Resumes--surviving the ten-second scan.

How will your resume be received? Your beautifully prepared resume may be brutally criticized in a ten-second scan and sorted into the "No Thanks" pile. How can your resume survive this highly critical initial sort? And if it survives the ten-second scan, can it survive a subsequent 30-minute study and result in an interview?

Chemical industry managers are notoriously busy and they often face 80 or more resumes when selecting the top three candidates for interviews. They will look for any excuse to weed you out of the competition. In that ten-second scan they will look for a clumsy cover letter, confused formatting, missing information, a spelling error, poor sentence structure, any lack of clarity, or even inappropriate paper quality. About 30 percent of resume cover letters do not identify the position being sought, and if the employer is advertising multiple positions, you have already confused them. That's your free ride to the "No Thanks" pile.

How can your resume survive the ten second scan? Perfect all the simple elements mentioned above. Select an informative format with a heading, contact information, background, education, experience, and personal interests. Most importantly, create an eye-catching and mind-catching "Accomplishments" section right in the middle of the first page. Don't wait until the second page to share your accomplishments with the reviewer! It is the "Accomplishments" section where a resume gets traction.

The highly productive chemical industry requires achievers who complete projects and are driven by that special sense of accomplishment that comes from a job well done. As a reviewer, it is obvious that most applicants are qualified "on paper," but the "Accomplishments" section tells what they have really done with their lives.

There is a special approach for writing each accomplishment to create a positive and results-oriented impression. Begin with active and descriptive verbs to convince the reviewer that you feel passion and urgency for your work. Include facts, numbers, finances, and an indication of scope in every accomplishment statement. Situate every stated accomplishment and finish with the results of your work. Let's examine a real-life accomplishment statement in the resume I used for my current position.

"Created the project, developed, and commercialized new innovative, energy saving, and environmentally acceptable metal cutting fluids for the North American market. An electrical energy saving of 15 to 20 percent was realized by the customers. Designed and performed the communications, teaching, and training to support these products with industrial users. Reversed the previous five percent per year loss in this business segment to a seven percent per year growth in a $15 million per year business."

Note the descriptive verbs--created, developed, commercialized, designed, performed, and reversed. Facts, figures, and finances are included and are situated in the North American market. The outcome is a reversal of a business loss to a gain, and it is quantified. Your chemical industry resume should include about five major accomplishments that are commensurate with your experience and convey a results-oriented sense of accomplishment.

With careful wording throughout and "Accomplishment" statements on the front page, you will greatly improve the odds of surviving the ten-second initial scan and the 30-minute scrutiny.

Finally, luck does play a role, but keep in mind Samuel Goldwyn's statement, "The harder I work, the luckier I get!"

Don Hewson is managing director and industrial liaison at the University of Western Ontario's Research Park, Sarnia-Lambton Campus, located in one of Canada's important chemical clusters. A frequent speaker on resume and interview skills, Hewson shares his experience as an interviewer during his 28 years at Imperial Oil and ExxonMobil Research, and his experience as a recent interviewee.