A Career Switcher Looks to Build a Better Résumé

From The Wall Street Journal | Jan 12, 2010

By ELIZABETH GARONE

Many
workers who lost jobs in the hardest-hit sectors of the economy are now
looking to change careers. But crafting a résumé that shows the
benefits of hiring an industry outsider can be challenging.

In this installment of The Résumé Doctor, three recruiting experts
critique a résumé from a job hunter eying a move into facilities
management from commercial construction.

Cameron Wittig for The Wall Street Journal

Mark Peterson served as project manager for a new football stadium at the University of Minnesota before his layoff last July.

• The Job Seeker:
Mark Peterson, 47, of Woodbury, Minn., was laid off in July from a
senior project manager/sales position at a small
commercial-construction company where he had worked for 19 years.
Though he was hired in November as a senior project manager for a rival
firm, the contract job is commission-based and doesn't include medical
or other benefits. He says the position is unlikely to yield a salary
anywhere close to his prior annual income of around $125,000.

• The Objective: Mr. Peterson is seeking a
mid- to senior-level executive position in facilities management. Mr.
Peterson would like to stay in the Minneapolis metro area and is
seeking a minimum annual salary of $85,000, significantly lower than
his previous salary but on par with what he expects in the current
economy. If the economy were to improve, he says he would be looking
for $100,000 to $125,000.

"Any company that has a large campus or multiple buildings to manage could work well for me," he says.

• The Experts: Offering feedback on Mr.
Peterson's résumé are Ken Rose, a senior client partner in Chicago for
executive-search firm Korn/Ferry International Inc.; Nanci
D'Alessandro, a vice president and national account executive in New
York for commercial real-estate firm Grubb & Ellis;
and Julia Hicks, director of human resources at Wesleyan University in
Middletown, Conn. Universities are one of his target employers because
of their many buildings to manage.

The Doctor Is in

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• The Résumé: Mr. Peterson has kept his
fairly standard résumé to one page. He leads with his contact
information, followed by a summary statement and 11 areas of expertise.
The résumé goes on to describe his career in reverse chronological
order with bullet points and concludes with details of his education
and training.

• The Positives: Our experts were impressed
with some of the accomplishments cited in Mr. Peterson's résumé. They
also gave it kudos for being clutter-free despite its short length.

• The Advice: Much of the information that
hiring managers want to see-such as the size and scope of projects he
worked on and certifications he holds-is there, our experts agree. What
Mr. Peterson needs to do is revamp the layout so it is more pleasing to
the eye and easier to quickly scan, they say.

Right now, the résumé is formatted with a significant amount of
white space in some areas and in other places, text is bunched
together. Most of all, he needs to direct his résumé away from
construction and more toward facilities management by highlighting his
transferable skills when describing his former positions.

"Quite frankly, I would have overlooked this résumé, and it would
not have made my list," says Ms. D'Alessandro. "The résumé is still
very much geared to construction."

For starters, our experts recommend Mr. Peterson get rid of the
"Management Professional" title at the very top. "There's really no
point to giving yourself a title or categorizing yourself," says Mr.
Rose. "Your professional experience and training should stand on its
own."

Likewise, our experts agree Mr. Peterson should revamp his summary
statement. As it is, it is unclear and it doesn't even mention
facilities management, they say. "It needs to be more focused on what
he is trying to achieve and it should show his strengths," says Ms.
D'Alessandro.

For Ms. Hicks, the summary statement "needs to be more specific
about what he can offer and not what he is seeking from an employer."

Mr. Rose usually counsels his clients against including a summary
statement. But he says he would make an exception for someone looking
to change careers. "Otherwise, the person looking at his résumé is
going to ask, 'Why is this drywall guy sending this to me?' " he says.

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The
next section of Mr. Peterson's résumé features a list describing his
areas of expertise. Ms. D'Alessandro and Ms. Hicks said they both like
it, but they said it should be shortened to six bullets from the
current 11. They suggest formatting the section into two or three
columns rather than one to make it more visually appealing. "When the
list gets too long, the reader loses focus on the most important skills
he is trying to convey," says Ms. Hicks.

By contrast, Mr. Rose considers the list "a waste of valuable real
estate" and suggests deleting it. He says he prefers résumés that
highlight strengths with tangible accomplishments in the work-history
section. "There really is no value-add in a list like that," he says.
"Hiring authorities don't really trust your assessment of yourself."

While there are mixed feelings among the experts about including a
list of skills, all agree that when used, it needs to be concise and
contain only those skills that can help a candidate stand out from the
competition.

For the section that lists past employers, our experts want to know
more about Mulcahy Inc., where Mr. Peterson spent 19 years. This is
especially important for job seekers who have experience at a small or
midsize firm that might not be known outside of its particular state or
region. "What kind of company is it?" says Mr. Rose. "It could be a
multinational, or it could be Mr. Mulcahy, his son and Mark."

Our experts also want to see more details about what Mr. Peterson
did at Mulcahy. "Did he hold the same position for all 19 years, or was
there career progression while he was there?" asks Ms. Hicks.

"If there were multiple positions, you would want to show that," says Ms. D'Alessandro.

She suggests adding subsections under a particular company. Even if
Mr. Peterson held only one or two positions at Mulcahy, he should still
break up his time there in order to show the breadth of his job as well
as career progression, she adds.

The Doctor Is In

If you'd like your résumé reviewed for The Resume Doctor: Send your document along with a short description about your job search and the type of job you are seeking to cjeditor@dowjones.com. Please use Résumé Doctor in the subject line.

Our
experts also didn't like how Mr. Peterson's résumé displays his past
accomplishments. He lists seven, single-spaced bullet points, each
packed with responsibilities and accomplishments, for the time he spent
at Mulcahy. "They need to be spread out more with additional bullet
points, so they are not just a mass of verbiage," says Mr. Rose.

Further, Ms. Hicks says that Mr. Peterson could have done a better job of explaining his major career accomplishments.

For example, rather than listing the companies he had contracts with
by name, she says she would have liked to see the different industries
they're in, because this would show his breadth of experience.

Perhaps most important, our experts say he is missing out on an
opportunity to highlight experience that would prove highly relevant to
a job in facilities management. In two of his early positions, he
mentions the field in bullet points that describe his responsibilities
but doesn't elaborate.

"A lot of people make the mistake that if it happened 20 years ago,
no one cares about it," says Mr. Rose. "But you accomplished things
back then that show career advancement."

Including early stints can be especially important for prospective
career changers, he adds. Mr. Peterson "should leverage some of that
experience so he won't come across as a complete newcomer," says Mr.
Rose.

In the education and training section, our experts were critical of
Mr. Peterson for citing uncommon acronyms for all but one of the
certifications he listed. Instead, they would have preferred to see
these spelled out. Ms. Hicks also suggests Mr. Peterson show when he
obtained the certifications, especially if he got any in recent years.
Including dates would also show that he's "up-to-date on what's going
on in the industry," adds Ms. D'Alessandro.

Further, our experts noted that Mr. Peterson should have gone into
detail about what may be the most valuable credential he has for a job
in facilities management-Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
(LEED) certification. Having a LEED Accredited Professional (LEED AP)
designation demonstrates significant knowledge in green building
practices and would transfer well to facilities management. It could
also mean the difference between Mr. Peterson's résumé going to the top
and bottom of the pile, says Ms. D'Alessandro.

Finally, our experts said that to fit the extra information, Mr.
Peterson may need to expand his résumé to two pages from one, and that
doing so would be acceptable for such a senior-level job hunter.

"With 25 years of experience, you cannot articulate the depth of your experience in a one-page résumé," says Ms. D'Alessandro.

Write to Elizabeth Garone at cjeditor@dowjones.com