New body-now new resume' and new job.

[jame]

As I posted last week, I had back surgery 1 week ago, and it feels like success! This is first and foremost. I have my LIFE back!

Soon, I need to redo the resume and find a real job. My broken body has been forcing me to take a position that is well below my true abilities, but that's about to change. Now I have some challenges before me:

1. I'm 53. It's not time to turn me out to pasture yet, but a spring chicken I'm not.

2. I'm geographically limited. I farm part time with my Dad here, and will eventually take over our (smallish) operation. I can't take the land with me.

3. The economy. Not a big concern here, at least not yet. Unemployment is very low.

Now, the resume'. It's time to do it again. I look up "resume' trends" and I get "blah, blah, blah branding, blah, initialization, blah,customized implementation process. blah, customer performance tracking, blah blah industry analysis, assigned projects. blah, blah...."

Yeah. While I have done that stuff, my problem is that it isn't me. I like to network. I talk to real people. I find out what they are and what they do. I like to keep it real. I love working with younger folks. They have the fire most guys my age do not. And I don't want to build myself up to be something I'm not.

I'm layin' myself open to constructive criticism, guys. Show me how to do a resume'.

[wvtarheel]

Congratulations on the successful back surgery. A lot of folks that have back surgery don't have great results so I'm glad to hear yours went well. Especially if you are a farmer since your back is part of your livelihood.

I review resumes all the time at my job - not sure if you are looking for specific advice or general, so here is a bunch of random stuff.

Modern resumes are only one page. Maybe at your age you need to go into a second page, but usually if I read one and someone has 10 pages of crap on it, I don't focus in as much as I do on shorter resumes. Don't include anything political, religious, not even gun related. You never know who is reading your resume.

Stick to facts and not opinions of yourself. For example, don't put "hard worker" or "driven to succeed" - it sounds like BS. Instead, go back through your work history and put a couple of examples of things you have accomplished that demonstrate what a hard worker you are. Under "Employed by Smith Company" add a bullet point that says "Worked overtime whenever requested" - you are saying "hard worker" but doing it through a fact instead of an opinion. Your description of your strengths in your post above tells us what kind of person you are - now you need to translate that into factual work experiences you can put on a resume.

Try to use lots of action words, active voice not passive voice.
For example, you would not put "had supervisory authority over entire gun department" you would write "Supervised entire gun deparment." Instead of "has experience with microsoft word drafting documents" put "operated microsoft word to draft documents." Start each sentence with the action word when you can.

One more comment because of your age, when I read the resume of someone in their 50s (I'm in my 30s) I always worry about how technologically savvy they are. Be wary of that, you will get more questions about it in an interview than a 25 year old.

Most important tip: Read it over forwards and backwards about 100 times, have your wife or a friend read it. Find all those typos. Sounds nit picky but a misspelled word or extra comma might make someone think you have poor attention to detail.

Hope this helps, hope it wasn't too general.

[Atlas]

In my experience, resume styles and format depend somewhat on the business area and/or profession.
Perhaps you could share a little about where you're aiming?

Good to hear that your surgery looks successful.
Best of luck to you going forward!

[jame]

Thanks guys. I'll answer your questions as succinctly as possible:
I do have a definite mechanical bent. I also spent a great deal of my previous career in purchasing, as numbers are strong for me as well.

The process of moving product from manufacturing to final sale has always intrigued me. Everything from production line quality improvement, to advertising, to customer service, to the final sale and followup. Doing what it takes to bring success to a business just flat out sets me on fire. I love it. Degreed with honors in marketing, with a definite flair for micro economics.

The technology thing does have me concerned, and I've done my best to stay with the curve as best I can. Mac desk top, multiple tablets and smart phones litter the house. I do some PS3 gaming with my grandson as well. I know that this stuff isn't exactly writing code, but I just wanted to maintain a little fluency.

Ag is obviously huge with me.

wvtarheel, that is some great advice, and I'm going to gobble that up. Smack me around how ever you want. I'll be printing that.

Thank you!