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Welcome - How to use this board - Please Read   by  on 2009-05-20 08:33:21
 Subject :Acct/Admin Asst - Functional Resume.. 2009-05-06 10:02:06 
lynnf
Joined: 2009-05-05 16:13:40
Posts: 3
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I am attempting to look for something outside of my last field. This is a Functional resume highlighting my accounting and admin experience. 

Thank you for you comments, 
Lynn



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 Subject :Re:Acct/Admin Asst - Functional Resume.. 2009-05-06 10:18:16 
SaltTed
Joined: 2009-05-05 15:47:40
Posts: 14
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You may want to reread the tips on this site, especially the PARS and SARs. There are additional tips not yet added which would be helpful.

Your resume will confuse many scanners. The layout with your personal info on the left and the vertical line are visually pleasing but death to many scanners. The design mantra is now to keep it simple, use a basic font (yours is good), use only one font (as you have) and use bold and larger sizes for formatting issues (as you have). At most use one horizontal line to separate your header.

Forget the objective. I like that you tried to show a benefit for the company with "profit your company", but people will discount that as a personal objective, and the resume reader doesn't care about your objective. They want to get an idea of how you fit the position and how you can help the company in that first profile paragraph. That paragraph must be compelling to get the reader to look more deeply at your resume. Even "profit your company" is not good enough. Its just an obvious and assumed result of the hiring process. Its not much better than saying "show up every day". A term like "a history of increasing profits" is much more interesting.

Your resume is functional/chronological, not just functional. If the four listings for BigPharmaCo is the same company, you should name the company once and list the titles separately. The stability and promotion history are big pluses. It would be more consistent with your objective if you could say "Senior Financial System Analyst" instead of "Senior System Analyst". (typo: systems, not system). It's okay to slightly modify a job title if it accurately states your responsibilities or even if it emphasizes the part of your responsibilities that you want the resume reader to absorb. For each of your positions, if possible you may want to include a brief job description that is consistent with your objectives such as "Analyzed financial and administrative processes ..."

Now back to PARs and SARs. You scratch the surface of using them with "Developed trust of skeptical clientele base by providing accurate and timely answers, researching issues and maintaining open communications." If you used the word "skeptical" there was probably a communication problem before you were involved. You should try to get as close to how this was profitable for the company as possible and use metrics when known. For example "Reduced customer attrition by 20% (no rocket science required to understand profit implications) by creating lines of communications that provided timely answers on issues requiring research." Better yet, say it positively and start with "Increased customer retention by 20%..." Even if you do not have exact metrics, it's okay to use an educated guess, but be careful not to exaggerate since it could come back to bite you during reference checks.

Here's another example. You say "Created Excel spreadsheets and Power Point presentations for Executive Director of Finance." What was the achievement, just doing your job? Those presntations led to some positive effect on the company. Try something more along the lines of "Created financial models and presentations which the Executive Director of Finance used to raise $5,000,000 in debt financing."

The resume is disorganized. Start your resume with a strong profile paragraph, than try to put together no more than 5 killer PARs/SARs which demonstrate your most important abilities/accomplishments, follow that with your work history, then put in a skills section that mentions every obscure skill you might have (especially important for computer scans) with the most important ones first. Many of your skills, such as "MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint,...", apply to multiple functional areas . Then add your education section. If you have had any additional courses, or if you have any Professional affiliations or useful volunteer activities, mention them.

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Ted

Never forgets the bottom line.
 Subject :Re:Acct/Admin Asst - Functional Resume.. 2009-05-06 10:20:27 
lynnf
Joined: 2009-05-05 16:13:40
Posts: 3
Location

Ted, 

Thank you for the crit. 

I didn't think about how the resume would scan. I guess I was more interested in its appeal to a human. It was done at the request of a small temp agency and they fax resumes to their clients. They requested that it be no more than one page. 

Personally, I think the objective is just marketing. Everyone knows what an admin does and I can't even say that I have x years of experience as an admin because I don't. What I'm trying to convey is that I have the skillset to do it. 

I don't know how I can sell myself with only 5 cars/pars. Are you suggesting that I have only one or two per function? I thought the object was to pick several functions and give examples that were appropriate for the functions. 

Thanks again for your comments. 
Lynn

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 Subject :Re:Acct/Admin Asst - Functional Resume.. 2009-05-06 10:21:41 
SaltTed
Joined: 2009-05-05 15:47:40
Posts: 14
Location

Quote:

I think the objective is justmarketing. Everyone knows what an admin does and I can't even say that I have xyears of experience as an admin because I don't. What I'm trying to convey isthat I have the skillset to do it.

That's just the point. Your resume ismarketing you and to be effective, it must engage the reader. Most people whoapply have the skill set. If that's all there is to resumes, then the hiringmanager might as well pick the candidates randomly. You need to stand out andyou need to prove that you are good at it. This isespecially important when you can't say that you have x years of experience.

Quote:

I don't know how I can sell myself withonly 5 cars/pars. Are you suggesting that I have only one or two per function?I thought the object was to pick several functions and give examples that wereappropriate for the functions.

Five is enough because that's all theywill read. I'm not suggesting that you break them down by function, I'msuggesting that you break them down by accomplishment which will then provecompetence in several functions. The financial model and presentation SARexample that I used demonstrates high levels of competence with spreadsheets,PowerPoint, communication/writing while implying that you were trusted by ahigh level executive.

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Ted

Never forgets the bottom line.
 Subject :Re:Acct/Admin Asst - Functional Resume.. 2009-05-06 10:23:44 
lynnf
Joined: 2009-05-05 16:13:40
Posts: 3
Location
Quote:
I'm not suggesting that you break them down by function, I'm suggesting that you break them down by accomplishment which will then prove competence in several functions. The financial model and presentation SAR example that I used demonstrates high levels of competence with spreadsheets, PowerPoint, communication/writing while implying that you were trusted by a high level executive

Oh, I see. That's very interesting. 

Thank you! 
Lynn
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