It is highly likely that you will need a résumé that will be used for networking, for transmission in print and electronic forms and for applications for paid work. If you are targeting unpaid work, such as mentoring or volunteering or community or professional association committee membership, a résumé may also be required. The work experience of a third ager is a long one, so it’s no simple task to select the data to include.
The following resume writing tips may help you:
1. Avoid chronological formats; produce a functional skills design.
2. Don’t mention: reasons for leaving; place of birth; occupation of spouse or partner; current or past remuneration; pay expectations; religion; weight; height; children’s names and ages; hobbies; marital status; number of children; details of secondary education.
3. It should be no more than three pages long when seeking a job within the for profit sector.
4. Make it easy for others to contact you. Include telephone, mobile and email and, if you have one, your personal web site URL.
5. Scatter keywords throughout your résumé. If unaware of the current importance of keywords in résumés, then research the subject. Do a Google on Key Words. Keywords are also becoming important to know and specify when registering job vacancy web boards.
6. Don’t transmit the hard copy form of your résumé into job vacancy boards and web sites. Learn the differing format styles of e-Résumés in order to avoid your résumé being rejected by the screening-out technology.
7. Don’t consider asking anybody else, however well-qualified, to write your résumé for you. Use a career coach or other skilled helper to critique your best effort.
8. Avoid using software templates or dedicated computer programs as the results rarely convey your uniqueness to others.
9. Don’t include referees. Selection and nomination of your referees can be tailored more effectively after the first interview when you have learned much more about what the job requires.
10. Don’t use the same résumé content for every application. The art is to target your applications. This means that the compendium of many years of skills, experience, knowledge, competencies, etc. needs to be sifted, sorted and rearranged to highlight the credentials most specifically related to the work role for which you are applying.
11. Mention what type of working relationship you are offering, e.g. part-time employee, subcontractor, retainer, project-related, casual, consultant, job-share, home-based work (telecommuting), etc. The recipient needs to know, not be left to assume what you want in this regard.
12. Employers are interested in the knowledge transfer possibilities from engaging the older applicant. So don’t just say x number of years experience in y. Spell out the knowledge that you would bring to the job role.
13. Don’t use vocabulary more suited to the under 20s such as ‘dependable’, ‘reliable’, ‘conscientious’, ‘good communication skills’. Your years of living and working have developed these characteristics for the workplace in abundance.
14. If you follow the worldwide number one successful job hunt technique of networking, do not think a résumé is not needed. It’s often the résumé being passed along a network that introduces you to more and more people who form a chain of connection leading to your employment objective and the selection decision makers involved in it.
15. Whether in hard copy print or electronic form, a résumé can accomplish many things. One objective is to influence the nature of questions from the interviewer leading the conversation towards your attributes that you most want to discuss. In other words don’t include ‘bad spots’- we all have them- in your employment record.
16. When auditing your first drafts, scrutinise carefully so that the résumé is not a backward look at and litany of your working life but is slanted to a forward-looking communication about what you can and want to contribute.
Author
Paul Stevens, B.Bus., founded The Centre for Worklife Counselling in Sydney in 1979 following a 21 year career in Human Resources Management and The Worklife Network – a national and international affiliation of adult career specialists – in 1986. He wrote his first published contribution to adult career development in 1981, Win That Job!, closely followed by Stop Postponing the Rest of Your Life. Over 35 further titles, booklets and career assessment instruments have been published since, the latest being A Passion for Work: Our Lifelong Affair and My Third Age: Work & Life Choices. Paul Stevens is a regular contributor and author for Six Figures the executive site for jobs, news and services.
Note: there is a mixed school of thought within the careers profession about having someone else write your resume for you. Ultimately the decision is yours, and what you are comfortable with. There are many excellent resume writers who can assist you, particularly if you do not have the time or expertise, or perhaps just need an appraisal from an expert.
6 Comments
Wow! The advice of Paul Stevens here is like a James Bond martini — shaken not stirred. He has shaken many of the preconceived ideas about how to format a resume. I particularly like his closing comment about focusing with a forward-looking communication about what you can and want to contribute, rather than a backward summary of one’s career path to date.
Rather than dust off the old CV, it seems like shaking it good and hard is by far a more appropriate approach.
“12. Employers are interested in the knowledge transfer possibilities from engaging the older applicant. So don’t just say x number of years experience in y. Spell out the knowledge that you would bring to the job role.”
Very strong point. In addition to this, pitch in specific achievements you have for experience in y. That would be a gold mine in an employer’s eye.
This is very interesting article providing tips on building CVs
for people with a lot of experience. Use of a functional format
is apt for people who have a long list of skills and
accomplishments to offer.
It is hard to know what you can and cannot do, a lot depends on where you are applying and if they are more flexible, you could be with your resume. Also having online resumes and profiles can help and extend your personal brand and experience past what a normal one page piece of paper can do.
Wow, this is an exhaustive list of the things to be kept in mind while making the resume. Seems like loads of experience behind those words. This is a really good post and I have bookmarked it for reference.
Yes it is very important to highlight all your accomplishments and the exceptional key skills when a candidate has diverse expereince.
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