Finally, we’ve made it to part five in this five-part series on transferable skills. Phew! Make sure you’ve tuned in the parts one, two, three and four so you can maximize what I’m writing about here in the last post on the topic (for now).
Believe it or not, conveying your skills on a résumé actually takes some skill. Chances are, though, you’re equipped with that skill.
Way back when I was a teenager, a résumé was a summary of work you’d done, with (at most) a little job description of what you did at which position. These days, the trend in résumés is to speak about your accomplishments at your job. It’s not enough to just describe what you did–you’re supposed to talk about what you achieved. Yeah. I admit, it’s a little barf-worthy for academics to undertake this kind of exercise. But hey, if it gets you a job, it’s worth it, right?
Let’s take your teaching background as an example. You’re going to list it on your résumé, and it’s only going to take up one line. Not one physical line, necessarily, but unlike your scholarly CV, you’re not going to list every single course you ever taught. You’re going to gather them all together into one listing on your résumé, something along the lines of:
2003 – 2009 Course director, Hellfire University (Introduction to Mental Gymnastics 101, Theories on Wankery 205, Shallow Scholarship 303)
Then, underneath that, in about 4 to 6 bullet points, you are going to use the skills-based language that you’ve been working on, but framed in terms of accomplishments [insert any necessary gagging here].
You’re NOT writing a job description (“Taught three years of intro to poli sci”) and you’re not just writing out the skills you used (“Used Power Point in classes”). You’re writing out what you accomplished in that position in language that is very specific, illustrative and, perhaps most important of all, speaks to the skills called for in the job for which you’re applying.
For example, if you’re applying for a job that specifically calls for someone with strong written and verbal communication skills, you can illustrate that you’ve got those skills in your teaching section by saying stuff like:
“Responded to students’ coursework with extensive written and oral feedback that was timely, relevant and emphasized course curriculum.”
“Planned and executed lively, engaging one-hour lectures on a weekly basis to groups of 150 first-year [that’s Canadian-ese for “freshman”] students, including a 10-minute segment when students could ask questions.”
NB: Résumés, apparently, loved numbers, and the more of them that you can sprinkle in, the better.
Got other résumé questions? Not sure how to slash and burn your CV in order to come up with a résumé? Email me or leave a comment and I’ll compile your queries into a future post on résumé-writing. Or you could be quick and greedy and hire me to help you out with your résumé. You choose.
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All of you should start thinking of a professional designation. The tenured faculty who exploit you think you are too hung up to ever leave. There are lots of opportunities out there that are well-paid, challenging and require professional qualifications. We will be short of accounting, actuarial and finance prodessionals for many years to come. Law is a good option. There are medical alternatives – if young enough Med School – if not Nurses are earning $ 90,000. There are many ther opportunities in health sciences – don’t get hung up on M.D. Before I completed a Ph. D. in Economics, I was a math teacher. I returned to it and I never regretted it. Fed up with university politics, just plain snobbery and exploitation – Make the move. Start looking at other opportunities. If you want to you can teach at the university part-time, besides maybe the universities can hire retired politicians too.
I think Graham Corke missed the point! Take a look at your transferable skills.