Victim of Bernie Madoff Needs Resume Help

A victim of the Bernie Madoff scandal needs to return to the workforce, and he wants to know how to handle his failed retirement on his resume. Can anyone with experience in the world of Wall St. and financial services add to this advice for him?

Should I Mention Bernie Madoff on My Resume?

Eight years ago I retired early. I am re-entering the workforce because a major portion of my assets were invested with Bernie Madoff. Before I retired I was a CFO of a mid-size company. Should I include an introductory paragraph in my resume, or use the objective statement to explain why I am returning to the workforce? I fear that without such information, someone reading my resume will see the eight-year gap of real work and chuck my resume.

During the period 2002 to the present I did some minor consulting work and participated in some entrepreneurial activities. Nothing of real significance but certainly enough to state that I've been working as an Independent Accounting Professional and Consultant. Prior to retiring I worked as CFO/COO for mid-sized corporations in the managed care industry. My goal is to attain a similar position.

How do I let the reader know that my recent eight-year span was an intentional sabbatical from the corporate world -- not a period of unemployment because no one would hire me?

From the Desk of Susan Ireland
I see two parts to this situation:

1. How to present this unemployed period on your resume in such a way that it gets your foot in the door for an interview.

Don't mention Bernie Madoff at all on your resume. Your personal finances are your business, nobody else's. Simply refer to your Independent Professional Accountant experience for that time of retirement, perhaps citing a few specific projects or clients if they are noteworthy. Write confidently and unapologetically about your consulting so the prospective employer with view it as a valuable addition to your corporate experience.

2. How to talk about that time once you're in the interview.

If pressed for an explanation, say that you retired in 2002, and then became an Independent Professional Accountant as a way to supplement your income. As we all know, the economy has forced many people who were in full or partial retirement back into the workforce. Emphasize that you have valuable expertise and many good years ahead of you, which you'd like to offer to an employer.

More Advice from Maureen Nelson, Resume Writer
I agree with Susan completely. Don't mention Bernie Madoff. If they know about your involvement with Madoff, people might think you have poor judgment. On your resume, you could include quotes from your clients.

Are you doing any volunteer work? If so, add that. If not, start right away with SCORE or Taproot. No reason to sit around. Also, float your resume to headhunters who specialize in your area. (Check out Kennedy Information's Red Book for names and contact info.)

Readers, how do you advise this job seeker who needs to transition from retirement back into corporate leadership?

Catch a "Taxi" Job for the Holiday Season and Beyond

In this recession it could take many months for you to get a dream job. During that time you may run low on cash and need to find a job – any job — just to make ends meet. This type of work is called a "taxi" job, intended to carry you over until you get a job that furthers your career. The holiday season is a good time to look for such a temporary job.

Here's an example of how a taxi job worked for one job seeker:

Mark was a Vice President in a major high-tech firm until he got laid off unexpectedly near the beginning the recession. He wanted to stay in the high-tech industry but jobs were scarce, and he wasn't able to find a new job quickly.

To make ends meet, he took a "taxi" job as a sales associate at a high-end men's clothing store. After several months of job searching (while working his taxi job), he finally landed a VP position in a high-tech company.

Taxi jobs come in various flavors.

- Full- or part-time job.
- Contractual position with or without a specified ending date.
- Temporary job gained through a temporary employment agency.
- Seasonal job, such as a retail sales position during the holiday season.

Your resume for a taxi job will likely look nothing like the resume you use for your career goal. It should focus on skills for the taxi job and highlight experience that's related to that type of work. You may even delete information that makes you look over-qualified or that's not relevant to your taxi job.

More on short-term jobs:
10 Companies Hiring for the Holidays
Turn Holiday Job into Permanent Employment
Current Job Not Relevant to Job Objective

Part-Time Job Vacancies Look Pretty Good

Looking for a part-time job isn't such a bad idea these days. In tough economic times, many employers hire part-timers and contractors because they cost less to employ.

If you're on the hunt for part-time work, write a resume that... Continue reading

Unpaid Contract Work on Resume

Question
I have been a certified technician since 2001 and have provided technical services to family, friends, and many other individuals here and there. I don’t have a business license and tax ID, however, that is going to change soon. Can I add this work experience to my resume? If yes, how and where on the resume should this information be expressed?

Answer
By all means, Yes! Whether or not you have a business license and tax ID number, your experience can be listed on your resume.

If your unpaid experience is something you were doing while unemployed, insert it into your Experience section without mention of it being unpaid. You can refer to yourself as "Independent Technician." When doing this, be sure the heading of the section does not imply that everything listed in the section is paid experience. For example, instead of Employment History, say Experience.

If you have no gaps in employment, your unpaid experience can be listed in a separate section called Additional Experience.

In either case, if your unpaid experience is highly relevant to your job objective, and you don't have similar experience listed under your paid experience, highlight it as one of the qualifications you list in your Summary of Qualifications section.

Listing Contract Work on Resume

Question
I have done IT contract work directly for an IT company (Company A) and have been hired by staffing companies (Company B and Company C) to do contract work for Company A. Because all my work was performed at and for Company A, can I list the work history one after the other in a chronological resume and then place achievements after to save resume space, or must I place achievements under each company? I am trying to keep my resume within two pages.

For example:

Company C, (Company A contract, ABCD account), McLean, VA
Desktop Support Specialist (2007 - 2008)

Company A, (Contract, ABCD account), Boston, MA
Desktop Support Technician (2006 - 2007)

Company B, (Company A contract, ABCDI account), Norwell, MA
Desktop Support Technician (2005 - 2006)

Company A, (Contract, ABCD account), Boston, MA
Desktop Support Technician (2004 - 2005)

• Wrote clear, detailed work and resolution information in the Remedy Ticketing System, which provided Help Desk and DSS Department technicians with invaluable solutions to problems and enabled management to easily track asset inventory type, brand, model, serial number, and location.
• Authored several technical documents including checklists, which improved consistency between technicians and reduced hardware and software configuration and installation errors.
• Trained and mentored less experienced technicians and interns by providing on the spot training, tips and troubleshooting strategies.

Answer
On your resume, there's no need to explain exactly how you came to work for Company A each time you took a contractual position there. Your job application is a different animal; on it you'll need to list each "employer" separately as you have done above.

Keep your resume free of unnecessary complication. Try something like this:

2004 - 2008, Desktop Support Specialist/Technician (contractual), Company A, Boston, MA

• Wrote clear, detailed work and resolution information in the Remedy Ticketing System, which provided Help Desk and DSS Department technicians with invaluable solutions to problems and enabled management to easily track asset inventory type, brand, model, serial number, and location.
• Authored several technical documents including checklists, which improved consistency between technicians and reduced hardware and software configuration and installation errors.
• Trained and mentored less experienced technicians and interns by providing on the spot training, tips and troubleshooting strategies.
  

This presentation looks quick and easy to read, is perfectly truthful, and is very impressive. Good luck with your job search!

Resume for Project Work

When the economy tightens up, employers look for ways to trim costs. Aside from laying off workers and downsizing operations, they tend to hire people for whom they don't have to pay benefits (healthcare, social security, retirement, vacation pay... all that good stuff). Here are some examples of consulting resumes. Continue reading...

Resume for Consulting Position

Question
Many engineering companies are outsourcing work that was formerly handled in-house. Payrolls are shrinking, but there are more consulting opportunities out there. If you would prefer a full-time job, but are willing to accept consulting as a way to get your foot in the door, how would you structure your resume?

Answer
Create a job objective statement that says you want to be a consultant (e.g., "Job Objective: Software Engineer Consultant") or one that indicates that you're open to consulting or full-time employment (e.g., "Job Objective: Software Engineer or Consulting Software Engineer").

Listing Self-Employment on Resume

Question
I've been self-employed. How do I talk about that in a resume?

Answer
Whether or not to state self-employment on your resume depends on your job objective.

If you're going for a full-time salaried position and you've owned a business, don't say you owned the business on your resume. In the hiring world, it's often thought that once someone has worked for himself, he'll never make a good employee. Of course that opinion isn't necessarily true, but it is an assumption frequently made by employers, since the self-employed person usually likes being the boss and is driven by profit. A way around revealing your self-employment is to give yourself a job title in your business, choosing a title such as "General Manager" or "Engineer" (instead of "Owner") that supports your current job objective.

On the other hand, if you're asking for a consulting gig, your self-employment might enhance your chances of getting the job since a consultant is frequently a self-employed person who needs to deliver high quality in order to build his clientele. If that's your situation, put down "Self-employed," "Consultant," or "Owner" on your
resume.

Retired and Consulting

Question
I retired August 1, 2006. I have been taking it easy except for one consultation job with the VA (Veterans Administration) in Menlo Park, CA.

Recently I was asked to provide a resume to a U.S. Senator to be a consultant to the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee. My objective is part-time consulting.

How should I cover being a recent retiree (August 2006) in a resume? Would I cover being a retiree under experience or in a separate category?

Answer
by Susan Ireland
I suggest you use a chronological resume. The first entry under Professional Experience should be listed like this:

Consultant, Veterans Administration, Menlo Park, CA, Oct. – Nov. 2006 (or whatever the months were)

After writing a few bullet statements about your work as a Consultant to the VA, list the job that you retired from in August. There’s no need to say that you retired; simply state the beginning and final year of your time with that employer. For example:

Manager, ABC Organization, San Francisco, CA, 1990 – 2006

Leave the conversation about retirement to the interview. If you’ve been asked to submit your resume, the Senator probably already knows that you’re retired and so there should be no problem with your discussing it in person.

Best of luck in your after-retirement consulting gig!

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