I've always been told NOT to do this on a resume, until now...
I am a couple years out of school doing something completely unrelated to business/finance etc.
Just had a great phone call with an alumni who is a Managing Director (or something very senior the exact title was a little unclear) at a major consulting firm (it's one of BCG/Bain/McKinsey/PwC/Deloitte/KPMG/EY). I had sent him my resume ahead of time, but he said that it was too focused on my unrelated career path and that I should focus more on the skills that I acquired at each position since I had very little business background.
To do so, he said that right up front, I should put a "Summary" in paragraph that explains what my skills that I acquired were (for example, excel, Adobe, and people skills). He said if I did these changes, he would be happy to pass my resume along with a solid recommendation. This seems like the exact opposite of WSO practice in terms of "Never put a Statement of Purpose" but that's essentially exactly what he's telling me to do.
I will obviously do so, but does anyone have any experience with this? How long to make the summary? No more than 4 or 5 sentences?
In that case, just put the summary thing only for his firm.
follow this monkey's advice :-)
The point of passing resumes is getting interviews. If he has his own resume requirements, follow it.
The dude wants you to have summary on your resume. DO IT!
A "Summary" is fine, an "Objective" is not. The key is to actually "say" something worthwhile. For college kids, this is a near impossible task but for professionals with a few years of experience, it's fairly useful. Thin of this as a good opportunity to toss in some key information in some desirable resume real estate. Remember, sometimes your resume will get all of 5-10 seconds of someone's attention. If you have something worthwhile to note, a summary at the top is a good place to put it.
Thanks so much for the help guys. I will obviously customize my resume for this one position, just wondering if anyone had seen this or had experience doing it and any way they might recommend going about it.
Should I just call it "Summary" and put it directly below the Name/address on my resume?
Do you guys think I should write it in prose (as in a paragraph you'd find in an academic paper) as opposed to resume style bullet points?
I don't necessarily think you should do a summary for your resume in general (except fo this case). However, he is spot on in tailoring your resume to the positions you want. It doesn't matter if you only spent 25% of your time working on something- if it's the most pertinent skill/experience for the job you want then it should be the most prominently displayed (obviously don't embellish). Dictate how you want employers to see your experience and make it easy for them to see how you could transition into a new role.
Since you have a non business/finance work experience, all of your bullet points in your resume should tie in to some usefullness in the business/finance world and also that aren't given responsibilties that every one knows by your job title.
So say you were a janitor, everybody knows that you swept floors, took out trash, etc. so you don't need to put those in your bullets. But because you had to order supplies based on forecasted need, you could put, "used excel to create forecast models for supply usage." You may not spend a ton of time on that, but the fact is, is that you do it.
You should have asked these questions first, but I'd clarify with him and make sure you have an few examples and see what he likes best/recommends.
Yeah, I realize I should have gotten a sample or something, but I thought it was a little awkward to ask him cause I had already asked a follow up regarding that section. Do you guys have a better sounding word than "Summary"?
They call it summary on LinkedIn, where you should have one, so I thinks that's fine just for this guy.
+1 to what @mikesswimn said.
Just do it for him and follow the usual for all other firms.
I include a picture of my face to the right of my summary--black and white though so as to keep it professional
They actually used to do this on professional resumes in Europe. Not sure if that's still the case.
Yes, I've heard something similar from recruiters as well. I have unique prior work experience and my major is a social science, so someone viewing my resume won't know why I'm choosing management consulting. Their advice was:
a) Make it just a few sentences or bullets b) do NOT make it on what you (the applicant) want. Instead, how you can help the company. c) Only do it if someone reading your resume cannot determine what your career field would be (so banking internships + BBA and applying at a BB means don't need to add one)
I obviously have several versions of my resume and some have it and some don't. For the one's that do, I have it labeled as 'Career Focus' at the top of the resume above the education section.
Remember these points too:
1.Use bullet points that make the document easier to read
2.Make sure your resume format is suitable to your line of work.
3.Make sure there are no mistakes present in the resume. spelling, grammatical and typographical mistakes are some common ones.
4.Check out a few resume samples online for your specific field in order to get an idea as to which type of resume format is best for you
5.Mention your complete personal details in the resume such as name , contact details and email id.
Good Luck!
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