The “Combination” Resume
Posted September 15th, 2011
You have been a good employee, a hard and productive worker. But even though you have worked hard for your company, when the recession hit and cutbacks were made, you were one of the people caught in the downsizing.
You find yourself back searching for a job. You thought it wouldn’t take long, given your skills and experience. But what was supposed to be a job search lasting weeks has now become a year, and employers are beginning to express concern that your skills may have become outdated.
If you find yourself in this position, how should you approach the job search?
The first thing to look at is your resume. Since this is the first thing the employer will see, how you sell yourself and your skills is important, even more so if you have to deal with a gap in your employment history.
If your resume doesn’t address the issues that concern the employer, it will be put on the stack of rejected applications right away. So, in this case, you need to rework your resume, using a format that doesn’t fit the traditional mold.
In this case, you want to use what is known as a combination resume, which is geared more for people who have been out of work for a while, or for people who are changing careers. The combination resume is what the name implies, a combination of what you have done, along with when you have done it.
The first part is the introduction, where you give the employer a taste of what you have done and the value you would have to the business. You would highlight briefly your outstanding accomplishments along with your other qualities. It gives a checklist of qualifications.
The next section is accomplishments, where you highlight what you have done. This is an opportunity to show that you still have the skills and experience to do the job. Here you want to be as specific as possible about what you have done and include the achievements you are most proud of.
Then, only after you have highlighted your skills, accomplishments and experience, do you list your work history, giving a chronological listing of previous employment, with a short summary of your duties in each job.
Then, lastly, you would include your educational background, which would include college and any professional development training.
Bring your resume to Bayside Solutions! Many of the Bay Area’s top companies look to us to help them fill temporary, temp-to-hire and direct-hire positions. We look forward to hearing from you.
