A Word for the Overwhelmed Educator

If you’re new here, welcome! Each week, I answer questions about all things recruiting and hiring. Questions are submitted by readers just like you.?

This week's letter is a little longer than usual. Overwhelmed Educator submitted the following question:

Sylvia, what resources, template, and/or general rules should one use for their resume/cover letter?

What I'm struggling with is figuring out whose advice to follow when it comes to revamping my resume. I've reached out to someone in the private sector, my university, and even a free online resource. It feels like no matter how I tweak it, it's never right. I understand that I might face a lot of job rejection due to my background, but I want to be able to perfect any of the parts I can control, specifically my resume/cover letter. Thank you in advance if my question is answered!

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Dear Overwhelmed Educator,

There’s a lot of resume and cover letter information out there and the truth is that (almost) any advice you receive has the potential to work if you can work it. If you feel like you’re forcing advice/tips into your resume or cover letter, that disconnect will show and weaken your application.

But first, shout out to your awareness in this big career transition and to your strength and perseverance in finding out what works in your resume and cover letter in the face of rejection. This is your greatest advantage right now.?

As a recruiter and resume coach, I have three tips for applicants transitioning between careers that I give consistently because they lead to more callbacks:

1. Tailor your resume to highlight the accomplishments and achievements that are relevant to your next role.
2. Have a short professional summary at the top of your resume, followed by your areas of expertise listed underneath, and then list your work experience last.
3. Write how you talk!

1. Tailor your resume for your next role.

This is a common piece of advice for a good reason. Without knowing your next career move, writing your resume suddenly becomes twice as difficult.

What career are you focused on next?

Knowing the answer to that will help you write your work experience with that next role in mind. Instead of simply regurgitating the list responsibilities from your previous roles, you’ll be able to highlight accomplishments relevant to your next career.

2. Have a short professional summary.?

When it comes to formatting, I like to employ professional summaries followed by your areas of expertise, and finally your work experience. Professional summaries act as a mini cover letter and help you set the tone and sell your expertise to the resume reader.

With your professional summary at the top, you should include an Areas of Expertise section underneath. In it, you’ll include your core competencies, skills, programs. You’ll want to change them so that they highlight similar skills in the job description.?

Finally, list your work experience. Each previously held role should highlight your achievements, creations, and leadership opportunities. With every role, ask yourself:?

What did you do that no one else did that’s relevant to the type of work you’re looking for??

Let’s pretend you’re moving from teaching to accounting. For many teachers, it’s common to see “Managed a classroom of 30 kids.” This is great detail, but it doesn’t tell me how it’s relevant to this role in accounting, and it doesn’t tell me the whole story. Things like,

• I reorganized the budget as treasurer for Abbott Elementary’s PTA and accounted for missing expenses and receipts.
• I managed the classroom budget to track expenses including supplies and field trips which helped the board provide additional supplies to classrooms in the science department.

3. Write how you talk!

You may have seen this advice over and over too. Clear language is key. I’ve seen a lot of jargon-y phrases like, “Facilitated the inner workings of the client management system” and have had to set those resumes aside for lack of clarity.

In the bullet points under your roles, you can be conversational and clear! You’re allowed to tell a story. For example, “We had no existing client management system. I implemented a system called Sample System over the course of 3 months. I trained team members on it, and we increased our client satisfaction by 21%.”

This kind of clarity breathes life into recruiters and hiring managers! It gets us so excited to chat with you on the phone.

This is my general practice with every person I coach, Overwhelmed Educator. I hope it gives you helpful direction. I’m cheering you on as you continue tweaking your resume and cover letter for future applications.

Signing off,

Sylvia Torres

PS - If you're reading this, and you want resume help, I offer individual resume coaching for $195. It’s an hour-long coaching session where we dig into who you are, your career goals, your current resume, and then we go over all of the resume points above (and more) to help you build a resume that fully represents you and all the value you bring!?

TL;DR

As a resume coach and recruiter, I have three consistent tips for applicants transitioning between careers:

1. Tailor your resume to highlight the accomplishments and achievements that are relevant to your next role.
2. Have a short professional summary at the top of your resume, followed by your areas of expertise listed underneath, and position your work experience last.
3. Write how you talk!?

If you’re looking for support to create a resume that matches who you are and gets you into the next stage of the application process, my one-hour individual resume coaching for $195 is for you!

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