in YOUR World? or
Why you need a current, well-executed resume
By Julie Adamen

The birds are chirping. Hearts and flowers are everywhere. And you just love where you are working. The Board(s) is great. Your boss is super… Your wages are… acceptable. Life is wonderful.

Right. What color is the sky in your world?

There are some realities about our industry. Odds are you will change your position every two to five years. It may be a lateral position to another firm or association. It may be an upwardly mobile position – line to staff. It may very well be to a vendor or affiliate position – or it may be out of the industry altogether (a very real possibility). Here’s why you need to always, and I mean always, have a current resume:

1. Your dream job is suddenly available. During the time it takes you to put together a resume, the position is filled.
2. You are up for advancement in your own firm. Having a current resume reminds them of all you have accomplished there, as well as in previous employment (no, they don’t remember)
3. An employer for a position available targets you. – One you want to be considered for.  Being prepared gives you a leg up on any competition you may have. 
4. Most importantly, your resume is one of the most powerful, yet most neglected, tools you have in managing your career. It’s the map of where you have been, and should represent the vision of where you want to be professionally.

Let’s first talk about practical suggestions for your overall resume format. It may seem somewhat basic, but from what I have seen out there, we probably could all use a refresher course.  Next month we’ll talk about polishing your resume for lateral positions, upwardly mobile positions, and positions outside of the industry.

Format

Cover letter? Yes and no. If you are applying for a position yourself, a short cover letter is often appropriate. If you are going through an employment service, like ours, it usually isn’t necessary.

No more than two pages that go back only 10-12 years. No one cares that you worked at Burger King while you were in high school.

Clean, easy to read fonts, nothing fancy (stay away from those script fonts, ladies…) in large-enough-for-over-40 eyes to read, i.e., no 8 pt. font. 

Simple formats without a bunch of tabs, indents, font sizes, bolds or italics. Use these tools sparingly where they will have the most impact. Using a bullet-pointed resume can be ok, but most of the ones I have seen sell themselves short in an attempt at brevity.

Resist using the “Resume Wizard” on your computer. Sorry, but I have seen them all and it makes the applicant look like they couldn’t figure out how to write a resume, let alone manage millions of dollars worth of real estate.

Start your resume from the present backwards, with your employer’s name, geographical location and dates of employment. If you were there less than two years, it’s often good to put the months as well as they year(s) of employment, for example: “5/98 – 10/99: ABC Management firm.” If you were there several years, it’s usually ok to just put the years: “1992 – 1998, General Manager, Belly Acres HOA.”

DO NOT PUT YOUR SALARY ON THE RESUME ITSELF. You can ace yourself out of an interview by either making yourself appear “overqualified” or end up with less salary than you should for the position you fill.

Computer Skills: Make sure to put your computer skills on your resume, for example: “Word, Excel, MS Outlook, FrontPage.”

Paper Selection: If you are dealing in hard copy resume, use normal paper. Nice stock, but normal paper. Paper that can be scanned or copied and doesn’t get stuck in the machine, or is too dark to copy. Don’t give anyone a reason to place your resume in the round file.

Electronic? Yup. Make sure you can email your resume either as an attachment or in the body of the email. When people tell me they can’t email a resume because < uh, it’s on my home computer > or < uh, I have it on a disc but can’t access it… > … well they may as well say the dog ate it. What comes across: You don’t know how to email something, attach a document to email, or can’t figure out how to go to Kinko’s and have them scan it…  Not good when you want to be considered for a job.

Proofread, not just spell check. Please, please, proofread, or have someone else proofread your resume. This is the document that can get you in the door or get that door closed on your nose.

References. If you put references on your resume, or attach a reference list, make sure of the following: 1) The reference consents to being on your reference list 2) The reference agrees to return phone calls of those doing the reference checking, 3) Their contact information is current, and, most importantly, 4) The reference is going to be GOOD.

More on references. Who should be a reference? If you can use your previous or current employer, do so. If not, current/past board members are good, as are well-known and well-respected vendors and affiliates. Do not use personal friends as references

Content

We know we do a lot as managers, but how to explain it on paper? Here are some ways to quantify the job by standard responsibilities, be you a site manager or a portfolio manager:

Account(s) managed. How many accounts do you manage? How many doors? Are they condos, PUDs, conversions, apartments, timeshares?

Budget responsibilities. What is the total amount of the budget(s) you manage?

Employees. If you are a site manager or work in a supervisory capacity, employee management is a crucial part of your job. How many employees are you responsible for, and what are your duties in relation to those employees? Do you train? Hire? Terminate? Compose and present performance evaluations? Work with compensation issues?

Contractors. Site managers and especially portfolio managers usually supervise contractors. How many? Which ones? Totaling… 10? 15?

Contracts. Do you… prepare contacts? Negotiate contracts? Implement contracts? Ensure smooth transition between contracts? Of course you do.

Organizational issues. Site managers and executives usually provide overall direction, leadership and supervision of and to the corporation (firm or association). Portfolio managers do, too.

Functional duties. Especially for portfolio managers, you may want a sentence on your functional duties, i.e., Prepare meeting agendas and Board packets, perform walk throughs, prepare and execute violation letters and follow up hearings, etc.

Chances are you do have a resume. Somewhere. Probably not on your current home PC. Probably hasn’t been updated in the past 5 years…. May have a few typos… And most likely does not contain what you really do, what you really know, what you really have done.