PersonalWriter.com: Resume Tips


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Tip 1: First Impressions - Catch Your Future Employer's Eye

The first impression created by your resume or CV is immeasurably important and may ultimately mean the difference between having your document thoroughly perused by a potential employer or simply tossed into a nearby wastebasket. Most resumes or CV’s receive only a quick, cursory glance initially. Research has shown that most recipients of resumes or CV’s make rapid decisions regarding the potential value of a resume or CV within the first 30 seconds of examining it. Therefore, the initial 30-second impression your own document creates is vitally important to you and your future career aspirations. But how exactly should you go about achieving that eye-catching and powerful first impression?

Tip 2: Formatting - Create the Winning "Look”

Keep your resume or CV to no more than two pages. Avoid presenting your document in a one and a half-page format, as this often gives the impression that your background lacks substance, or that you have relatively little information to communicate about yourself. With careful and imaginative formatting, however, you will usually encounter little difficulty in arranging your resume or CV in a two-page presentation.

Always make absolutely sure that your resume or CV is professional in its overall appearance. Sloppy or inconsistent typing or formatting should most certainly be avoided, as typing errors or formatting inconsistencies will inevitably ensure that your resume or CV is quickly discarded in the office wastebasket. Use a laser printer and white, buff, or pale grey high quality bond paper. You may perhaps believe that a brightly colored, artistically rendered resume or CV attracts positive attention. Quite the opposite is true. Successful resumes or CV’s are almost always conservative and business-like in overall appearance. Unusual, brightly colored, or decorative renditions would only be appropriate where an applicant were seeking work in the creative arts.

However, the overall appearance of your resume or CV should always be pleasing and visually attractive. This means that you should use a simple, clear font and that the information conveyed should be organized under clear, visually accessible headings. Excessive wordiness won't help you. Keep your resume or CV brief and to the point. Ensure that the reader's eye observes enough "white space" on each page, as this helps the reader to navigate blocks of text much more readily.

A reader will continue reading far more often where navigating the text is easily accomplished. Crowded, tiny, or ornate text is less attractive and therefore more often rejected or ignored.

Tip 3: Organization - Include a Brief Summary of Your Qualifications

It's often a good idea to include a brief summary of your qualifications and objectives right at the top of the first page of your resume or CV, as this gives the reader an immediate understanding of both your “value” as a potential employee and the nature of the work you are seeking.

Ensure that each section of your resume or CV is clearly visible to the eye, and that sufficient “white space” precedes or follows each title. Assist your reader to navigate your text by supplying clear visual clues, such as bolding, underlining, and highlighting wherever appropriate. The use of bullets often helps make text more accessible and readily understood. However, always be scrupulously careful that you remain consistent with your use of bolding, underlining, or bullets. Any inconsistent use will imbue your document with a non-professional, “home-grown” appearance. Be careful to maintain consistent margins and spacing throughout your entire document. You may be surprised how easy it is to make small but glaring errors regarding the consistency of margins and spacing. Be especially attentive to your page-break formatting. Experiment with final formatting so that you begin your second page with a heading, while at the same time ensuring that your first page does not appear incomplete or “empty” in any way. Experimenting or reworking final formatting is essential to the overall appearance of a winning resume.

Remember, too, that employers expect the length of a resume or CV to reflect the level of the position being sought by an applicant, and that lengthy, wordy documents do not impress potential employers.

Tip 4: Chronological Details - Organize Your Information

Clearly label each and every section. Place your most positive or persuasive information in earlier sections of your resume or CV. This will more likely attract the reader's attention and ensure that he or she will continue reading your document.

Always list your most recent work experience at the beginning of your resume or CV, and then work backwards chronologically as you list your remaining work experience. No employer is very interested in lengthy work history that dates back more than ten years, or in early post-high school employment that has little or no bearing on your current career aspirations.

However, do include early experiences, awards, or affiliations that in some way connect to your current application. Otherwise, keep your information relatively current, as current or recent information is of most interest to a potential employer. Be sure in all cases to place the greatest emphasis on recent work experiences.

Tip 5: Hard Data - List Your Accomplishments and Your Strengths

1. List your accomplishments and strengths clearly and concisely. Remember: avoid wordiness. List each of your career accomplishments. Be as specific as possible. Wherever you are able, provide “hard data”, such as dates, numbers, percentages, or dollar amounts. Hard data supports your claims and impresses employers. When you are describing your accomplishments, use concise, powerful, and vivid language.

2. List all the responsibilities that you assumed in your more significant employment roles. Do not confuse responsibilities with accomplishments. Be specific about each.

3. Clearly state your career objective - preferably at the top of the first page of your resume or CV. A statement of a career objective often precedes a brief summary of qualifications. Both pieces of information customarily appear at the top of the first page of a two-page resume or CV. If your stated career goal is an obvious change of course, briefly follow with a concise list of previous work experiences that would feasibly support such an obvious change.

4. Ensure that the information you include in your resume or CV is pertinent to the position you are seeking. This means that you must consider each piece of information that you choose to include, and that the selected content is truly relevant to the specifics of the career you are seeking. Include awards or affiliations that are pertinent to the position you are seeking.

Tip 6: Personal Details - Avoid Mentioning Private Details

Avoid mentioning personal details about your life, interests, or relationships. These details are rarely pertinent to an individual's professional career choice. Do not mention your ethnic background, as this might invite unfair discrimination and ultimately work against you. Do not include personal information about your gender, height, or weight. Again, this information might invite unwarranted discriminatory evaluations. Do not include information regarding your marital status, unless this information would benefit your application. Do not mention religious, political, or other affiliations.

Never lie or include misleading information. Lies and misleading content will inevitably create problems for you later. Do not overly exaggerate your accomplishments or the extent of your responsibilities. Be truthful but positive in the way your present yourself.

Tip 7: Customization - Avoid Using a “One Size Fits All” Résumé

Never be lazy and take short cuts when preparing a resume or CV. Avoid using a “one size fits all” resume or CV that you repeatedly use for numerous job applications. Update and rework your resume or CV for each position that you apply for. Never assume that your existing resume or CV will prove appropriate for each job you seek, even where those positions are relatively similar in nature. Take the time to rework your resume or CV so that it clearly and accurately reflects the specifics of the position you are seeking. Tell each employer exactly what you have to offer him or her. Target each company or organization that you are seeking employment with, and reword each and every resume or CV that you submit in order to attract the attention of each unique employer. The extra effort will pay off eventually.

Tip 8: Language - Employ a Fluid Writing Style

1. Make sure that your content is fluid and sequential. Do not present information in a non-sequential or illogical way. Have information flow in a meaningful and interconnected way.

2. Do not present information in lengthy paragraphs. Do not use complete sentences: instead use note form and bullets where appropriate. List information under clearly identified headings.

3. Use strong, powerful, vivid descriptors and highly active verbs. Avoid excessive, wordy, or “flowery” descriptors.

4. Use abbreviations that are common to resumes or CV’s, such as K for one thousand, M for one million, and MM for one hundred million. Avoid abbreviations that are not readily recognizable, or initially introduce such abbreviations with the full titles that they represent.

5. Do not use the first person voice (such as “I” or “me”), as this appears unprofessional and unsophisticated.

6. Make sure that every word you use is effective and telling. Never include repetition as a filler. Be succinct and assiduously brief, but at the same time use descriptors and verbs that are powerful and action-oriented.

7. If possible, avoid changing your verb tense. Staying consistently with either the present or past tense gives your work greater fluency and more consistency.

8. Use an active rather than a passive voice. Most spelling and grammar checkers will alert you to an inappropriate use of the passive voice.

9. Employ positive, “power” language. Avoid negative terminology.

10. Stay consistent and remain focused on your overall theme. Keep all your writing and each of your statements pertinent to your application. Make sure that every word you choose is meaningful and effective.

11. Ensure that there are absolutely no typing, spelling, or grammatical errors in your finished document. Such errors are guaranteed to place your resume or CV in the reject pile. Use a spelling and grammar checker as part of a word-processing system. Ask a friend or a family member to proof read your work. Proof read your own work on later or successive days. (Proof reading immediately after the writing process is usually less effective than proof reading at a later date.)

Tip 9: Conclusion - A Summary of the Tips That Will Ensure Your Resume Receives Attention

1. Organize your document carefully and logically. List clear and concise information under equally clear and concise headings. This way all the facts that you are presenting will be readily accessible to the reader.

2. Be concise and brief, never wordy.

3. Have your resume or CV brim-full with accomplishments. Never include any information that may be perceived as negative.

4. Ensure that your resume or CV is pertinent, to the point, and consistently relevant to the job you are seeking. Include no repetition and no fillers. Assume your reader is intelligent, and that he or she is adapt at recognizing repetition and unnecessary detail.

5. Exclude personal information (even recreational or hobby activities) unless such information is relevant to the position you are seeking.

6. Keep your document professional and business-like. Do not mention sex, marital status or family details.

7. Do not include information regarding your religious or political affiliations. Include such information only where it is relevant to the position you are seeking.

8. Make absolutely sure that your finished document is impeccably formatted and that it employs consistently flawless language. There should be absolutely no errors in the finished document.

9. Create a resume or CV that is interesting. No employer is motivated to read a boring, repetitive, or pedantic resume or CV. Bland resumes or CV’s do not attract attention. Positive, powerful, and interesting documents arrest the attention of potential employers.