The special skills/qualifications resume
If you think your personal qualifications, such as managerial abilities, writing skills, organizational strengths, presentation know-how, etc., outweigh your educational background and even your actual work experience, then you may want to use this third format. Be specific and descriptive when you indicate what your skills are or any special training that you have had.
Objective: This is again the same as in the other formats.
Qualifications: Use this label as a major category heading, then add subcategories such as communication skills, initiative, leadership, training, human relations, accounting, etc. After each subcategory, include a brief description of the particular skills, abilities, or talents you have in these areas.
Work experience: This is a chronological listing beginning with your most recent positions. Include your job title, duties, and responsibilities. You will not need to add what you have learned from your work experiences, since that was to be the focus of the first section under qualifications.
Remaining categories: These will again contain the same information as the first two resume formats.
- Education
- Personal Data
- Military Service
- Memberships
- References
Opinions vary regarding the use of creative resumes. If you were applying for a position within a corporation or an institution, like a college, hospital, or some nonprofit organization, I would advise you against using the nontraditional approach. These corporate and institutional types tend to frown on creative resumes, believing that they represent a less than serious attitude. But agency people usually get excited when they see a creative resume. It is, after all, a great way to find out just how clever and talented someone can be when you get to see how that person approached a potentially boring project and turned it into something you really want to read.
A creative resume can be set up in just about any imaginable format, but the one guideline I would stress is that the format be related in some way to the job you are applying for. For instance, a graphic designer might create a highly stylized resume, using interesting typefaces and a variety of graphic treatments, such as borders, bars, screen-backed sections, etc. This resume should demonstrate the best of the designer's abilities. Someone interested in ad design might produce a resume that looks like a magazine or newspaper advertisement. Another approach for a designer who is interested in brochures and other types of collateral pieces might be to create a direct mail brochure with a clip-out return mailer which the agency owner could send back as a request for the designer to call for an interview. One time I even saw a resume in the format of a mini-annual report. A few years ago, a copywriter sent me a 60-second cassette tape with a commercial about himself, with music and a special sound track. It was great. The only limit to what you decide to do should be good judgment.
If you do go the nontraditional route, run the layout by as many people as possible to see what kind of reactions you get. If you get even one negative reaction, I would urge you to scrap the idea, because you just do not know anything about the taste of the person you are sending this resume to. If that person reacts the way your one negative reviewer did, you have lost out.
Warnings about creative resumes If you are thinking about doing something different with your resume, be very certain that what you intend to do is interesting, attention-grabbing, and above all, tastefully done. Always plan to spend whatever time and money is necessary to make it a quality piece. And resist the temptation to make something that is quickly slapped together by hand, in an effort to make it look casual or artsy. Also, never resort to crude or inappropriate humor. And be sure you have the skill and knowledge-meaning design and production skills, along with copywriting experience-to create a professional looking piece before you consider this approach.
More about references
Whether you list them on your resume or not, you should be prepared at this stage to know who your references would be. Be sure to get permission from anyone you intend to use as a reference. It will reflect poorly on you, if someone you have listed as a reference responds in a flustered or annoyed manner because of being called out of the blue and being caught unaware. Also, by getting permission from your references ahead of time, you can explain the position you are applying for. This gives them a chance to prepare not only a complimentary response, but one that relates to what they know about you... and the position you want.
You may want to use different people as references for different agencies. For example, if you know that a particular person you worked for in the past is a close personal friend or business associate or client of the president of an agency you are writing to, then it would be wise to include that person as a reference. However, you may not want to include that person in your reference list for other competitive agencies. In this case, you can attach a separate list of references to your cover letter and leave them out of your resume altogether. Then you can refer to the attachment in the letter.
If you are responding to a classified ad which calls for written recommendations, you will need to ask each person to write a letter to that agency. The most considerate way to do this is to provide your references with a stamped addressed envelope. It is also helpful to include a written summary of the position you are applying for, the qualifications you would like your references to comment on, and when the letters are due.
It is rare, however, that written recommendations are ever requested. Agency people, unlike personnel directors at corporations and institutions, would much rather pick up the phone and call an applicant's references. So unless it has been specifically requested, do not bother asking your references to send letters.
