How to write appealing English resumes -- Dec. 14, 2005
LANDING JOBS AT FOREIGN-AFFILIATED FIRMS
Cultural negotiation key to landing jobs at foreign-affiliated firms
First in a series
By ROCHELLE KOPP
The increasing activity and success of foreign firms in Japan has made them the focus of much interest from job seekers, both Japanese and non-Japanese. Due to their foreign roots, the process these firms use to select employees can be quite different from that of Japanese firms. Not only is the hiring process conducted in English, but the actual steps differ and a different set of cultural assumptions underlies them.
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For those who are considering applying to a foreign-affiliated company, here's a fast test of how well you might fare in the application process. Quick -- what are your top 10 strengths that would be valuable to an employer? You have one minute to answer. Go!
Were you able to do it? Candidates hoping to get a job with a foreign-affiliated company should be able to answer this question easily. One's key strengths should be foremost in your mind and roll easily off the tongue. Yet, for many people in Japan such a question is a very difficult one.
In Japanese society, modesty is highly valued. People tend to downplay their strengths, and instead focus on the areas in which they need to improve. As a result, many Japanese are flummoxed when asked to list their strengths. It's often something they haven't thought about consciously, so they have trouble answering quickly.
For non-Japanese, living in Japan surrounded by the Japanese culture, the question may also be difficult to answer. After working hard to fit into an environment that rewards and encourages modesty and focuses on areas needing improvement, non-Japanese may be out of practice discussing what they are good at.
In a Western-style job search process, the candidate is essentially selling him or herself. When selling anything, it's necessary to make a case for its features and benefits. The three main components of the job search process -- the resume, the cover letter, and the interview -- are opportunities to highlight what makes you, as a candidate, special, and why you are a good fit for the job. This requires an emphasis on the positive, your strengths.
Being overly modest, in a way that would be typical and approved of in Japanese culture, would likely be perceived by Westerners as a lack of confidence. Success in the job search with foreign firms requires being able to be bicultural -- to shift into different modes of "selling yourself" and "tooting your own horn."
Resumes
We can compare a resume to an advertisement -- the goal is to get the reader to respond. People are more likely to buy the product with the best advertising rather than the best product. Similarly, a candidate who makes the effort to create an excellent resume, will find that they, rather than the candidate with the better credentials, will usually get a better response from prospective employers.While it is not necessary to do a hard sell and one should never make false claims, it is very important for resume writers to get over their modesty and be prepared to showcase their strengths.
The Western-style resume is designed to make this possible, as it allows more room than the traditional Japanese-style resume (which lists only basic facts) for expanding on one's experience.
In contrast to the regimented Japanese resumes, the Western-style resume also allows for more flexibility in format, allowing the writer creative leeway in presenting background information.
While the large part of any resume reflects the candidate's past, one's job history, the overall mind-set when writing a resume should be on the future. The focus should be on generating interest, persuading the employer to pick up the phone and give you a call. If a resume is written with that goal in mind, the final product will be quite different than if had it had been written to merely present one's job history.
Statistics on the number of resumes sent for a given job opening vary according to location, industry, and the current economic situation -- some companies receive hundreds of unsolicited resumes each day and others receive thousands of responses for a single job posting.
No matter what the job, it is a near certainty that a resume will be merely scanned, not read. One would like to believe that prospective employers would read one's resume carefully, but this is not always the case.
The average employer will spend no more than 10 to 20 seconds on a resume. What this means is that the decision to interview a candidate is usually based on an overall first impression of the resume, on something that stays with the reader and prompts him or her to follow up with an interview to find out more.
The top half of the resume's first page will either make or break a candidate. By the end of the first few lines, the resume has either caught the reader's interest or lost it.
Getting started
There are four important points to keep in mind when creating a resume:* Determine who is reading the resume
* Make the resume easy to read
* Focus on the reader's needs
* Match the format with the particular situation
Who is the reader?
Whether the reader is a human resources manager, a department manager, or a recruiter, that reader knows what he or she is looking for when going through the pile of resumes.The reader is looking for someone with certain experience, certain skills, and certain training. If the resume doesn't contain it, it will be tossed out. If a resume has what the reader is looking for, that candidate will have a better chance of being selected for an interview.
Ideally, a department manager would see the resume first, thus avoiding the screening process. If HR or a recruiter sees the resume first, it will probably have to pass through a number of "gates" to make the "for consideration" pile.
The first-level gate screens whether the applicant followed proper submission procedures. If a company requests both a resume and a cover letter, and only a resume is submitted, that resume will likely be discarded. If the job posting stipulates that resumes should be submitted by e-mail and it's sent by regular mail, the resume will again likely be discarded. If the requirement is for a one-page resume, and a three-pager is sent, it's likely to find its way to the trash can as well.
The next gate to pass through has to do with general appearance and format. A resume that is crowded, difficult to read, or generally not pleasing to the eye, has little hope of being looked at.
Focus on reader's needs
It is at the third gate that the job's minimum requirements will be matched against the candidate's qualifications. Does the candidate have the right educational background and enough experience? Is the candidate currently employed? Are there noticeable gaps in the candidate's work history? If there were a large number of responses for the job, a candidate will likely not make the cut if even one of the minimum qualifications is missing.Once the resume has passed through the minimum qualifications gate, the candidate will be evaluated against the others who have made it this far.
Which resumes address the company's current needs and offer immediate solutions? Which resumes show promise for future needs? Which show both? Of these, the company may invite the top five candidates in for interviews.
Just as an ad focuses on the needs and wants of the consumer, a resume should focus on the prospective employer's needs. Most resume writers are not thinking about what the reader is looking for; instead, they are thinking about themselves and usually end up writing autobiographies. The reader is not interested in the candidate's life story -- he or she is looking for people who best demonstrate they can do the job available.
The way one can best demonstrate this is to get clear about what the employer is looking for and think what you have to offer before preparing your resume. Candidates should ask themselves what would make the perfect candidate. Jot down your answers on index cards -- one answer per card. Prioritize the cards based on the qualities or abilities you think would be most important to the person doing the hiring. After prioritizing the prospective employer's needs, start with the top priority need and brainstorm about why you are the person who best fulfills the needs in that area.
Write down everything you have ever done that demonstrates you are the perfect fit. Don't limit yourself to work-related accomplishments. Accomplishments outside of work, in hobbies or community activities, for example, may also showcase relevant skills. Cover all possible ways of thinking about and communicating what you do well.
The point of the exercise above is to get yourself thinking enough to see connections between what you have done and what the employer is looking for. What talents do you bring to the market place? What can be offered to the prospective employer? These brainstorming pages will be the raw material for your resume.
Match format to situation
Once the raw material has been generated, candidates need to decide on a format that best highlights strengths and job focus. There are three basic formats for resumes: reverse chronological, functional, and combination.In the next installment, I will describe the different formats and offer examples of each. Deciding on what format to use is an important decision, so giving it some thought is strongly advised.
Rochelle Kopp is the managing principal of Japan Intercultural Consulting (www.japanintercultural.com), a U.S.-based firm with branches in Japan and Europe offering cross-cultural training to both Japanese and non-Japanese organizations.
