Resume Services: Expert Advice for a Midlife Career Change into Physics

[TMFKAN64]

Anyone have any favorable opinions about resume services that they would like to share? (Either online or in the Silicon Valley area?)

I've never been good at writing a resume... and now that I'd like to make a midlife career change into physics (with my shiny new M.S.!), I think I would benefit from a little professional resume writing assistance.

 

[Cvcompany]

Well there are many online if you Google it under your area, else you can just get a sample from internet and try to do it yourself.

 

[TMFKAN64]

Oh, you can't shake a stick without hitting two resume consultants. That's sort of the problem... not finding one, finding a *good* one!

 

[Astronuc]

If one is graduating or just graduated, then the resume would have some contact information, the degrees and dates, and relevant course work and skills.

When I got my first job, I listed the relevant advanced courses I had taken, the research that I had done, the few papers I had done, and the skills I had developed in computation and programming.

One could offer to send samples of writing, which I did upon request.


I don't think a service is necessary, but I don't know one's situation. As someone mentioned, one could probably find examples on-line. I would imagine that one's university employment center would provide assistance.

 

[TMFKAN64]

When I got my first job, I listed the relevant advanced courses I had taken, the research that I had done, the few papers I had done, and the skills I had developed in computation and programming.

Perhaps I should have underlined "midlife" in my first post.

I have plenty of papers... but only two relevant (physics) ones.

I have years of employment and skills in computation and programming, but no physics experience beyond classwork.

I'm not sure what to include and what to leave out, because I don't want my resume to be dominated by computer credentials when I'm aiming in a different direction. On the other hand, I think I need to say *something* about it.

I'm not a confident writer... that's why I'm looking for professional help.

 

[MATLABdude]

Does your school have one? They're usually at least vetted. My school has one that's rather good (so I hear) and pretty cheap to boot (they're at least partially subsidized by the University). The mileage probably varies from school to school, however.

 

[Andy Resnick]

TMFKAN64, maybe I am missing something, but you haven't said what your desired employment is. As you may know from being in Silicon Valley, resumes in industry are generally scanned and sorted electronically. This means your resume needs to have certain phrases and words in order to make it through the initial cut. Academic resumes are somewhat different that industrial resumes, with emphasis on different features.

 

[Astronuc]

Perhaps I should have underlined "midlife" in my first post.

I have plenty of papers... but only two relevant (physics) ones.

I have years of employment and skills in computation and programming, but no physics experience beyond classwork.

I'm not sure what to include and what to leave out, because I don't want my resume to be dominated by computer credentials when I'm aiming in a different direction. On the other hand, I think I need to say *something* about it.

I'm not a confident writer... that's why I'm looking for professional help.

I participate in the hiring process at my company. I'll review resumes and interview the person that our group hires. When I review the resume, I'm looking for relevant experience.

I look for the academic program, and if the person is a professional, I'll look at the employment history and job descriptions. I want to know if the person has experience with the type of analyses we do, if they have developed analytical models, if they are familiar with the state-of-the-art, and if they have an understanding of the field.

If I was in manufacturing, I'd be looking for the type of manufacturing experience, process development, operational experience, etc.

As Andy Resnick indicated, the resume should be tailored to the type of job in which one is interested.


When our group responds to an RFQ/RFP, part of the response is the resumes of those who perform the work. Mine includes a brief summary of my academic background, a section that describes in general (non-proprietary detail) the relevant projects to which I've contributed (professional experience), and a bibliography of publications. The professional experience can be short or long depending on the scope of work described in the proposal.

 

[TMFKAN64]

Andy Resnick pretty much summarized why I want to talk to a resume professional here... I realize that my resume has to change and be tailored to the type of position that I'm looking for, and I could use a hand adding the sort of phrases needed to make it past the initial cut.

I think that if I am to find a physics-related position (in condensed matter or optics), it's going to require careful salesmanship on my part. My relevant physics experience is rather thin, and while I do have extensive programming experience, it almost certainly does not exactly match what would be required.

The university I attended does have a Career Center, so I'm going to check with them to see if they could provide any assistance, or at least a recommendation to someone who could.

Thank you for your replies!