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Because finding a job can be frustrating!
Global Girl Advice on the US Job Search from Abroad:
Now that we are having some better outlooks on the job front in the United States, I thought I could actually write a post like this…
Writing a Resume to Get a Job in the United States:
Yesterday I met with a American friend of mine that lives in Brazil teaching English and doing translations. We decided to do something very American, and go get a Starbucks together. She began telling me about one of her translation jobs for a Brazilian business man who wanted to translate his C/V into English in order to try and get a job in the United States. When the business man asked her to translate the “currículo” (resume), she thought “Of course I can translate it for you,” thinking to herself that this would be a good way to get some easy money translating a page or so long resume that mostly requires translating words rather than wordy sentences.
Unfortunately, she was not aware of the wordiness of most Brazilian C/Vs, and ended up stuck with four pages of every unimportant detail of this man’s work life. This reminded me that every country is different in how they want people to document their skills and work, and so I decided to write a little about what most United States’ resumes look like to help people who want to get a job there.
How to Write a Resume for the United States:
In the United States most people want short to the point resumes. Keep the words to the minimum and the content to the maximum. It really is a challenge. I’m not sure if a jobless girl like myself is even the best person to explain how to write an excellent resume. In my searches for good resources to teach these things, I found that the McKinsey’s company site has a great explanation of resume writing in their careers section. It is the best explanation I’ve found of how to write an excellent resume, especially for people like me who are just entering into the “real world.”
The two key points that I gained from their advices were the following:
- Put your strongest categories at the top of the resume. For instance, if you have spent most of your last years involved in the education system than it is much better to put your education details at the top of the resume. Remember, these people are just glancing at your resume and moving on, and so call attention to your best accomplishments.
- Instead of describing what you did on a day to day basis at each job experience, describe what direct contributions your participation made to the company. For example, instead of putting on my resume, “Did prospecting work for a conveyor belt company,” it looks better to say, “Acquired new accounts worth X dollars by performing prospecting work in Portuguese with Brazilian food companies.”
- Keep it CLEAR and SIMPLE. Have a clean format that highlights your attributes.
Keep the resume to a page?
The page length of resumes is very disputable. I have had some Human Resources people telling me that it is necessary to keep the length to a page, especially for people entering the job market. I have had other HR people telling me that people entering into the job market sometimes need to be more wordy to describe their talents. Without a lot of experience and a simple list of companies where the applicant has worked, it is hard to describe skills in a page. However, no company wants a book for a resume, nor do they want to read long jumbled paragraphs. Keep it CLEAR and SIMPLE.
I also feel that in Brazil getting diploma’s from several courses is always important, and I believe that in the United States it is more important to have the skill rather than have a diploma from the course. So you don’t have to name each and every little course, the years, and the diploma. Unless the course directly relates to the job at hand, just naming the course or the skill I believe is enough. I am not as confident on this point, so maybe somebody with more experience can dispute this.
The Importance of Networking:
In Brazil, one thing that is so important to get a job is who you know and meet. Don’t forget that this is also extremely crucial in the United States. It is really hard to get a job in the US from another country. That is why I suggest to try and meet people in the areas of your work.
Make “informational interviews” with people in several companies to network and get a better idea of what people in your area look for in an employee. Maybe it might even be worth traveling to the US to be able to meet some people. You can find people through the social media network site, LinkedIn, or ask around. The world is small, and people you know who might know people you want to know! There is a New York Times’ blog (that is now discontinued but still interesting) about shifting careers that offers some great information, including a post about informational interviews.
I hope this helps some people. If anybody disagrees with what I say, or has something to add, please let me know! We can start a dialogue out of it!
