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TOO MANY UNRELATED JOBS
Today's employers seek candidates that are capable of wearing many hats.
However, it is favorable to show a career focus, and strength in certain areas.
Use a combination format to categorize your experience and accomplishments. This
layout categorizes WHAT you are able to do, while de-emphasizing the frequent
changes in career choices. View our portfolio of resume samples and read our
resume writing articles for ideas on formats and strategies.
Having held various positions can be advantageous when putting your resume
together. If you installed and repaired satellite dishes, worked as a waiter,
and volunteered at a crisis center, you might be well suited for a new career as
a computer technician or a help desk support professional. Maybe all you would
need is some training, a diploma, or a certification.
If you have too many unrelated
jobs, you risk coming across as
unfocused, a job-hopper and a flight risk. This
is a real concern because it costs a company a lot of money and resources to
hire an new employee. So how do you overcome this
obstacle?
You should start with a strategic
resume. It can be a hybrid / functional format. This way the focus is on what
you do rather than the job titles and industries. You can show that your are
technically inclined and have excellent customer service skills by providing
examples on problem assessment and troubleshooting. For example, use heading
such as Customer Service and Project Highlights.. There are a few ways to
approach this.
A functional resume will
list skills-based categories such as Staff Supervision and Training, Sales,
Marketing, etc. This format will place the chronology in a separate section.
A hybrid resume will lend
itself to theme-based sub-categories and functional sections within the
framework of a chronology - hence, a combination resume, which combines the
elements of a chronological and functional format. Hybrid is just another name
for it.
Okay, so now that you've decided
that you are going to use these fancy resume strategies -- you need to know what
to present in the way of information.
The first thing to do is to review
the requirements of a job ad and ask yourself, have I done this? If yes, make a
few notes about what you've done and for what employer. Before long, you will
have a good amount of information for your new resume. Now you need to decide on
three or four functional areas that seem to describe these experiences. That
will determine your branding statement at the top, as well well as the
categories that you will use and the keywords.
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