This coming Monday, October 21st at 4PM EST, I will be interviewing Lew Bader & Cheri Phillips who Co-Chair The FENG’s Peer Resume Review Committee.

Here’s what we will be discussing

In General:
●    How does the Peer Resume Review Committee work?

Resume Fundamentals:
●    What are the key components of a standout resume?
●    How important is resume length? 
●    Are there different expectations for leadership resumes in terms of content or length?
●    How do you balance providing enough detail without overwhelming the reader?
●    How often should people update their resumes, even if they’re not actively job hunting?

Design and Format:
●    What are your thoughts on resume design? How important are visuals, fonts, and formatting in getting noticed?
●    Are applicant tracking systems (ATS) still a major consideration, and how should a resume be optimized to pass through them?

Experience and Gaps:
●    How should someone address gaps in employment on their resume?
●    What’s the best way to present freelance or gig work? Should it be combined or listed separately?
●    If someone has a lot of job changes in a short period, how should they address it on a resume?

Accomplishments vs. Responsibilities:
●    How can job seekers better highlight accomplishments rather than just listing duties and responsibilities?
●    What types of metrics or achievements should people include if they don’t work in a role with clear performance numbers?

Challenges and Trends:
●    What are some common mistakes you see people make with their resumes?
●    How has the resume landscape evolved with LinkedIn and online profiles? Should resumes and LinkedIn profiles mirror each other?
●    What are some current trends in resume writing, and which ones do you think are overrated or underrated?

About Cheri Phillips:

Cheri Phillips is an operational accounting professional with 25 years of experience in nonprofit organizations, healthcare agencies and professional services firms from Florida to Texas to New York. In 2016, after responding to a post in the Job Leads section of the FENG newsletter, she got her dream job of starring on Broadway. Okay, as she has zero artistic abilities, she stars as the Chief Financial Officer for the Broadway League, the trade association for Broadway.

Cheri holds a BBA and MBA from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida. She is a Florida licensed Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Management Accountant.

Cheri has been a member of the Peer Resume Review Committee since shortly after she received a review from a committee volunteer about 10 years ago. She currently serves as a co-chair of the committee along with Lew Bader, and uses vast experience learned from her own many career moves to help others.

About Lew Bader:

Lew Bader is a finance and operations professional with over 40 years of experience, including key roles in Fortune 500 companies. He joined Counseling In Schools in 2015, where he focuses on enhancing business processes, policies, and technology to better serve the communities the organization supports.

Before joining CIS, Lew held leadership positions at Pearson, including SVP of North American Customer Service, SVP of Global Order-to-Cash, and VP of North American Shared Services. He also served in financial roles at Simon & Schuster, Macmillan Publishing, CBS Educational and Professional Publishing, and Random House Inc.
Earlier in his career, Lew taught third grade in New York City. He holds a BA and MS from Queens College, an MBA from St. John’s University, and is certified in Change Management and is a Six Sigma Black Belt.

Lew currently serves as Chair of the Long Island Chapter of The FENG and co-chairs the Peer Resume Review Committee with Cheri Phillips, where he uses his deep finance experience to guide others through career transitions. He takes pride in his decades-long friendship with Matt Bud, humorously noting that he was likely the last of Matt’s friends to join The FENG in 2014, a connection that stretches back to 1980.