Blue Collar Resumes-Third Edition

By Steven Provenzano

Blue Collar Resumes, Third Edition will help you discover, organize, and market your skills and abilities to employers with impact and clarity. Using real-life examples and the latest strategies used by expert resume writers, Steven Provenzano, CPRW/CEIP, clearly explains how to sift through your work history, extract and develop key points about your talents, and sell them to win interviews. You’ll learn to evaluate your work experience, education and skills, and translate them into powerful selling points. You will also learn new, effective methods to format and organize your achievements, design the finished resume, and leverage new techniques for making job contacts and acing the interview.

The 100+ resume examples in Blue Collar Resumes, Third Edition, reflect a broad spectrum of industries, careers, and job descriptions. These include skilled trade and factory workers, assemblers and construction workers, supervisors, executive secretaries, sales and customer service representatives, data entry clerks, and clerical positions. There’s even resume samples for pilots, drivers and equipment operators, technical and medical workers, as well as entry-level business and administrative positions, and veterans returning to the workforce. No matter what your or type of work this guide will help you shorten your job search and increase your income!

• Language: English
• Publisher: ECS: Executive Career Services & DeskTop Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 4, 2020
• ISBN: 9780963355867

Book preview

Blue Collar Resumes

Updated Third Edition

Steven Provenzano, CPRW / CEIP, President,

ECS: Executive Career Services & DTP, Inc.

© 2017 ECS: Executive Career Services & DTP, Inc.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work covered by the copyright herein may be reproduced, transmitted, stored, or used in any form or by any means graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including but not limited to photocopying, recording, scanning, digitizing, taping, Web distribution, information networks, or information storage and retrieval systems, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the publisher, ECS & DTP, Inc.

All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011942306

ISBN-13: 978-0-9633558-6-7

Printed in the United States of America

Dedicated to my family and friends,

the finest in the world.

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to all the job seekers represented in this book and everyone who has placed their trust in me and my staff for help finding a new position. Getting to know and assist good people like you over the past 20 years makes my work rewarding and fulfilling.

I’d also like to thank my parents Tony and Doris, brothers Randy, Jim, and Bill, my sister Grace Marie, and the friends who’ve always been there for me: Jeff Burns, Joan Magic, and Diana Klein.

About the Author

             and

Free Resume Review

Steven Provenzano is president of ECS: Executive Career Services & DTP, Inc. A former corporate recruiter and author of nine career books, he has written or edited more than 5,000 resumes. Steven has appeared on CNBC several times, CNN, WGN, ABC/NBC in Chicago, and numerous radio programs. He has also been featured in major newspapers, such as The Wall Street Journal, Crain’s, and the Chicago Tribune. He is a Certified Professional Resume Writer/CPRW and Certified Employment Interview Professional/CEIP. His work is endorsed by Chicago Tribune Career Columnist Lindsey Novak and top executives at firms such as Motorola. Website: https://Execareers.com. For a free resume analysis, you may send your resume in confidence to [e-mail] or call toll-free: 877-610-6810 or 630-289-6222.

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1

Get Started: Assessing Your Skills

Chapter 2

Organize Your Resume for High Impact

Reaching for the Ideal Position

Keeping Your Resume Honest

Resume Essentials

Eliminate from Your Resume

Optional Items

One Page or Two?

Chapter 3

Using a Title or Objective

The Title

The Objective

Pack Action into Your Resume

Professional Writer’s Tip

Chapter 4

The Profile / Experience Section: Market Your Skills

Why Use a Profile / Experience Section?

Professional Writer’s Tip

Keep It Relevant

Group Similar Skills Together

Chapter 5

Employment: Build an Impressive History

Chapter 6

Education: Develop Your Strongest Credentials

Chapter 7

Design Your Eye-Catching Resume

Computer, Typesetter, or Professional Resume Writer?

What Typeface? What Size?

Line Length

Placement of Dates

Printing Your Resume

What Color Paper?

Proofread, Proofread, Proofread!

Chapter 8

Secrets of Electronic Resumes

Keywords

Formatting Tips for Electronic Resumes

Snail Mail

Chapter 9

Using Your Resume to Speed Your Job Search

Your Current Employer

Your Company’s Competitors

Trade Organizations and Networking

Employment Agencies

Online and Newspaper Want Ads

Build Your Network!

College Placement Offices

Job Fairs

How to Pursue That Job Lead

Chapter 10

At Last: The Interview

Research the Company and Position

Practice Your Answers

Present a Professional Image

Arrive on Time

Be Positive

Don’t Be Nervous

Keep Your Personal Life Out of the Interview

Chapter 11

Motivation and Inspiration: Get Your Career in Gear

Inspiration / Motivation

You Are Not Alone

An Introduction to...

The Absolutely Last Job Hunting Guide You’ll Ever Need!

How to Retrain Your Brain for Change

Networking Tips and Strategies

Adopt These 10 Traits, and You’ll Have People Knocking Down Your Door Trying to Do Business with You

Harness the Power of Networking

Four Essential Steps to Make Your Connections Count!

Networking vs. Partnerships

The Partnership Factor: Build and Strengthen Your Business Partnerships

Take Action

Track Your Progress

Interview Techniques

10 Good Ways to Tell Me About Yourself

The Name of the Game

Acing the Interview by Avoiding Seven Deadly Sins

Chapter 12

Before and After Resume Examples

Chapter 13

Resume and Cover Letter Examples

Resume Examples

Resume Examples For: Office, Business, Supervisory, and Technical Positions

Resume Examples For: Veterans Returning to the Workforce

Appendix

Resource Materials for the Job Hunt

Websites, Job Boards, Catalogs, and Books

Job Boards and Web Resources

Career Advice

Job Agents

Networking Resources

Additional Job Search Resources

10 Strategies for Planning and Executing the Job Hunt

Index

Introduction

The Demand for Blue Collar Workers

Greetings job seekers. Now is the time and this is the place to begin your search for a new, or better, Blue Collar position.

At the time of this writing unemployment is at a record low in America, less than 4.5%. Thousands of well-paying, blue collar and administrative jobs remain unfilled, in all types of industries. There’s a shortage of skilled and semi-skilled workers, truck drivers, mechanics, you name it. Just about every major company, from UPS and DuPont to GM and Apple, relies on millions of blue collar workers to build, assemble, repair, stock, and deliver what they sell. Without this essential work force—without you—America would grind to a halt, a fact that seems lost to some of the people who run those big companies.

At my resume and career coaching firm, we help people just like you: administrative assistants and customer service staff, factory workers, drivers, and those from a multitude of skilled trades. Industry analysts have spoken for years about the essential role of blue collar and service workers, because in many cases, they have direct contact with the most important person in their business: the customer.

Granted, employers are looking for people with wider skill sets to work longer hours, and they expect higher quality work and devotion to their company. They want more bang for their buck. However, they’re also willing to pay for training and internships to build their workforce. My team of career consultants just learned that employers will pay up to $2500 for a local community college to train just one entry-level employee prior to hiring. Some employers are even willing to hire workers at the ground floor – even sweeping the floor – and pay them to learn new skills.

Even with this hiring surge, employers still expect a focused, hard-working team of eight to do what used to be done by ten people just a year before. They also want people with good communication skills, and often the first impression you will give an employer of your communication skills is on your resume, so it had better be good!

A New Philosophy

Because my staff and I write resumes just about every day, I meet a wide range of people looking for better jobs. After writing or editing more than 5,000 resumes, I’m still amazed at the diversity of jobs all around us. But everybody who comes to me has one thing in common—they all want a better job. They can’t, however, get a new job without an interview—and they can’t get an interview without a great resume.

People still walk into my office and give me handwritten notes on dirty scratch paper. They scribble out a basic history—where and when they worked and a short outline of their daily duties. I tell them that’s a start, and then I ask The Question:

What would you most like to DO in your next job?

Some people are surprised when I ask this, and you’d be surprised at the answers I get. Many assume they’ll keep doing the same work they were doing for their previous or current employer, until they start to really think about this question.

No two jobs, even if they have the same job title, are exactly the same. That’s why it’s essential to look at the types of skills you would like to use on the next job and then create a resume that will get you into that type of position.

A New Approach

Most people think a resume is just an outline of old jobs and educational background. (That’s what I call a job list, or tombstone resume, a basic history of your working life). To some extent that’s true, because your work history is an essential part of your resume (more on this later). But there’s a new approach to resume writing that can help open doors to the really good jobs, play a key role in increasing your income, and help you enjoy what you’re doing 40 to 50 hours every week. To accomplish this, your resume must consistently:

Develop and market your skills and abilities.

This may sound like a simple concept, but think about it. Does the average job list resume really develop and sell your skills, your talents, and what you can really can bring to your next job? Usually not, and for one important reason—when you send out a job list resume, you’re telling people what you’ve done for your previous employers, but you’re not really telling what you can do for your next employer.

That’s really what this book is all about: helping you identify and sell your most important and relevant skills, abilities, knowledge, and training on paper. With so many people looking for new jobs in today’s economy, it’s essential to create a high-impact resume that develops and sells your skills, abilities, work history, achievements, formal education, and on-the-job training to the maximum.

Simple and Basic? Or Ineffective?

I can’t tell you how many people call my office and say they want a simple or basic resume. For some reason, they think there’s something magical about those words. Most people email brief descriptions of their work history and education. Initially, they ask for feedback and maybe a few tweaks, as if that will quickly result in more job offers.

Whenever I talk to job seekers with this mindset, I stop them in their tracks and tell them, "We’ll make your resume effective." Never underestimate the power of a few basic words.

What You’re Up Against

Did you know that the average job listing on CareerBuilder or Monster.com can draw thousands of resumes? Research tells us that most of these resumes have only a few seconds to grab the reader’s attention, and here’s proof.

A Minute of Your Time?

A survey of 150 executives from the nation’s 1,000 largest companies was conducted by Accountemps/Robert Half. Can you believe that 70 percent said they spend two minutes or less reviewing an applicant’s resume? That’s why your resume must become an attention-getting advertisement of your best, most important, most relevant skills and abilities, and not just another job history.

The Resume Screening Process

As a former corporate recruiter and creator of resumes for those in recruiting and human resources, I’ve learned that resumes are most often used as a tool for weeding out potential candidates. No matter how many job openings a company may have, there simply isn’t the time or staff to interview every single person who would like to be interviewed. The recruiters in HR, or your potential boss, may sort through hundreds—even thousands—of resumes, by hand or with ATS software, received from internal job postings, employment agencies, and a wide range of advertisements.

When I was assigned to hire new employees, I did what many of my peers did—I sifted through the day’s resumes and made three separate piles. I labeled them Great, Possible, and Never. I first called people from the Great stack for interviews, and usually ended up tossing not just the Never pile, but the Possible pile, as well.

Most resumes are quickly scanned for essential keywords that relate to their job requirements, such as certifications, software or technical proficiencies, the ability to train others, or overall knowledge of a specific industry. Assuming that’s found, they may also check for such items as a steady work history (not too many jobs in too short a time) or educational background and training.

If the initial glance passes muster, the HR representative may pass along your resume, with several others, to the hiring manager. Typically, that manager is the direct supervisor over the open position and will make the final decision about whom to call in for interviews. The initial interviews are then conducted by the HR department, and a short list of candidates is created.

Finally, about three to five candidates will be interviewed by the hiring manager (sometimes with other department managers present) and a decision will be made to offer the position to the candidate who best suits their needs and their payroll budget. As you can see, there are plenty of opportunities throughout the process to eliminate resumes and candidates who don’t stand out as strong contenders.

The Need for Accuracy

As noted earlier, research shows that the average resume has only a few seconds to catch the reader’s interest. For the same reason, brevity, accuracy, and overall appearance are key to a successful resume. If you’re not sure how to spell a word, look it up. If you don’t know how to type accurately, hire a professional typist.

Check and Check Again

Proofread, proofread, proofread! OfficeTeam conducted a survey of 150 human resources and other managers from the nation’s 1,000 largest companies. Results revealed that 76 percent said they would not hire candidates who have one or two typographical errors on their resume, and 45 percent said it would take only one typo to eliminate a candidate from consideration. Be careful what you send. Have family and friends proofread your resume from top to bottom and bottom to top.

You may send your current resume directly to our office for free proofreading and feedback; see the last page of this book for details.

God Is in the Details

Accuracy and quality of writing is essential. Nothing turns off an employer more than basic spelling or grammar mistakes on a resume. The subconscious impression is, If this person can’t even produce a decent resume, how could he or she possibly perform this job well?

Read this book thoroughly, especially the resume samples, for tips and tricks on layout, design, grammar, and punctuation for a unique, high-impact resume that does justice to your hard-earned skills and abilities.

Whether you have years of experience or are straight out of school, you can choose to present yourself through your resume in an average way or an outstanding way. The difference between a good resume and a great resume might just be the foot in the door you need to land those job interviews, which will lead to more opportunities for better job offers.

Taking Stock of Yourself

I truly believe that writing an effective resume is a process of self-discovery, so I try to create personal advertisements for the people who trust me with their careers. I assume they have certain abilities, skills, and training that will be useful in their next job. It’s my job to dig deeper—to identify all the best talents that person has to offer and then develop those talents on paper—otherwise those talents are not much use in the job-hunting process.

Because I’m not sitting across from you, it’s your job to take a step back and take an honest look at what you really can and want to bring to your next employer.

You must take stock of your knowledge and accomplishments in your chosen field and decide what to develop, what to downplay, and what to leave out altogether. Relax, the worksheets in Chapter 1, Get Started: Assessing Your Skills, should help.

This discovery process will prove even more valuable down the road when you start going on job interviews. It will help get you ready for interview questions and can actually create new career choices when you see that your skills may be applicable to entirely new professions or industries.

During my career seminars, I tell people that their resume can be the most important document they will ever have: more important than their driver’s license, their passport, or even their birth certificate, because no other document can have such an impact on income and, most importantly, where and how they spend 40 to 50 hours of their life every week. Your resume is one of the few aspects in your job search over which you have complete control, and it is one of your most valuable assets; it’s worth doing right.

Of course, emailing or mailing your resume isn’t the only way to get an interview. There’s personal networking with friends, former co-workers and clients, and cold-calling target companies. Still, a resume is almost always essential, no matter which method you use to land job interviews.

Who’s Really Getting Hired?

After thousands of face-to-face interviews of potential candidates, I’ve learned one of the most important facts of job hunting: The best person doesn’t always get hired. Rather, it’s the person who presents himself or herself as the most likeable and a good fit with the company culture. Now it’s your job to do this with clarity, precision, and impact in your resume, on the phone with employers, and at the interview. Just like a politician, you need to stay on message with strong, consistent communications about what you can and want to do for your next employer.

Leverage Your Contacts

Market studies show that 60 to 80 percent of professionals get their jobs through informal referrals (an essential part of networking). About 15 percent are filled through search firms, 10 percent through mass mailings, and only about 6-8 percent through published advertisements. Like the saying goes, sometimes it’s who you know that matters, but you will always need a great resume to pass on through a personal contact. You’ll also need an updated online presence, especially on Linkedin (now used by up to 90% of employers) and even Facebook; check out this article by Recruitment expert Fred Coon:

How Is Facebook Useful In Recruitment and Job Searches?

By Fred Coon, CEO at Stewart, Cooper & Coon, published 2017

Job seekers who choose to utilize Facebook’s search and networking resources should remember to keep their professional online presence as balanced as possible.

Facebook had 1.94 billion monthly active users as of first quarter of 2017. With so many users on this social network, it’s only natural to assume Facebook’s advantages in seeking employment.

What are the benefits of using Facebook for a job search?

While often and understandably overshadowed by LinkedIn as far as recruitment and professional networking is concerned, Facebook has shown to provide its own set of benefits to job seekers and employers seeking to hire top talent.

For Job Seekers

Facebook can help showcase your professional networks. You can easily highlight and maximize your professional networks on Facebook. Join group congruous to your industry to connect with others in your field. Just make sure you do not belong to any groups that that may be deemed negative or discriminatory to others.

Facebook can help showcase your work. If you possess a tangible skill, it’s quite easy to share your talents directly to your Facebook page, while also highlighting your work experience. For instance, Facebook can make it possible for job seekers to showcase excellent writing skills or marketing capabilities to prospective employers.

You can connect with companies you want to work for. Nowadays, it’s rare for companies not to have a Facebook page. By following or