Your Guide to a well structured Resume for Mid Level Employee

Answer these two questions first

• What do you think makes a resume for mid level employee stand out?

• Is it vast experience only?

You may think it’s your 10 to 15 years of experience in your professional career but that does not imply that you will necessarily have the best resume around. You have to organize your information in such a way that; it tells your story. In other words, your resume  has to showcase your experience in such a way that it makes the recruiter take a  closer look at what you can bring to the table.

There is a great resume guide written by Amanda Augustine, a career expert working with TheLadders in the job matching service which you can find here.

 

I have pulled out the most important resume factors for a Mid Level Employees, lets take a look.

 

Do not squeeze all your experience in the resume

 

You should put more emphasis on the most recent professional experience. You do this assuming that the experience, is the one that is most relevant to the kind of job that you are seeking. Recruiters and Hiring managers want to hire somebody as fast as possible, if however your experience differs for their immediate need your resume will not make the cut. You should be able to show how good you can be for the job opportunity at hand. The reader is therefore moved to consider you suitable at the first sight. Placing the competencies at the top therefore is advantageous.

It pains me to see resumes that emphasize and give to much attention to previous roles that provide no value to the hiring manager. Sometimes this can be hard to overcome especially if you held a very important role that makes this new position seem a little mediocre at best.

Understand the needs and wants of the hiring manager, what problem are they trying to solve with this new position?

If your experience does not closely resemble the position you are applying, then you must include specific areas where you are competent in at the top of the first page. This is to make the reader aware of your capabilities at a glance. Secondly, it allows your resume to get past the Resume Screeners or Applicant Tracking Systems which filter resumes according to job specifications. This can be a billeted list or simply a summary tailored to the job description. Take a look at my guide on how to tailor a resume to a job description.

 

• Ensure that you include a header containing your name on the second page. This is to keep your name and contact information at the top of the mind of the reader.

 

Demonstrate your core competencies – Why should they hire you?

 

Split each role in your resume into responsibilities, contributions and achievements

Ensure that below each role that you participated in, you list in bullets the responsibilities held. You should also show successful performance of your duties by listing what you contributed to the organization and particularly note your achievements.

Note that you should be specific and clear when describing roles and achievements because they gift you a chance to capture the attention and interest of the potential employer. Elaborating them simply and clearly makes your resume stand out from the many others delivered by other job seekers. You wouldn’t believe how many resumes only lists task and duties.

 

Quantify information in cases where it is quantifiable

 

In instances where you are talking about the people you have managed before or your budget, ensure that you include numbers. It is also important where you are describing the number of events that you managed to organize.

Use your experience to show progression effectively

This can be shown by sticking to chronology of experience to put more emphasis on your most recent experience, role, achievements and contributions. You can then show the previous ones in order beginning with newer ones. Sometimes I see people stating other previous experience, only with job titles and dates. Do not do this it makes your resume look weak. It’s best to leave them off the resume as these will not be part of the hiring decision.

 

Do not state a more detailed experience available upon request. (nobody will ever request more info)

Do not state references available upon request (of course they are)

 

Ensure that you show advancement in terms of the number of roles and responsibilities held, contributions and achievements with time. Even if you held the same roles, go an extra mile to demonstrate how you have gone on to undertake larger projects or handling more people or bigger budgets.

If the experience relates sometimes its ok to list a job and have separate sections for different titles you have held. If the previous positions do not add benefits to this new job you are applying for then make the career progression part of a bullet, stating promoted 3 times from … etc.

 

Ensure that you move the “Education” section towards the end of the resume

 

You are now a middle level professional, meaning that you have acquired more skills and expertise in the working world. When you had just acquired your degree, your selling point was your education section. Contrary to that, you now have the experience and you should bank on it more than your education. The employers will be more pleased to look at a resume of a person with skills suiting immediate job than a fresh graduate.

If the education is relevant to the job you are applying for then work it your professional summary instead.

 

Parting Resume Advice for Mid Level Employees

 

You have always heard that the first impression is very important especially when looking for a job. However it is only made once and there is no second chance to make it. Follow the above guidelines and you see the doors of better jobs flinging open. Make your career better by meeting new challenges. How will you make this possible? By making your resume very relevant to the position you are applying for.