Creating Accounting Resumes

Different careers – and even different job opportunities – require different resume presentations. Accountants have their own unique needs for resume preparation, not the least of which means they use current terminology, but yet stick with classical styles. A resume should be written to show the accountant’s skills and education.

By Robert Elsenpeter, Star Tribune Sales and Marketing

Last update: September 29, 2008 - 11:57 AM

To show your worth as an accounting and finance professional be sure to include these specific items on your resume.

Show yourself

Software knowledge is a critical factor, says Susan Thomas, division director of Accountemps in Minneapolis. She advises noting the software you know in the body or special skills section of your resume.

Also include information about which projects you've completed and how that brought money into your company.

There are plenty of ways to pretty up your resume, but job seekers - especially accountants - should keep their resumes looking as classic as possible.

"The more standardized the better," notes Thomas. Includes sections such as:summary. accomplishments, attributes and achievements.

The achievements section should be listed in chronological order and include specific contributions you've made.

Education' is important to include and should detail your academics and college work. Don't overlook any special credentials.

"If you're multilingual, include that," says Thomas. "We're seeing a lot of need for multilingual accountants."

She also advises including memberships in professional organizations. But steer clear of including your membership in the local running club or fishing fraternity - keep it professional.

Also, by formating your resume in a tidy, non-fussy fashion, less is likely to be lost when sending it electronically.

You should have the résumé saved, and cleaned up, in two file format. One in Word that can be submitted as a hardcopy, and one in plain text that can be submitted electronically.

"Prepare it to be in plain text," advises Thomas. "Bold and italics don't translate very well electronically."

Clean it up

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants suggests taking a look at your resume and making it over with these thoughts in mind:

Get current on your industry's technology. Technology terms are often used as keywords to filter résumés on electronic databases. If your résumé lacks them, it may never be seen.

And, if you have just been adding to the same old résumé over the years, your early entries may reflect outdated key words.

Robert Elsenpeter is a freelance writer from Blaine.

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