Advertising Resume Makeovers: Part 2

Kate Lindsay, Seattle

Before/After:

Why:

Katie wants to eventually make the move from a marketing generalist to an agency-side planner or strategist. No small feat. The first logical step was to re-organize her packed two-page resume to focus on the best stuff. Here are the changes we made:

• Replaced "objective" with an orienting blurb about her career: "Account planner with roots in marketing strategy and a passion for great work." It starts to rationalize her experience with the gig she's applying for and creates a great filter for reading the resume.


• Changed up the employment section to do two things - (1) let her talk about her role in more conversational, relevant ways - not just in lists of job titles and (2) set up her job description as accomplishments - not here's what I was asked to do, but here's how I delivered.


• Deleted the college jobs. Not because they weren't valuable, just because they created confusion. Not only was the list long (why is a person who's had eight jobs applying for this entry level gig?) but the roles were all over the place (not bad, but confusing for someone who wants to categorize you and figure out where you fit in).


• Removed the list of design programs. When you're applying for a specialist role that doesn't require them, it sends a conflicted message - is this really what she wants to do? Or does she want to be a designer?


• Removed all the long-form copy about skills and related experience. It's the fodder of (not words for) a cover letter.

The result: It's really easy for me to see that Kate has provided real value for other companies, thinks & talks like an agency person, and has experience at a place like this.

Need a cover letter for your resume? Check out these Advergirl tips

Tomorrow on Advergirl: Another resume makeover and resume design tips

 

Comments

[Cover Letter Example]

Great post. Remember the cover letter is very important as it is the first thing the employer reads. In fact, if it's not up to scratch, they will not even open your resume. Keep in mind that the prime objective of sending a cover letter with your resume is to land a job interview NOT land the job. If you keep this in mind, you will be able to keep the cover letter brief and to the point.

[DavidGriner]

Just to offer a bit of a counterpoint, I always liked seeing diversity of experience on resumes when I was hiring writers. I once hired a woman who noted that she'd been a monkey handler in Africa, a helitac firefighter and a forklift driver. (She'd also written quite a bit.)

I think colorful, unexpected experiences are what make you stand out in both your cover letter and your resume.

Great example and tips, though. I'll be sending these posts to a few young people I know who are just starting out.

[Leigh]

Thanks for the catch. The link's been fixed. If you still have trouble, here's the direct path: http://leighhouse.typepad.com/advergirl/files/kate_lindsay.pdf

[KC]

I can't seem to view the 2nd image (the "After" resume). When I click on it, I get a "image missing" message.