Foo - Resume

I'm writing my resume to submit to a company that I'd like to intern for. I feel like I have credentials to get this job, but I'm curious about how much detail I need to go into in the "work experience" section of my resume. For example, I worked at a contract manufacturer of medical devices.
This is an ISO 9001 and ISO 13485 compliant facility. I assisted the production engineer in maintaining, developing, and ultimately manually machining the fixtures from raw material. Material was usually stainless steel, teflon, nylon, delrin, or garolite. I assisted in the documentation of these to maintain ISO 9001 standards.

How much detail of this do I include in my resume? Do I just add an extremely undetailed synopsis and tell it all to the interviewer?

My general rule is that I try to keep it to less than 2 pages with resumes. I basically have a full version, and if I'm sending it to someone, I chop out and edit as I see fit for the given circumstance. Once in a while it might work best to have a ton of details listed as a means to impress the reader, but usually, I would want to consolidate all pertinant information.

I'm writing my resume to submit to a company that I'd like to intern for. I feel like I have credentials to get this job, but I'm curious about how much detail I need to go into in the "work experience" section of my resume. For example, I worked at a contract manufacturer of medical devices.
This is an ISO 9001 and ISO 13485 compliant facility. I assisted the production engineer in maintaining, developing, and ultimately manually machining the fixtures from raw material. Material was usually stainless steel, teflon, nylon, delrin, or garolite. I assisted in the documentation of these to maintain ISO 9001 standards.

How much detail of this do I include in my resume? Do I just add an extremely undetailed synopsis and tell it all to the interviewer?

Don't just list what you did at your previous job. If possible, each description of a job responsibility should include the positive result of your contribution. Managers like to see results. Also, it's okay to guess on certain numbers as long as you're close ("Due to my exceptional organizational skills, we saved $7,000"). Avoid using the pronoun "I" when possible -- it gets repetitive and the hiring manager knows the resume is about you.

Example:

In an ISO 9001 and ISO 13485 compliant facility, assisting the production engineer: maintained, developed, and machined fixtures from raw materials including stainless steel, Teflon, nylon, Delrin, and Garolite. Established new inter-department relationships, streamlined processes, and increased production time by 12% saving our department $19,000.



Incidentally, your answers to interview questions should go the same way. Each interview answer should be a mini-explanation of what you did and the positive result of your contribution (be prepared to elaborate on each, in case the interviewer wants more details): "I [B]improved/built/fixed/managed/streamlined the process/department/machine/Web site and the result was a savings of $1,000,000 in production costs/a new $1,000,000 contract/increased revenue of $1,000,000/a better product that will save the world."

Don't just list what you did at your previous job. If possible, each description of a job responsibility should include the positive result of your contribution. Managers like to see results. Also, it's okay to guess on certain numbers as long as you're close ("Due to my exceptional organizational skills, we saved $7,000"). Avoid using the pronoun "I" when possible -- it gets repetitive and the hiring manager knows the resume is about you.

Example:

In an ISO 9001 and ISO 13485 compliant facility, assisting the production engineer: maintained, developed, and machined fixtures from raw materials including stainless steel, Teflon, nylon, Delrin, and Garolite. Established new inter-department relationships, streamlined processes, and increased production time by 12% saving our department $19,000.



Incidentally, your answers to interview questions should go the same way. Each interview answer should be a mini-explanation of what you did and the positive result of your contribution (be prepared to elaborate on each, in case the interviewer wants more details): "I [B]improved/built/fixed/managed/streamlined the process/department/machine/Web site and the result was a savings of $1,000,000 in production costs/a new $1,000,000 contract/increased revenue of $1,000,000/a better product that will save the world."

I pretty much agree with this. Be descriptive, but succinct. Also, make sure that your work experience bullets all start with an action verb. There are plenty of lists of good ones online. You can play around with these to make your responsibilities sound more (or less) exciting.

Good luck!

My general rule is that I try to keep it to less than 2 pages with resumes. I basically have a full version, and if I'm sending it to someone, I chop out and edit as I see fit for the given circumstance. Once in a while it might work best to have a ton of details listed as a means to impress the reader, but usually, I would want to consolidate all pertinant information.

For people with a less mature career history, it's better to keep everything down to 1 page. This will be hard as you gain more experience, but this really helps managers screen people quickly. Managers at higher-profile companies receive a lot of resumes and generally don't have the time to fully read two pages of material, unless it's a CV and very detailed (and that's generally better suited for companies that require employees with a LOT of academic experience, like R&D facilities).

For people with a less mature career history, it's better to keep everything down to 1 page. This will be hard as you gain more experience, but this really helps managers screen people quickly. Managers at higher-profile companies receive a lot of resumes and generally don't have the time to fully read two pages of material, unless it's a CV and very detailed (and that's generally better suited for companies that require employees with a LOT of academic experience, like R&D facilities).

+1

1 page total unless they require additional information.

Also I believe ISO 9001 is included in the ISO 13485 certification so it may be redundant to say both.

For people with a less mature career history, it's better to keep everything down to 1 page. This will be hard as you gain more experience, but this really helps managers screen people quickly. Managers at higher-profile companies receive a lot of resumes and generally don't have the time to fully read two pages of material, unless it's a CV and very detailed (and that's generally better suited for companies that require employees with a LOT of academic experience, like R&D facilities).

Mine must work pretty well, because when I apply to a company, they usually end up wanting to make me a supervisor.

How much detail of this do I include in my resume? Do I just add an extremely undetailed synopsis and tell it all to the interviewer?

A modern general resume format is as follows:


-------


Summary (No more "Objective" as that's considered old form -- everyone knows your objective is to get a job)

Production Specialist with broad experience maintaining, developing, and machining fixtures using modern processes and working with a variety of raw materials. Assistant Manager with excellent experience motivating a production team and implementing new human resource initiatives.


Professional Experience

Production Specialist 2007-2008
ABC Company - New York, NY


In an ISO 9001 and ISO 13485 compliant facility, maintained, developed, and machined fixtures from raw materials including stainless steel, Teflon, nylon, Delrin, and Garolite. Established new inter-department relationships, streamlined processes, and increased production time by 12% saving our department $19,000.
Maintained regulatory documentation to ensure ISO 9001 industry compliance. Streamlined documentation collection process resulting in a 15% reduction of time spent managing documentation inventory.
Collaborated with department managers and built cross-group relationships resulting in new training initiatives ...


Production Assistant 2006-2007
XYZ Company - New York, NY


...
...
...


Education and Training

ABC University, New York, NY (expected graduation 2009)
Bachelor of Science in ...

Proficient with Microsoft Office 2007 including Outlook, Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Visio ... Working knowledge of ...


-------



The idea is to show several job responsibilities under each employer, and an achievement associated with each of those responsibilities, with the goal of getting you a seat in front of the interviewer.

In case you're asked to elaborate, memorize a deeper explanation for each of your bulleted job responsibilites/acheivements, and think of 2-3 extra situations where you were faced with a challenge, the steps you took to overcome each of those challenges, and the positive outcomes for each challenge because of your actions.

Also, in case you're asked "Describe to me a situation where you made a mistake": Think of a situation where you made a minor mistake, but quickly transition into what you learned from that mistake and how you soon applied that to overcome another challenge.

Also, in case you're asked "Describe to me your greatest weakness": Think of an honest weakness -- don't be too hard on yourself such as "I have trouble getting along with people ..." -- but make it something leaning toward trivial, then describe the steps you've taken to address that weakness and how you've made great improvement.

Just keep it on one page. You're in college so you should not have two pages.

A modern general resume format is as follows:


-------


Summary (No more "Objective" as that's considered old form -- everyone knows your objective is to get a job)

Production Specialist with broad experience maintaining, developing, and machining fixtures using modern processes and working with a variety of raw materials. Assistant Manager with excellent experience motivating a production team and implementing new human resource initiatives.


Professional Experience

Production Specialist 2007-2008
ABC Company - New York, NY


In an ISO 9001 and ISO 13485 compliant facility, maintained, developed, and machined fixtures from raw materials including stainless steel, Teflon, nylon, Delrin, and Garolite. Established new inter-department relationships, streamlined processes, and increased production time by 12% saving our department $19,000.
Maintained regulatory documentation to ensure ISO 9001 industry compliance. Streamlined documentation collection process resulting in a 15% reduction of time spent managing documentation inventory.
Collaborated with department managers and built cross-group relationships resulting in new training initiatives ...


Production Assistant 2006-2007
XYZ Company - New York, NY


...
...
...


Education and Training

ABC University, New York, NY (expected graduation 2009)
Bachelor of Science in ...

Proficient with Microsoft Office 2007 including Outlook, Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Visio ... Working knowledge of ...


-------



The idea is to show several job responsibilities under each employer, and an achievement associated with each of those responsibilities, with the goal of getting you a seat in front of the interviewer.

In case you're asked to elaborate, memorize a deeper explanation for each of your bulleted job responsibilites/acheivements, and think of 2-3 extra situations where you were faced with a challenge, the steps you took to overcome each of those challenges, and the positive outcomes for each challenge because of your actions.

Also, in case you're asked "Describe to me a situation where you made a mistake": Think of a situation where you made a minor mistake, but quickly transition into what you learned from that mistake and how you soon applied that to overcome another challenge.

Also, in case you're asked "Describe to me your greatest weakness": Think of an honest weakness -- don't be too hard on yourself such as "I have trouble getting along with people ..." -- but make it something leaning toward trivial, then describe the steps you've taken to address that weakness and how you've made great improvement.

Prior to retirement, 8 years ago, this is one I would look at - and read!