WATCH THOSE JOB TITLES ON YOUR RESUME!
Consider what a potential employer looks at first when determining if you are qualified for a position – the job title of your last or very recent position. Job titles are generally supposed to be a ‘one-liner’ that sums up your day to day responsibilities. However, some titles given by employers are not industry standard and may not capture your true duties. Organizations create unclear job titles; that only exist inside THAT organization. Ensure that your resume has a job title that will translate nationwide in the Horticulture and Landscaping industries.
Consider this recent example we came across:
TITLE: TECHNICAL SERVICES MANAGER
TRUTH: IPM AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROLS MANAGER
At first glance, an employer could think “Information Technology Manager or IT” because historically, that’s what Technical Services meant. Your resume could get bypassed. We can’t expect all employers to have the time to be super sleuths; or have the time to read on and examine the summary of job duties. Also, consider that the person reading your resume MAY NOT come from our industry! More and more HR folks are joining our cool Horticulture jobs and Landscaping world; but may come from a different industry all together.
Job titles are quite frankly, a quick overview of your experience before MAKING the resume reader want to look further. Listing an industry standard title after the job title given by your employer helps the hiring manager and/or gatekeeper quickly determine if you are potentially qualified for their open position.
HOW TO OVERCOME AND ACCOMPLISH THIS:
We’re not suggesting you lie about your current job title, we’re suggesting that you list both your official title and the industry standard title or desired title. As in the case above, if you’re in search of your next IPM Manager role, but your actual title was “Technical Services Manager,” we suggest listing the IPM and Environmental Controls title in parentheses next to the Technical Services Manager.
Example: Technical Services Manager (IPM and Environmental Controls Manager).
To learn about other resume errors to avoid, click here. To get more tips and resources, check out the Articles & Videos page at HireHorticulture.com!
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