I’d like to share some of what I’ve learned about presenting yourself for your next stage of employment. So I have put together some information for you about the common mistakes folks make when writing resumes. Some of the mistakes are simple. Others more subtle and others just plain dumb. You are the face behind the resume, but the employer will never see that face if your resume is poorly executed.

Nuts and Bolts: Resume Form and 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. Note to self: Make sure your cover letter is a top-notch, professional letter, and not a “memo” or quickly written note without the contactee’s information, and more importantly, yours.

Name and contact info right at the top. Sounds odd but recently I have received resumes from candidates who fail to put at least a portion – and in one case all – of his/her contact information. I understand wanting to protect privacy; however, only including a portion of contact information at this time still looks as if the candidate is trying to hide something. Also, many employers need to know where your home is located so they may take commute into consideration.  

No more than two pages that go back only 10-12 years of work history. No one cares that you worked at Burger King while you were in high school.  If you are a more “seasoned” employee and your previous job history is pertinent beyond 10 years, see the paragraph below entitled “TMI.”

Clean, easy to read fonts, like Tahoma or Times New Roman in large-enough-for-over-40 eyes to read, i.e., 10 – 12 pt. font.   And please use only ONE font all the way through. The only time to use another font is maybe, maybe, on your name. And, please NO ALL CAPS.

Empty space. Like the local radio station, dead air space (or a lot of empty page space) on your resume is not advisable, thus, resist using the “Resume Wizard” program, because it really sells you short in several ways. How? Glad you asked:

The “resume wizard” is not your friend because it promotes one-paged, bullet-pointed resumes with a lot of empty page space which, in my humble opinion, sell all but the most skilled resume writer short. Not to mention it always reminds me of  a kid pretending to eat dinner by pushing the food all around the plate: A lot of plate space pretending to be something else. 

Bullet Point v. Narrative. As you may be able to discern I am partial to narrative resumes v. bullet point resumes for the reasons listed above. Most folks have a hard time outlining what they do in the first place, making people feel as if they have to get the words in this tiny space just makes a bad situation worse. And did I say the font is usually too small?! So, if you are going to use bullet points, at least keep the margins and indents long to give you optimum room while outlining your skills and abilities.

Start your resume from the present  and work backwards, with your employer’s name, geographical location and dates of employment. If you were at a place of employ less than two years, it’s often good to put the months as well as they year(s) of employment, for example: “5/01 – 10/03: ABC Management firm.” If you were there several years, it’s usually ok to just put the years: “1998 – 2006, General Manager, Belly Acres HOA.”

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

Designations, education and memberships.  If you have any pertinent, industry designations, put them right up next to your name at the top of your resume. Don’t bury them at the bottom of page 2 in size 6 font. If you feel the need, the only college degree you should list with your name is a Master’s degree or above. Place undergraduate degrees under “Education.” It is not necessary to list individual seminars you have attended but you may wish to indicate continued industry education through the professional organization(s). If you are a member of CAI, AACM, OWCAM, BIA, IREM, ARDA, CAMEO, CACM, NECAM, NACM or any other industry- or industry-related organization, make sure and put it on your resume under affiliations or memberships.  When it comes to those organizations – and the designations you receive from them that are known generally by an acronym make sure you have the acronyms right.  You belong to CAI, not the CIA. You are either a CMCA or a CCAM. You are NOT a CACM, but that is the organization of which you are a member. The list goes on, and because we are all Certified in some sort of Community Association Management, all those initials can get confusing. Double check this before sending out your resume.

TMI (Too much Information). Many of our folks are second-career people, meaning they started managing associations after a successful career elsewhere. Look, people, I know you are very proud of what you did back in the day, but on a resume you must know how to a) Make your past experience pertinent to our industry and b) Keep it short while keeping it relevant. In a nutshell, here are skills that translate from one industry to another: People skills, budget skills, communication skills, customer service skills, supervisory skills, and believe it or not, sales ability.  Here’s what doesn’t translate: Being the top widget maker at Widgets R Us or having the most accurate label installation at the tuna guts factory.

Job hopping.  In our business it’s not unusual for managers to change jobs every few years. Not unusual, but at the same time not really advisable. Job movement  is a fact of life however, so how should you résumé deal with it? Be forthright and thus right up front and between the eyes. At the end of each description of the job you held, insert “Reason for Leaving,” then, give the reason. For example: “Reason for leaving: Recruited by XYZ Company.” Then put a reference from the employer you left with a phone number and/or email address right there as well.  “... Recruited by XYZ Company. Reference @ ABC Management, John Smith, 000-555-1212, .”

Been canned. Getting booted isn’t the kiss of death it once was, and seldom hurts on-site managers unless it’s a pattern. We can thank our burgeoning industry and a lack of new people for that, but I digress. If you have been fired, you need to handle it just like you would in the above paragraph. You can’t hide it, so paint it red. For site managers, this is usually the truth: “Reason for Leaving: Terminated due to differing management styles.”  And, again, right there, you need to put one or two very pertinent references and their email and phone numbers.  What you are doing is answering – as well as you can - any objection the employer may have about interviewing you before you even get in the door. I call it the ‘bowling pin theory.” The employer’s objections to hiring you are the bowling pins – knock each one down as you go along and right up front on the resume. If you don’t, you may never get the chance to explain in person.

Took time off.  Time off to raise kids, take care of an aging parent, sail your boat or whatever? Put it right in there, just like a job with dates and an explanation of what you did. It’s not an issue as long as you address it right up front.

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. Don’t give anyone a reason to place your resume in the round file.

Electronic? Yup. Make sure you can email your resume to whoever wants it. Anytime I hear, uh, I have a hard copy so I’ll have to fax it to you… All that comes across is: You 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 management job where you are paid to solve problems a lot bigger than this one.

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 or your mother 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?  Each one of these is a different skill set, and you want the reader to know exactly what your skill set consists of.

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? Let’s see it.

Contracts. Do you… prepare contacts? Negotiate contracts? Implement contracts? Ensure smooth transition between contracts? Of course you do. This needs to be in your resume. “Compose, prepare and implement third party contracts and ensure compliance thereto.”

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 want a sentence or two 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.

Beyond Nuts and Bolts: Stuff you don’t think about

Email address. Ok folks, let me be very clear: No cutesy email addresses on your resume. Yes, it’s your personal account but it still need to be something akin to and not an email address that refers to your body parts, your nickname, your baby’s name, your dog’s name, your sexual proclivities, your favorite band, your tattoos or what liquor you prefer. If you have something to effect of any of the above, get another email account that you use only for your resume. You look like a complete dork when your email address is (a real email address with domain changed to protect the clueless).

Voicemail.   It is VERY important to have a professional voicemail on your cell or at home.  “This is so-and-so, I’m away from my phone but please leave message and I’ll return your call as soon as I am able.”  For your home – “This is the Adamen residence; we are unable to get to the phone at the moment so please leave a message.”  No home voicemail recorded by your 3-year-old, no dogs barking or loud music in the background while you giggle your way through the recording.  When you are actively seeking employment, your personal phone machine or message service – at home or on your cell – is often the first impression given to a potential employer and you want it to be as professional as that of your office voice message.

Who checks your voicemail? Please set rules in your home about voicemail checking. I can’t tell you how many times a candidate did not get the message because their teenager picked up the messages and failed to inform Mom or Dad that I, or a potential employer, called.

Just plain stupid mistakes

Spellchecking and not proofreading.  Please, please, proofread after the spell-check or have someone else proofread your resume. Spell-check will not fix improperly used words that are spelled correctly. This is the document that can get you in the door or get that door closed on your nose.

Putting your salary on your resume. You can ace yourself out of an interview by either making yourself appear “overqualified” when a very high salary is listed, or end up with less salary than you should for the position you fill because you have been seriously underpaid in the past years (and you look like a patsy). Either way, you have nothing to gain by listing your salary.

Listing references without their knowledge.  Employers do check references! If you put references on your resume, or attach a reference list, make sure of the following: 1) The reference recently consented to being on your reference list 2) The reference agrees to return phone calls of those doing the reference checking, 3) The reference contact information is current.

Listing references who give you a bad reference.  What more can I say? DUH!  

To start 2008 off on the right foot you must realize that you are the person behind the resume, and that means your resume must not only accurately reflect you and your abilities, but it’s the key to getting you in the door for that face-time. . Then – and only then, can you knock their socks off. The bottom line: Don’t give an employer a reason to shred your resume, give them every reason to pick up the phone and call you in for an interview.