Lil Miss P continue her series on how to find a job, this week looking at Resumes.

One of the hardest parts of the job hunting process is creating a good resume. Without it, job candidates can be looked over. A good resume can help you stand out in a tight economy where companies often have upwards of two and five hundred submissions for a single position. It can also be the backdrop to ace an interview once you get in the door — everything they need to know about how fantastic you are is right on paper, and all you need to do is reinforce that with personality, professionalism and a smile. The popular format for resumes is to list your work experience and the companies you’ve worked for, including the various job duties you had. But, what happens if you don’t really have any work experience? What if you haven’t held many jobs? That’s where the Skill Set resume can really help. It identifies your strongest traits by what skills you have and puts them first, tucking away your work experience at the bottom of the page instead of the top. I’ll be honest, when I was job hunting years ago I used this format despite having a good work record and I almost always got the interview. It’s a format I’ve also used in mentoring other people and I’ve seen it firsthand help land interviews and jobs. It doesn’t mean it’s the right format for everybody, of course. But if you are a little lean on demonstrating employment or specific work experience to a position, skill set format can be a great way to circumvent this and allow your skills and talent to shine.

The first step in creating a skill set style resume is to identify the main skills you need for the type of job you are applying for. For example, if it is a receptionist role at a corporate office, the two main skills needed might be: 1. Office And Administrative Experience. 2. Project Management Experience. Instead of starting your resume with the companies you worked for, you would start it with those two titles and then the relevant skills you have that relate to it. For example:

Your Name/Address/ETC

Office And Administrative Experience
- Capable of handling and routing incoming telephone calls. Bright, courteous personality and experience in handling general inquiries.
- Experienced in basic office functions — filing, organization, ordering and managing supplies, etc.
- Outstanding multi-tasking skills. Able to juggle many projects at once efficiently

And so on. The goal is to think up all the relevant skills you have that will make you an outstanding fit for the job and put them on paper under each section as I’ve shown above. The key is to really focus on what specific skills you have that are a fit, and what skills are relevant to the job. A secret way to find out the skills you need to include for a position can come straight from the job posting. Lots of times, I’ll go through the requirements requested line by line in the job ad and note which ones on my resume that I have and can provide if hired. Ideally, you want to fill a single page for your resume at minimum so be sure to list as many skills and points you can on yours. Once you’ve completed the skill portion, you must add a section for WORK HISTORY and that’s where you can put various jobs you’ve held in the past or present. With each, you’ll want to note the functions and duties you had including highlighting any successes — such as, “Managed and trained other employees helping five to be promoted to higher level positions,” etc. Then any education you may have would be very last, at the bottom. So, if we were using the example above, here is what your skill set focused resume would look like:

Your Name/Address/ETC

Office And Administrative Experience
(list skills that you have that are relevant — as many as you can think of that fit)

Project Management Experience
(again, list skills you have that are relevant – as many as you can think of that fit)

Work History
(list jobs and a few short points on what you did at them)

Education
(list your education — high school, college, etc.)

By putting your skills first, it can help companies focus on what you have to offer first, and not necessarily emphasize on your work history alone. It can be a good way to present yourself if you are new to the work force or don’t have much work history, or if you are trying to transition into a new industry that you may have great skill for but not a lot of relevant experience. Most of all, it’s a great way to put your best talents and capabilities forward and help you shine!

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