Saturday, March 29, 2008

Resume Writing Strategy

Video Resume?
Sometime ago, a Yale student send a video resume along with an 11-page resume to UBS. The video resume ended up appeared on the internet. UBS declined publishing candidate’s confidential information, but the video resume generated thousands of hits in just matter of days. This did not reflect the effectiveness of a video resume, as the viewers didn’t intend to hire the student, but just took it as an entertainment, as it recorded the student’s daily life of how to keep fit, work out and so on…

Resume writing is an art of selling yourself to a prospective employer. It is important that it contains the right amount of information, not too much in detail, and not too brief. I don’t think anybody on earth should write an 11-page resume + a video. As a graduate, a one-page resume plus a well-written cover letter is good enough to win an interview.

Long Resume?
I thought the longest resume I ever come across was 13 pages. Anyway, long resumes usually consist of career summary, executive profile, career goal, achievements and awards etc on the first three or four pages. Another half page is to describe the company they work for, company history, structure, product lines, annual turnover, reporting lines and so on, before describing their own job.

Detailed Resume?
The art of resume writing is to present your experience and education in a way to convince the hiring manager that you suit the job you are applying, and make them want to see you and find out more about you. If you go into too much detail, the hiring manager simply has no need to see you. Also too long and too detailed a resume, indicates that you are desperate, and will only work against you.

Investment Banking Resume
It is difficult to describe how busy investment bankers are, the best strategy is to make your investment banking resume short and precise. This will certainly attract the best attention to every word you write.

Test of Your Knowledge on My Blog
What are the four major elements of an effective resume cover letter?


More tips from Jimmy Sweeney and his Amazing Cover Letters.


Resume Writing

2 comments:

Inquisitor said...

13 pages?! Wow, that's insane. I couldn't even imagine a senior banker/CEO having that much to write about.

Definitely agree on keeping resumes short. I personally don't even read cover letters and spend no more than 20-30 seconds on resumes... I just don't have time with everything else I have to do.

Anna Maria D'Souza said...

Inquisitor
Some candidates don't know what our firm's strength is. Hence I sometimes receive resumes from other fields. Some of them are really good, but I am unable to help, because they are not bankers. Most of the long resumes come from this group of candidates. Bankers usually don't write long, but it is a matter of personality, that some of them do enjoy writing.