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Hello all,

I recently brought my MT style resume to the Career Center here at Virginia Tech to get some feedback; I was expecting a very positive response on MT's style, but the counselor told me to make quite a few minor changes. What do you all think about the validity of these?:

1) Listing the time frame for each job at the END of the title bit, instead of the beginning.

2) Labelling the list of experience "EXPERIENCE" (which doesn't seem neccessary).

3) Taking space to write out the address of the University.

4) Turning the short sentences of responsibility description into bullets, and putting them AFTER the accomplishment bullets.

ashdenver's picture

[i]1) Listing the time frame for each job at the END of the title bit, instead of the beginning. [/i]

As you saw from my other thread about tenure with employers, I'm a big fan of the first suggestion insofar as the first bit of attention (reading left to right) is on the title rather than the tenure. I would rather the prospective employer focus on what I can DO instead of for HOW LONG I've done it. It's a very subtle, almost subliminal thing, but I would definitely consider this one.

[i]2) Labelling the list of experience "EXPERIENCE" (which doesn't seem neccessary). [/i]

If this person (giving you these tips) didn't suggest labeling the college area as "EDUCATION" then I think this one's a moot point. It's pretty obvious which is which and one without the other would be like an incomplete outline (a glaring[i] faux pas[/i], as far as I'm concerned.)

[i]3) Taking space to write out the address of the University. [/i]

Unless it's Harvard, Yale or UCLA, a smaller, lesser-known college might benefit from some reference of the state or general area. I don't know that I'd go so far as to list out:

[i]Super College
1234 Super College Drive
Super, CO 01234[/i]

I think a simple:

[i]Super College, Super CO[/i]

would be sufficient and wouldn't take up much more space than is already being used on your resume.

[i]4) Turning the short sentences of responsibility description into bullets, and putting them AFTER the accomplishment bullets.[/i]

In this one, I'm somewhat torn. I think hiring managers and recruiters tend to read only the bullet points (10 - 12 seconds per resume!) so I think this person was suggesting that putting the prose into bullets would make that information POP a little more. My concern is that you don't want the hiring manager to get lost in the minutae.

That said, I say stick with the MT format on this one. Let the boring, dry, meat of the job stay in prose format so that, if interested, the hiring manager can read through it to learn more about it. Keep the highlights just that - highlights, something special, something to be paid attention to.