A resume is like a business letter. It has a format and is a professional document. It needs to be attractive with enough white space to frame the pages. You will spend hours agonizing over your resume and the recruiter will spend 30 seconds looking at it. Make it easy for the poor beleaguered recruiter.
- Use Microsoft Word. If the recruiter has to download the most recent version of Adobe to open your resume, you have lost the 30 second window and irritated the reader.
- Do have a one inch margin on top, bottom and sides of your resume. If your margins are too narrow, the information might not all print on the receiving end.
- Don’t use a template that breaks up your information into little boxes. This looks unprofessional and even if the boxes can’t be seen when the resume is printed, they can be seen on the recruiter’s screen.
- The resume can be two pages. Don’t squish everything onto one page because some guidance counselor in high school or college told you that was the style. In the hundreds of resumes I have worked on, only a few have been one page and this was due to the writer having limited experience or having worked only for one company for a long period of time.
- The resume is not a “curriculum vitae” unless you are a professor or a scientist.
- The resume begins with your name, address, phone number and e-mail address. Choose an e-mail address that isn’t offensive or unprofessional. Don’t put your name and address in as a header because this prints lighter and you do want your name to stand out. Put name, street address, city/state, telephone and e-mail on a separate line in case the recipient is using resume reading software.
- We no longer use objectives. Decades ago, I stopped reading the generic fluff: “OBJECTIVE: A position that meets my needs and is valuable to the employer.” Instead we use a summary to introduce ourselves to the reader.
- Don’t end with “References upon Request”. It is old style and after all who would not give references if offered a job?
- Don’t include personal information such as number of children or marital status.
In the upcoming weeks, I will continue my comments on writing a resume and giving examples.
PLEASE COMMENT
Once again, I would appreciate any experiences, comments or questions that will help other readers. I would particularly enjoy some humorous experiences and success stories. Once a month, I will choose one commenter to contact for a free coaching session.
HOW TO REACH ME
jill@careercoachjill.com
www.careercoachjill.com
FUNNY EXAMPLE FROM A RESUME
OBJECTIVE: "Seek challenges that test my mind and body, since the two are usually inseparable."
http://www.speedygrl.com/resumequotes.html
Thanks to tech guru David Behrens (http://neptunestudios.net), and editor M. C. Pastoret.
