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When you are
writing a resume, there is one important thing to always
remember: “Get to the point.” I have seen many, many resumes during
my career in recruiting, and too many of them ramble on and on
about small and insignificant things that a person accomplished
while working in his or her last position, leaving the important
career bullet points lost in the information shuffle. What you
need to understand is that a recruiter will only spend
nanoseconds looking
at your resume. So you need to make a good impression quickly.
However, as for the advice you got from your high school
guidance counselor about doing something special like colored
paper or cute fonts to make your resume stand out, file it away
in the ‘thanks for caring’ file.
Here’s what
I recommend when putting together your resume:
-
Choose
high quality white paper – this will cause your resume to
stand out.
-
Use a
laser jet printer. If you don’t have access to one, some
libraries do have them available for use, as do all retail
print stores.
-
Use
common fonts like Arial or Times New Roman.
-
Don’t
overuse tab stops - some recruiters see this as too
detailed. This can be good if you are designing web sites
or programming code, but not if you are a hunter type sales
person.
-
The
purpose of the objective statement is to express your desire
to find a job similar to the position advertised by a
company. This means that you may have to change your
objective statement to fit that need.
-
A
summary is just that. It’s not a novel. This is where you
write a few of the key accomplishments in your career that
will show a recruiter why you feel you are qualified for the
position and cause them to look further.
-
Keep
your resume to two pages. And this doesn’t mean stretching
the margins either. You need to leave enough space in the
margins so that recruiters and hiring managers can make
notes on your resume.
-
When
writing about your work experience, it is sometimes
necessary to describe the type of company you have worked
for in the past. If so, keep it to a sentence. Your
company description should never be longer than your
accomplishments.
-
Regarding spelling, someone went through the trouble of
designing spell check; so I would strongly suggest that you
might want to use it. In most corporate or staffing offices,
one spelling error will get your resume tossed.
-
Read
your resume aloud. Sometimes things sound differently aloud
than they do in your mind.
-
Read
your resume backwards looking for missing words or bad
grammar.
-
Have
someone proofread your resume.
-
Follow
directions on how to send your resume. There is a reason
that companies request that resumes be sent in ASCII, Word
document, text, or cut and paste. Otherwise, a company’s
resume scanner may not be able to read your resume; and if
it can’t be read by the scanner, the chances are good that
it will get tossed out. In some offices, the recruiters
NEVER see the paper copy of a resume.
-
When it
comes to pictures/portraits, do not include them on your
resume. Leave them for your driver’s license and the
fireplace mantel.
Once you
send in your resume, always be sure to follow up within 24
hours. I know some recruiters might be screaming at me right
now because of my encouragement of what they will perceive as
excess phone calls, but following up is in fact important. And
the good recruiters who control their time appreciate qualified
candidates that will follow up after sending their resume. I
know some of the mega corporations make this difficult; but if
you want a job bad enough, you will find someone in HR to follow
up with. For tips on how to do just that, you can read
FOLLOW UP
SKILLS.
One final
tip: Don’t apply for positions that you are not qualified for.
For example, “I’ve always wanted to try brain surgery...”
Enough said. |
