3. An Introduction
•Charles Hagan, Human Resources Manager, Morphotek,
a subsidiary of Eisai, Inc.
•Matthew Levy, Senior Global HR Lead
Generalist/Business Partner, Janssen R&D, Johnson &
Johnson
•Sally Smith, Sales Manager, Joule Clinical and Scientific
Staffing, a System One division
•Jordan Warshafsky, Partner, Ashton Tweed, LTD

4. Do I Need an Extraordinary Resume?
The Gold Watch is no more…
10.8* The # of job changes by 44 year-olds
* Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

5. Job Search vs. Career Management
Job Search
 Unprepared, heads down
 Unaware
 Not networked
 Not volunteering
 Short-term focus
 Start/stop mentality
 Out of sync
Career Management
 Leadership roles outside of work
 Actively networking
 Write articles/presentations
 Continue education
 Understand the competition
 Career documents up to date
 Investigate other opportunities

6. Overarching Resume Writing Strategies
Tell the reader what you can deliver rather than what you want
Tell the reader how you can help their company make money or save
money, attract customers, keep customers, innovate
Use industry-related key words and action words that grab the reader’s
attention
Devised, instructed, spearheaded, streamlined, motivated, generated,
etc.

7. Specify accomplishments
Use the “STAR” method – situation/task, action, result
More than one page is preferred over an unreadable resume
One resume is never, ever enough!
Everyone has resume advice…You need to be comfortable with it
Overarching Resume Writing Strategies

8. The Foundation of a Resume
 No typographical errors
 Proper grammar
 Nicely formatted
 Good readability (white space, use of
bolding and bullets)
 Standard, white paper, no silly designs
 Stick with chronological resume

9. Sections of a Resume – Contact
Info/Profile
 Start with your contact information, including your LinkedIn URL
 No picture
 No crazy email addresses such as (winekook@yahoo.com anyone?
 Objective OUT, Career Profile IN
 Tell the reader what you can deliver – rather than what you want

10. Sections of a Resume - Education
 During college, OK to have Education up front
 Out of college for more than a couple of
years, Education drops towards the end
 Keep Education simple but list GPA if
over 3.0, include Dean’s List and
other academic accomplishments
here
 Special projects
 Particularly relevant coursework
 No need to list High School

11. Sections of a Resume – Work Experience
 Company, Location, Timing
 If company is not well known,
include specifics on company
industry, size, market
 Provide overall responsibilities
 Be quantitative – show what you
accomplished and how you
contributed to the bottom line
 Use bullets to articulate
accomplishments

12. Sections of a Resume – Professional Organizations,
Honors and Awards
List volunteer posts
Involvement in professional
organizations
Honors
Awards
Publications
Consider hyperlinking

13. Alternatives to Common Phrases
 Avoid overused and clichéd phrases. Whenever possible include specific, measurable
achievements and concrete numbers that are result-oriented. Here are some commonly
overused phrases and samples of better alternatives:

14. Alternatives to Common Phrases
 Avoid overused and clichéd phrases. Whenever possible include specific, measurable
achievements and concrete numbers that are result-oriented. Here are some commonly
overused phrases and samples of better alternatives:

15. Resume Don’ts
 No photographs
 No personal references section
 Avoid odd paper, coloring and fonts
 Leave off salary history
 Leave off reasons for leaving prior job
 No personal hobbies, marital status, race or gender
 List basic computer software
 Remove non-applicable jobs early in your career
Remember, a great resume doesn’t guarantee long term career success…
success…

16. Questions?