Be concise and direct
Don’t say “got a better idea of” or “was exposed to” when describing experiences; be specific and detailed – it’s obvious when you’re fluffing. “Mastered the fundamentals of Object-oriented PHP” is much stronger than “was exposed to scripting languages” and gives you a bit of wiggle room if your interpretation of “mastery” and “fundamentals” are different from the person interviewing you :)
Use descriptive, past tense verbs
Example: created, built, established, engineered, and coded.
Lose that silly objective statement…if it’s silly
This is a personal preference, but I find objective statements to be a colossal waste of space. “A hard working individual looking for a marketing position with [Company A].” (Submitted to the recruiter at [Company A]).
No kidding.
That being said, a compelling statement that incorporates your skills, experiences, and abilities might resonate with the person reading your resume.
Put your Education section at the bottom
List your experiences or accomplishments first; we’ll get to your school later. If it’s assumed that you’re qualified for the position to which you’re applying, there’s no need to show off your shiny degree just yet. Focus on sharing why you’re a good fit for the organization and how you intend to add value.
Share something interesting about yourself
Recruiters and hiring managers are subconsciously looking for ways to connect with you. You went to Ohio State University and played Table Tennis? On the off chance that the person reviewing your resume did the same, you’re in good shape :)
A more likely scenario is that the recruiter or hiring manager is a runner, volunteer, piano player, Boys and Girls Club volunteer, or something like that. Don’t paint yourself as a workaholic (unless that’s specifically what the position is calling for); it’s ok (and encouraged) to have a life. You took a year off to backpack across South America? I’d interview you, no question.
List what you’ve accomplished
Don’t just tell what you were involved with or what you learned; share what you’ve done. Sell yourself as a person who achieves results; not just one who works hard.
Use consistent formatting
If you put a period on the end of one sentence (you shouldn’t), put a period on the end of the other twenty-seven sentences. Nothing screams, “I don’t pay attention to detail” like making careless errors on your resume.
Don’t rely on a spell-checker alone
By default, Microsoft Word doesn’t check the spelling of capitalized words. Don’t believe me? Paste EXPERIENCE and EDUCAITON into a Word document and tell me what’s missing.
Have a second (third…fourth…) set of eyes look over your resume before shooting it out. A mistake on your resume is career suicide. I know that sounds dramatic, but proper spelling is a gimme and you can’t afford not to be perfect on paper! It reminds me of a quote shared by one of my teachers many years ago: “No one will ever notice how good a speller you are.”
Your resume should be one page
Fresh out of school, there’s no reason for you to have two and three pages to your resume. Resumes are scanned; not read. You’re not telling your life story. If you’re over 30, two pages is fine.
Honors, awards, and professional accomplishments
Have you been promoted? Show it off. Passed the Series 6 exam? That’s a big deal. You’re a Six Sigma Black Belt? What an excellent talking point. Share your accomplishments!
These aren’t limited to professional accomplishments, either. You went back to school after 15 years and completed your degree? That’s something to be proud of. Brag on yourself a little – I promise it’s ok.
Have a Gmail or personalized email address
[For more information on why YOU need a website (www.you.com), check out this post!] This is another personal preference, but your email address is like a fashion accessory. Believe it or not, it says a lot about the type of person you are. Be particularly careful to avoid listing an aol.com or company.acquired.by.bellsouth.net address.
Why do I say this? It’s all about branding. I manage about six email addresses from my Gmail account and use my Gmail account as the one I give out to everyone, but I have an email[at]williejackson[dot]com address for whenever it’s needed. There are some potential drawbacks related to having a yourname@yourdomain.com address, however: the company you registered your domain through for 27 cents might go out of business. You might move, forget to update your billing address, and have your account disabled/suspended until you fix it. These are just two examples.
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I like this post. I think people should pay more attention to their resumes, given that resumes, for better or worse, are the gatekeepers of Interview Land (or at least the people reviewing resumes are the gatekeepers).
One thing that kills me when I read resumes is font that is too small! It irritates me. I understand small font for the purposes of fitting information onto one page, but at some point (9 point . . . pun intended) things have simply gone too far. I would thus add to this list that a person can and should have more than one resume. It is not necessary to put absolutely everything about yourself on one page — focus on including what each specific target employer needs to know about you. Once you've gotten the employer's attention and gotten an interview, you can talk about whatever you may have left off of your resume face-to-face.
Just my two cents.
Thanks, Nomnso-
I actually love small fonts (and write really tiny), but I realize that the people reviewing my resume and emails might not. Accordingly, I adjust the size of my fonts when I’m preparing a document or email for someone outside of the circle of people with whom I regularly communicate.
Another thing I’m glad you pointed out is that resume bullets should be conversation points; not life stories. People generally aren’t very strategic when it comes to writing their resumes.
I found that there are a couple of things that really increase the chances of getting a job, even now with an economic recession the basic rules still apply.
* Use Titles or Headings That Match The Jobs You Want
* Use Design That Grabs Attention
* Medium Size Resume and The Use Power Words
* Identify and Solve Employer’s Hidden Needs
* Sell the Benefits of Your Skills – it should be pretty obvious for the employer why not hiring you would be a loss for their company
I think you nailed it. The two I most appreciate are:
and
Excellent additions – thanks for your comment!