If you decide to tackle writing your own resume, instead of hiring a professional service, there are some important pointers you should follow to get noticed. As the owner of a writing/editing service specializing in resume writing, I've written thousands of top-notch resumes that have helped others land the jobs they wanted. I'd like to share my secrets with you, so that your resume can result in success for you too.
What's Your Style?
Research the various resume styles and decide which one is the best for you - Chronological, Functional, Accomplishment, or Professional. For each position, be sure to list a job title, city and state, and the dates. Leaving out months will keep it less cluttered. If you are entry-level, you may need to include months, until you build experience.
Your resume should be appealing to the eye. Avoid large, bulky paragraphs. Ideally, aim for chunks of print, evenly spaced across the page, so it will be more inviting and reader-friendly. Check all punctuation, spelling, and grammar carefully. Don't rely on your computer to do this for you. Read the resume frontward and backward, and then have someone else read it. Sloppy mistakes are sure to send your resume to the trash.
Resumes do not follow the traditional rules of grammar. They are written in sentence fragments, but punctuated like sentences. Words can be capitalized to stand out. Use bullets to separate each item listed under each place of employment. Try to keep it to five items, if possible. You shouldn't have more than seven bulleted items for each listing. Include “buzz words” - those specific to your profession, as well as general ones, such as problem solving, team player, self-starter, multi-tasker, etc. Often, such words are in the employer's database to alert the reader of a matching candidate.
Begin with an objective only if you are: entry-level, targeting a particular position, making a clear-cut career change, or reentering the work force, following a long period of unemployment. Otherwise, you can leave it out. Next, summarize your skills, length of experience, and any areas of expertise with a profile heading, such as Career Profile, Summary of Qualifications, Professional Profile, Summary of Skills, etc. For all resume forms other than Functional, list your employment in reverse chronological order, followed by your Education. If you are either entry-level or a highly skilled professional, then your Education
will appear first.
Short and Sweet
You have roughly 30 seconds to either grab the reader's attention or have your resume tossed in the wastebasket. There are numerous employers who will no longer read a resume longer than one page. Usually, they are hiring employees in competitive fields and are receiving hundreds of resumes. In order to decide which are candidates to consider, the longer resumes will be discarded. Don't let this happen to you! You don't want to be rejected before you even get your foot in the door. Avoid wordiness. Keep it short and simple. The exception to this rule involves
application for select executive positions, where there is much less competition. In those situations, you may need a second page. Refer to the second page as an attachment. At the bottom of page one, type and center in capitals: SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION ATTACHED OR SUPPLEMENTAL DOCUMENTATION ATTACHED.
Keep It Organized
Try to keep your experience well organized under appropriate headings. Use Additional Experience to reflect work time that is not relevant to what you are currently seeking. You may only need this information as a listing, and can elaborate on the more relevant experience. You may include pertinent information that is over ten years old in your Summary undated, i.e. Earlier experience included the following employment: List your information. Avoid any job gaps and disguise job-hopping, if possible. One way to do this is by using a skills resume, which is called the Functional form. Instead of listing jobs and dates up front, your skills are displayed first. Use three to four skilled areas as your headings, such as Management, Sales, Administrative, Industrial Background, Finance, Professional Relations, etc. Those headings and bulleted lines of information are followed by an Employment History, which is a reverse chronological listing of employers, dates, and job titles.
Spruce It Up
Whenever I'm asked to revamp a resume, the most common mistake I encounter is the tendency to focus on job duties and responsibilities, instead of achievements. Your main work duties should always be included, but you need to dig deeper to get noticed. Stick to four or five responsibilities and then introduce your accomplishments. Ask yourself what has made you most proud or given you a sense of accomplishment or achievement. Include any honors, awards, citations, or positive feedback. Don't forget things like Employee of the Month or other titles, however insignificant they may seem to you. Most individuals are far too humble in presenting themselves. The job market today i
s extremely competitive, and you need to include any information that may give you the edge over another candidate.
Next, ask yourself what would be the most difficult problem you faced that you were able to solve. You're looking for a problem and solution, not something you are currently trying to resolve. Lastly, have there been any new ideas, procedures, or work methods that have improved efficiency, productivity, profits or sales? If so, include that information. If you have figures or percentages for increasing sales, use them. If not, you may still state that sales were improved significantly. Then transform this information into a short, punchy fragmented sentence that contains action words, otherwise known as “power verbs.” These are used at the beginning of each sentence, such as Produced, Coordinated, Established, Systemized, Expanded, etc. Lists of these words can easily be found online.
The Full Package
A well-written resume is not the only requirement for making contact with potential employers. Be sure to include a personalized cover letter. It will serve as a selling tool and will help you get an interview. A cover letter is not required if you already have an interview. However, you should still bring hard copies of your resume with you to hand out, even if you have previously faxed or e-mailed a copy. You will not need a cover letter for any internal position with the company at which you are already employed.
If you have no contact name, address the cover letter to Human Resources Department and the salutation to Human Resources Professional. Make sure it is no longer than one page. In one way, the cover letter is more important than the resume. Since it's the first thing employers see, the cover letter should be written to pique their interest, so they will be eager to read on to the resume - and that brings us to the subject for another article.
