QUALIFICATIONS SUMMARIES

by Darlene Zambruski, ResumeEdge.com Managing Editor, CPRW

The Professional Touch – Qualifications Summaries

A Qualifications Summary is your first and best chance to make a favorable impression on a hiring manager. It is a marketing tool that sells your unique skills to the targeted company.

To be effective, a Qualifications Summary must

1. Provide a snapshot of you as the ideal candidate for the position.

2. Be concise and to the point, addressing what expertise you can bring to the job to benefit the prospective employer.

3. Address pertinent qualifications in the job posting.

4. List your most stellar and recent quantified accomplishment that pertains to your current job search.

5. Provide additional data that enhances your candidacy, including:
A. Linguistic capabilities in foreign languages
B. Certifications
C. Licensure
D. Willingness to travel or to relocate for the new position

6. State specific skills, such as computer proficiencies (if applicable)

7. List your past employers if they are well known, i.e. Boeing, Wall Street Journal, Macy’s, AT&T, etc.

8. Work Permits or Green Card data for foreign nationals.

What to Avoid in Qualifications Summaries

1. Use of personal pronouns such as I, my, me, we, us, etc. Resumes are business documents that should employ a conservative tone.

2. Soft skills – i.e. being personable or trustworthy – unless they are backed up by specific data.

Soft skills presented in a weak fashion: “Personable individual with proven “people” skills.”

Soft skills that are effective and strengthened by quantified results: “Salvaged $6 million VIP account with Pepsi-Cola, Inc. through superior communication and client relations skills.”

3. Objectives that are vague and self-serving:

“Currently seeking position in which to grow with dynamic organization.”
“Want to use creativity and skills learned in college.”

4. Any data that is superfluous or does not enhance candidacy for targeted position or career, including:

A. Outdated computer skills for an IT professional.
B. A listing of word-processing skills for an executive who would most likely have an administrative assistant to do clerical work.
C. Academic data (i.e. GPAs, Dean’s List, Scholarships) for a seasoned Professional or an Executive.

5. Number of years of employment in the field, unless the job posting specifically requires a set number of years of experience.

To avoid age discrimination or the perception of being over qualified for a particular position, it’s always best to state “comprehensive” or “significant” experience, rather than the exact number of years.

6. Laundry lists of skills that are assumed for the position – i.e. a CPA is presumed to know AP/AR, bookkeeping, general ledger, reconciliations, taxes, and the like. Providing this data is not telling the hiring manager anything new or relevant.

Before writing your Qualifications Summary determine:

1. What makes you unique in your given field – i.e. accomplishments, achievements, post graduate degrees, certifications, licensure.

2. What you have to offer the targeted company in terms of past experience.

3. How you meet their qualifications.

Don’t Look for a Job

by Jeri Hird Dutcher, ResumeEdge.com Editor, CPRW

You have your bright, shiny new ResumeEdge resume. What are you going to do with it? If your answer is, “look for a job,” consider this: You need to be looking for a company.

When you look for a job, you’re taking a chance that it’s with a company that offers no advancement or chance to improve your skills. You may find a job you love to do in a culture that doesn’t fit you at all. You may enjoy the tasks of your job but find the people impossible to work with. To avoid those pitfalls, don’t answer ads for jobs.

Instead, determine the company and or person for whom you’d like to work.

Warning: This means homework.

First, decide what is important to you:
· Do you need a company to be family friendly?
· Is your main goal a high salary?
· Is diversity an issue?
· Is skills development important?
· How much creativity do you need to be able to use?
· How much do you want to be challenged?
· How much job security do you need?
· Do you need recognition of your accomplishments?
· Are titles and status important?
· Is working with certain people or certain types of people important to you?
· Is the size or reputation of the company important to you?
· Need the company be “green?”

Then, find out as much as you can about companies and people in your industry. Match your values to the company and people you would be working with:
· What are the opportunities for advancement?
· Do they demand 24/7 availability?
· What is their training budget for your department? Do they spend it? On training?
· What is the turnover rate at the company?
· What do employees at your career level say about working there?
· How often do they promote people from within?
· Do they have hiring programs for minorities and women?
· What is their management style?
· How does the company perform compared with its competitors?

When you’ve found your answers, compare them and decide which two or three companies rate highest in matching your values and needs. Focus your search on these companies.

This homework also prepares you nicely for an informational interview. (See How to Work a Resume). You’ll be able to impress the hiring manager with how much you already know about the company, its culture and background.

Jeri Hird Dutcher is a Certified Professional Resume Writer from Minnesota with a BA in English and concentration in writing. She started writing resumes professionally in 1987 and enjoys writing all types of resumes. Her background includes journalism, higher education, public relations and freelance editing. Request Jeri for your ResumeEdge.com product by keying in her last name only, no caps (dutcher) in the 'request your editor' field of the ResumeEdge.com online form. http://www.resumeedge.com/