Dear Sam: I am struggling to write about my last job and don’t know why. I have a degree in communications, yet I can’t figure out what to say about what is probably the most impressive job I have had in my young journey. I need to return to work after staying home for two years to be home with my children. Having been both a working mother and a stay-at-home mom, I’ve found “returning to work” even after only two years to be very different, especially given the working environment post-COVID. Although I’m looking forward to returning to work, I’ve gone from feeling unafraid of applying for jobs to being stuck even writing my resume. I truly believe I can’t be the only 32-year-old woman in this position. Can you provide any suggestions after you peek at my resume? – Mom of Two

Dear Mom of Two: Absolutely, I’d love to look at your resume and see how I can provide suggestions to help you head in the right direction as you return to the workplace.

Aesthetics & Formatting

Being that your career has spanned marketing, sales, customer service, and retail management, you can afford to be a little creative in your formatting. As your resume stands, the design does not engage the reader, and the brevity of content does not support the level of employment in which you are interested. Take a look at samples on sites like Nolan Branding for inspiration!

Qualifications Summary

This is the major pitfall of your resume – or lack thereof. You must open your resume with a qualifications summary that showcases what you can offer an employer based on your past experiences, achievements, and areas of expertise. You cannot expect the hiring manager to make a best guess as to what you want to do. With only 4-7 seconds to engage the reader during the screening process, you must open your resume with a summary that answers “why should I hire you?” Develop this section after you have written the professional experience section of your resume, treating it like the opening to an essay or an executive summary of your experience. The summary should contain all the details you can’t afford for the hiring manager not to know while evaluating your candidacy.

Professional Experience

Include only years of employment to minimize the appearance of gaps and frequent job hops. Quantify experiences to add interest to your resume, focusing more on accomplishments versus daily responsibilities. Typically resumes will include about 10 years of experience unless prior experiences enhance your candidacy. Therefore, I question the section at the end of your resume, which, if listed in chronological order, would appear in different places in the professional experience section. Why even have these on your resume if they do not deserve an explanation? As these are all internships that I assume you completed as a part of your degree program, list them within the education section so as not to appear like you have held 9 positions in the past 10 years.

Your resume’s next major pitfall is that you severely lack content, with no focus on achievements. Instead, concisely present your daily responsibilities, realizing that this is not the information that gets you the interview, while presenting where you have gone above and beyond in your career – in other words, what differentiates you from your competitors. You have had some fantastic employers, but that is buried in this paragraph-style format that isn’t engaging to the reader. You can use these points, quantified achievements, and a strong experience summary to sell your career despite potential disqualifiers such as frequent job-hops.

I hope this critique helps get you started in making the appropriate additions and improvements to your resume.

Samantha Nolan is an Advanced Personal Branding Strategist and Career Expert, founder and CEO of Nolan Branding. Do you have a resume, career, or job search question for Dear Sam? Reach Samantha at [email protected]. For information on Nolan Branding’s services, visit www.nolanbranding.com or call 888-9-MY-BRAND or 614-570-3442.