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I like this thread!
I was laid off at the beginning of the year and it has been very interesting having to send out resumes again. I changed a few things this time around and it seems to work well.
Instead of listing every single thing that I've done in my work life, my work experience and contact info is on the first page. I only hit the highlights and change those as needed depending on the position that I'm applying for. The next page lists education, hobbies/memberships and awards/honors.
And while a "Hobbies" section generally isn't recommended, I customize that to show a little bit of my personality depending on the job that I'm applying for. If it is for a more conservative company or position, I minimize my "Hobbies" to Golf and Civic Volunteer and emphasize my memberships in industry-related orgs and the broadcast conferences where I've been a guest speaker.
In my industry, a college degree isn't that important or necessary although it doesn't hurt. Under the "Education" section, after my college and degree info, I note that I was on the Dean's list for 4 semesters. I had a couple of BAD semesters so my overall GPA wasn't as high as I would have liked and I don't want to list it. So far no one has asked for specifics.
For all my ZTA activities, there is only one listing on my resume and that is under awards/honors. As well as listing my various "Salesperson of the Month" and "Employee of the Month" honors, which are important, I also list "Zeta Tau Alpha National Certificate of Merit". I am very proud of that. I've had only one lady bring it up. She was not in a sorority but was familiar with ZTA because of the Race for the Cure. It gave me a chance to talk about the leadership development opportunities I have been given which was relevant to the position as a manager.
On a side note...I also keep a personal resume that is a listing of all my church, community, children's school and ZTA volunteer activities, awards and honors. Line by line it is much longer than my work resume and means more to me. I started this because our alumnae chapter presidents asked us every year to give a list of the things that we do inside and outside of Zeta. I recommended this to others and it has been very helpful. It lets us know who is eligible for awards within Zeta and also helps us focus some of our philanthropic activities towards things our members are interested in. I have not given this resume to a prospective employer but a couple of my past employers have seen it when we were discussing promotions and/or raises for me.
I find out today if I get a new job! I am very excited and hopeful about it. Wish me luck!
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