In part 1 of the this series, I explained the various types of resumes, their structure and when you should use them. Now we jump into the actual creation of your very own Master Resume.
So let’s start with you person details. Having your correct address is one of the most important element of any resumes. This is a must have, but how many times have you changed (or will change) your address throughout your life. Why would you want to keep track of addresses? Well some jobs require that you enter the last “x” number of address for security/background checks. This often leads you into a mad search for previous bills or something that may contain that much needed address of where you lived 5 or 10 years ago. Spend the time now and track all your addresses, trust me it will be well worth the time.
Your personal details
| Address | Telephone | |
| Address 1, City, State/Province + ZIP code, Country | Telephone (home and cell) | Primary Email |
| Address 1, City, State/Province + ZIP code, Country | Telephone (home and cell) | Primary Email |
| … | … | … |
Throughout your career you will probably receive training in a lot of different areas. It is important not to miss the opportunity to track this critical information. Documenting your Education and training throughout your career shows growth and continuous development. Education comes in all forms, from Degree, to certifications, to apprenticeship, to workshops. Any time you learn something significant that greatly influences your career or career opportunities, you need to document it
Education and Training
| Training or Education | Location | Duration |
| Degree/Course/Certification | Location (City, State/Province, Country) | Duration/Time |
| Certification | Location (City, State/Province, Country) | Duration/Time |
| Training Course | Location (City, State/Province, Country) | Duration/Time |
The skills section includes the abilities that are related to the job. I equate skills to riding a bike, once you learn to ride a bicycle you typically never forget. You may need a refresher, but you never forget. However, many times you will probably never keep track of our skills as you learn them. As time goes on you may even forget that you have actually acquired certain skills (well I should say “you take it for granted”). What I have noticed is that if you track your skills over time, you start to realized that some skill use reoccur from job to job. You start eventually realizing which core skills make you who you are. Some people may find that they are great at influencing people or negotiations, or maybe deep down they are highly technical. Whatever your skill set please keep track of it. You never know what your next job requirements will be, so be prepared.
Skills
| Skills | Description |
| Technical skills | Your knowledge and skills specific to your particular occupation |
| Business skills | Typically relates to managing business activities |
| Soft skill | Your personality traits in relationships with other people |
| Management Skills | Relates to your ability to get people together to accomplish desired goals using available resources efficiently and effectively |
This is the core of your resume. More often than not potential employers will jump straight to your work experience to decide whether or not they should continue reading. Ensure that you track your Position Name, time spent in each position and company details. Some companies go out of business and then you may be left with a gap of data if you don’t track it. Now onto your roles and responsibilities, one of the worse things that happens to most people is being unprepared after a layoff. Imagine you have been laid off and trust me the last thing you want to do is think about what your roles “WAS” or what you ”WERE” responsible for. It’s one of the reason people have difficulty with updating their resume. My suggestion is to make this list now and keep it updated. Every time you complete a new project, or close a big deal, or get positive feedback on your work delivery, please document it. Because this is a master resume you don’t have to worry about formatting right now. Just record the content and track your career.
Experience
| Position | Company | Responsibilities and Highlights | Duration |
| Position 1 Name | Company Name and Address (City, State) | Responsibilities and highlights | Duration/Date |
| Position 2 Name | Company Name and Address (City, State) | Responsibilities and highlights | Duration/Date |
| … | .. | .. | .. |
Volunteer experience should be treat similar to Work/Professional experience in my opinion. Depending on where you volunteer and what tasks you performed it may be relevant towards future work experience. That is why I believe you should track this information just like work experience, which mean to include Responsibilities details. This information may not be “officially” required in your final resumes but it will allow you to more accurately speak to your volunteer experience when the time comes.
Volunteer experience
| Position | Company | Responsibilities and highlights | Duration |
| Position Name | Company name and address | Responsibilities | Duration/Date |
| … | … | .. |
The accomplishments sections should highlight career impacting achievements, for example if you received a new certification (ITIL, PMP) , completed your apprenticeship or received the employee of the month. This sections showcases your growth in a particular Job and gives you a starting summary of each of your jobs/position.
Accomplishments
| Career | Significant Achievements during your career/Job | position |
| Educational | Significant Achievements | |
| … | …. |
Master Resumes and Disasters recovery
Now that you have done all this work how can you keep it safe and avoid a major PC failure? Here are my suggestions
Dropbox is a free service that lets you bring your file anywhere and share them easily. You create an account which allows you to upload any file and retrieve it from any internet connection. Dropbox also allows you to load a client on your desktop/mobile devices that will sync your files. If you don’t have a dropbox account, go get one.
All of the above recommendations are to prevent you from losing your most critical files. By storing these files in “the Cloud” you don’t have to worry about your PC dying and losing your files.
By creating a Master Resume, you will be documenting one of the longest activity in your life, but it is worth it so get start ASAP. Here is a small gift for taking the time to read this long post 🙂
[ilink style=”download” url=”https://www.afteralayoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Master-Resume.doc”]Download My Master Resume Template HERE[/ilink]
| [fblike] |
| [google_plusone annotation=”bubble”] |
Image courtesy of nuttakit / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
[…] my next post of this series, we will create a master resume template using the Hybrid /Combination resume […]