Click here to read a detailed description of the CAD / Drafting resume book.

RESUME WRITING TIPS FOR CAD / DRAFTING POSITIONS
Like any other field, people in CAD / Drafting positions, or who are just entering the field, need to market the full range of their skills. Employers want drafters who not only have good drafting skills but can also demonstrate they can deal with other departments, solve problems, train other staff and handle responsibility. However, many job seekers in this field do not create resumes that prove they have skills in supportive areas or show how past experience relates to and can be used in drafting positions.

Now let’s look at an example that illustrates this problem and how to solve it. Richard had been been a PUD Auditor, Computer Draftsman and a Restaurant Manager and had completed an A.A.S. Degree in CAD Technology. He’s been in the $10 an hour range but now wants to move into the $16 to $18 an hour range. Below is an abbreviated section from his before resume show in red. If you were an employer wanting to hire a CAD Drafter who can support a staff of engineers, how convinced are you of Richard’s drafting and departmental support skills?
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PUD Auditor - MSE Corporation
Plotted service locations for Boise / County PUD customers and audited power pole and transformer attributes.

Kitchen Remodel Design - Buckley Design Group
Projects include kitchen design and electrical schematic overlay.

Restaurant Manager - Godfather’s Pizza Inc.
Developed sales forecasts and quarterly budgets.
Responsible for staffing and training program development.
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Now let’s look at an abbreviated section from the Richard's after resume. Which resume will result in more interviews and higher salary offers for Richard?
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AutoCAD Draftsman - Buckley Design Group
Utilized AutoCAD to draft commercial kitchen layout and electrical schematic overlay. Developed kitchen floor plan from sketch and appliance specifications.

Computerized Drafting / Plotting - PUD Auditor, MSE Corporation
Utilized microstation program to draft, plot and inventory attributes for 4,000 service locations, created over 800 computerized geographical information system maps.

Project Management / Customer Service - Godfather’s Pizza Inc.
Managed operations and annual sales in excess of $670,000, supervising customer service for over 4,000 clients per month. Developed and implemented special projects which increased revenues over $40,000.

Project Management / Customer Service - Godfather’s Pizza Inc.
Managed operations and annual sales in excess of $670,000, supervising customer service for over 4,000 clients per month. Developed and implemented special projects which increased revenues over $40,000.
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If you have extensive experience in the CAD/Drafting/Engineering field and are seeking positions in the $30,000 to $70,000+ range, then I recommend my newest resume book, Proven Resumes: Strategies That Have Increased Salaries. It is written for higher income and experience levels and includes over 2,000 skills and skill lists for 40 industries including Engineering / Drafting. If you're in this higher salary range, I recommend that you supplement Proven Resumes: Strategies That Have Increased Salaries with the CAD / Drafting resume book as it will provide you with resume examples written just for your field. To read a detailed, section by section description of this book click Proven Resumes Book in the left hand column.

If you are a recent graduate from a CAD or drafting program with limited experience in this field, then I recommend that you purchase the CAD / Drafting resume book titled - 6 Easy Steps to Create Resumes and Cover Letters for CAD / Drafting Students. This book works well for job seekers who are recent graduates and need to learn how to market their CAD/Drafting training and combine it with past work experience to land positions in the $12 to $18 range.

All of the resume, cover letter, thank you letter and scanned resume examples in this booklet were written strictly for CAD / Drafting positions up to $32,000+ range. It contains 78 skill headings, skills and 40 sample sentences for the CAD / Drafting field to make creating a resume much easier along with skill lists for 20 other industries.

The CAD / Drafting resume book opens by analyzing three sets of full-length resumes and teaching you how they were improved. It then takes you through 6 easy steps to create your resume and provides detailed step by step worksheets that guide you every step of the way.

The first step is to help you list all of your skills and skill lists are provided for 12 of the most common career fields (this allows you to market both your technical skills and skills gained from other fields besides CAD / Drafting). In the second step, you're then guided in determining if skill headings or job titles will market you the best. Many job seekers have titles that are unrelated to the jobs they want. In this instance, they are better off marketing skills.

In the third step, you're shown how to analyze want ads to identify keywords and experience employers want and are shown how to incorporate them into your resume. In the forth step, you decided which titles and skill headings you've developed are the best match for the ad - you then use these in your resume.

In the fifth step, you begin describing each skill heading or job title you'll use in your resume. To supplement this step you're provided with 12 Questions to help you fully describe your skills as illustrated by the last example in red above.

In the sixth step, you complete your objective, employment and education sections. Again, you're provided with worksheets for each step and examples of how to complete each section of your resume are included.

Two examples are provided that show you how to target your resume for specific positions. Targeting your resume often makes the difference between landing or not landing interviews.

You are also provided with full-length before and after cover letters and you are shown how to analyze ads to develop powerful keyword headings for your cover letter paragraphs. After the cover letter section you are provided with full-length thank you letters. The thank-you letter examples will show you how to remind the employer of your top skills and to market additional skills not mentioned in your resume or during an interview.

The last four pages of the book cover how to convert your nicely formatted resume into scannable and ASCII format.