what you can bring to this
new employer that is unique and worthy of consideration. On the other hand,
if your resume indicates
that you out-performed all other division officers, increased widget sales
by 20%, received a
commendation award for improving the efficiency/productivity of your unit,
discovered accounting errors
that saved $50,000, or designed a new production system that reduced material
costs, you can bet that
they will be interested in interviewing you.
Your accomplishment statements need not be dramatic, but they should always
enlarge upon your
basic duties and responsibilities. The best way to do that is to quantify,
by adding numbers or
percentages, when ever possible.
Here are some examples of the type of questions you should attempt to develop
answers for:
• How many people did I lead and/or supervise?
• What amount or quantity of equipment/material was I accountable for?
• How large a budget did I manage or was responsible for?
• Did I save my organization significant time, money or other resources?
• By what percentage and/or number of dollars did I improve my organization's
budget?
• Did I institute, or play a key role in developing, new and effective
safety, training, or administrative programs?
It is this kind of self-questioning that will help you develop accomplishment
statements that will generate
employer interest. Remember, you're the product - your accomplishments are
the sizzle!
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