Resume Makeover Example

This resume example is provided courtesy of Quest Career Services, an outplacement company that provides outplacement services to jobseekers located throughout the world.

This resume is reprinted with Quest’s permission.

Jump to discussion of solutions to resume problems.

Before Resume

John Doe

2100 Logan Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 12345
213-123-4567

1. Without a job objective, the resume lacks focus. The type of job he wants and why he is qualified for it is unclear to the reader.

2. The resume lacks a summary section to highlight his broad range of experience and to highlight his strongest work experience sooner.

Work Experience

(6/96 5/97)

ABC Video

Sales Associate

Top district sales associate, 1st Quarter 1997.
Achieved highest number written customer commendations to company president, about one per month.

3. This chronological style resume highlights his weaknesses of being currently unemployed and of his most recent employment not being his strongest work experience.

(9/91 3/96)

XYZ Cleaners, Inc.

Owner

Owned and managed complete facilities in two locations and a pick up/delivery route.
Achieved 15% growth annually.
Added shirt facilities, lowering out-sourcing expenses by 25%.

(11/90 7/91)

Able, Inc.

Manager, Marketing Communications

Requested for this new position to develop product awareness through various media.
Responsible for strategy, concept, research and production of various forms of media that support company messages.
Developed and produced interactive video sales program saving the company $1.5M over 18-month period.

4. After questioning him about his marketing positions, it is discovered that he has left key accomplishments off his resume.

(6/88 10/90)

A1 Company

Manager, Marketing

Requested for this position to increase sales in business channels.
Developed and implemented promotional activities and material. Achieved 100% to 250% of sales objectives per sales stimulation.
Trained account executives and sales representatives.
Created and delivered a variety of presentations to business owners, sales personnel and company executives.
Increased representation in sales channels from 300 to approximately 500 sales personnel.
Developed and managed a budget of $750K.

After Resume

John Doe

2100 Logan Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 12345
213-123-4567

Objective

To obtain a marketing position which utilizes my marketing management experience as well my supervisory skills.

Summary

Experience with rolling out products, producing product training materials, conducting product training, developing and implementing marketing strategies. Excellent written and verbal communications skills. Proven record in project development and management.

Experience

Marketing Management

Developed and managed a budget of $750K.
Coordinated product roll outs to sales channels and customers.
Worked with outside vendors to develop product packaging.
Determined proper collateral materials to include with a product roll outs and managed the design of these materials.
Managed efforts of roll out teams including overseeing the project schedule and budget.

Marketing Communications

Extensive experience as company spokesperson. Spoke to business owners and appeared on television and radio.
Designed and created advertising exhibits including the production of interactive and linear video programs.
Created and implemented direct marketing programs.

Sales Training

Produced training packages and trained sales representatives and account executives in product and sales knowledge.
Developed and produced interactive video sales program saving the company $1.5M over an 18-month period.
Developed and implemented stimulation packages to increase sales.

Management

Extensive project management experience, managing and coordinating teams on several high-level projects including the multi-million dollar A1 Exhibit.
Experienced in business plan development and formulating budgets.
Supervisory experience including supervising both staff and managers.
Excellent “associate,” with ability to mentor others.

Before Resume

John Doe

Page 2

(11/80 5/88)

Assistant Manager, Advertising

Developed and implemented exhibit program.
Pioneered many interactive video programs for sales and trade show exhibits.
Project manager of a variety of special company projects including the multi-million dollar A1 Exhibit.

(8/76 10/80)

Supervisor, A1 Museum

Assisted project manager overseeing design and construction of museum.
Planned and implemented promotion strategy. Achieved 90% attendance growth during tenure.
Served as company spokesperson, appearing in television, radio, and print.
Supervised and trained twelve tour guides.

Related Experience

5. The Related Experience section can be shortened and included in a Skills section

(1976 1993)

Best Photography

Owner

Owned sports photography business serving sports marketing firms and magazines.
Achieved growth of about 10% annually.
Recipient of several national photography awards.

Education

6. The Education section contains so much information that it is confusing.

. .	Travel Education Center – Buffalo, NY University of Minnesota – Minneapolis, MN American Film Institute – Hollywood, CA A.H. Marketing Institute College of St. Thomas References available upon request

7. The statement about references being available upon request is unnecessary.

After Resume

John Doe

Page 2

Employment

Sales Associate ABC Video	June 1996 – May 1997
Owner XYZ Cleaners	September 1991 – March 1996
Marketing Communications Manager Able, Inc.	November 1990 – July 1991
Marketing Manager A1 Company	June 1988 – October 1990
Advertising Assistant Manager A1 Company	November 1980 – May 1988
Advertising Supervisor A1 Company	August 1976 – October 1980

Education

University of Nebraska – Lincoln, NE
American Film Institute – Hollywood, CA

Skills

Pagemaker and Microsoft Word
Experienced Photographer

Quest (https://questcareer.com) is an online career transition assistance company that helps you succeed in your job search. Quest provides career choice assistance, career assessment tools, job interview preparation, salary surveys and more. To learn more, contact Quest at info@QuestCareer.com or 952-929-4197.

After a dialogue with the client, each of the problems noted on the Before Resume were addressed. See the After Resume for the final results of this effort.

Solutions:

A specific job objective was developed and added to the resume to give the resume focus. The type of job he wanted and why he was qualified for it was made clear to the reader of the resume.
A summary section was developed and added to the resume to highlight his broad range of experience and to highlight his strongest work experience sooner.
Instead of a chronological style resume, a functional style resume was developed and used. By making this change in resume style, the problems of the chronological style resume were eliminated. The resume no longer started off by highlighting his weaknesses of being currently unemployed and of his most recent employment not being his strongest work experience.
Key information that he had left off his resume was discovered and added as the result of questions raised by his Quest Career Transition Consultant. This key information included numerous detailed duties relating to product roll outs as well as project management experience with project schedule and budget responsibility.
The Related Experience section was deleted from the resume and key information from this section was included in a new section called Skills.
The Education section was changed to reduce the number of institutions listed to reduce the reader’s focus on this section since the client does not have a college degree.
The statement about references being available upon request was deleted as it is unnecessary.