Resume Tips

A good resume is an important element in the employment process. It gives the prospective employer a first look at who you are and what you can do for a company. Typically, an introductory cover letter should accompany the resume when it is sent to a company.

Your goal is to make the resume easy to read, concise and convincing. Look at it as your initial marketing tool. With some luck, your resume and letter will result in an interview. Here are a few tips to help you put it all together:

• Reveal Your Best. Look at a resume as a sales prospectus, and you are the product. Be sure to include information on the biggest and best things you have accomplished – and don't be modest. Remember that your resume is NOT a job application, official personnel document or confessional.
  

• Write your "Objective." The objective is a clearly stated goal that shows a sense of direction. Without it, employers are at a loss as to what you are really looking for in a job. Keep your objective short and to the point, and put it up front in the resume. If you have several different objectives, write a separate resume for each.
  

• Outline your accomplishments. Use specific terms and give details about your major accomplishments. Generic terms like "I manage people well" are less effective than "supervised 37 employees in telecommunications sales."
  

• Be honest. Be sure your resume is down-to-earth and factual. You must be able to justify and explain in person everything you have included on the resume.
  

• Make a good impression. Employers are often impressed with PAR statements (problem-action-results) that describe how you corrected a problem in your company or completed a project with beneficial results. An example might be: "Redesigned telecommunications network to speed connections and improve reliability; saved $140,000 in the first year of operation."
  

• Choose the right length. Resumes can be kept brief for applicants with a fairly short work history. But individuals with extensive experience and accomplishments should use the space they need to describe their experience and skills. Forget about rules you may have heard that say you should limit your resume to one page. Keep your information short and to-the-point, but do the job right and take the space you need. Resumes rarely exceed two pages except in the case of executives.
  

• Put things in the right order. A standard chronological resume is the most widely preferred style by employers. It is best if your last job provided the most relevant experience to the one for which you are applying. It's easy -- list your most recent employment first, and describe your experience under each employer. If you are changing careers or have a scattered work history, then a functional resume might be better. List achievements first, separate them into several categories, and then add the employment section with minimal descriptions. Functional resumes often run longer than a page, so be sure the most relevant sections are on the first page.
  

• Bridge the gaps. If there are gaps in your employment history, try to explain them in a positive way, such as "maternity leave and family management" or "world travel and study." After all, gaps are gaps.
  

• Dodge the "hopper" image. If you have held a number of short-term jobs, you can avoid the appearance as a "job hopper" on your resume by combining several jobs into a single entry. For example, "1997-99: Store clerk; K-Mart, Rite-Aid, 7-Eleven." Consider dropping the least important jobs, but include any that provided relevant experience to the position for which you are applying, regardless of their length.
  

• List summer jobs neatly. To keep a resume neat, students can represent seasonal jobs by the actual season. For example, use "Summer 2000" instead of 6/00 to 9/00. Then consider using the combined entry as described above.
  

• Include incomplete education. If you don't have your degree or credentials yet, describe what you are doing, such as: "Virginia Commonwealth University, Psychology major, Bachelor's degree anticipated May 2003."
  

• Leave some things out. Keep your resume focused on skills and experience rather than your favorite pastimes like snorkeling or snowboarding unless the activity is clearly relevant to your job objective. The same thing is true for ethnic or religious affiliations.
  

• Watch the jargon. It is important to include certain technical terms in your resume to let potential employers know your knowledge of their industry. However resumes packed with buzzwords are not the most effective means of communicating your skills and knowledge. The goal is to convey who you are professionally and give a potential employer an idea of what you may be able to do for him/her.
  

• Prepare carefully. Although your resume's content is most important, resumes also need to have a good appearance. Amazingly, some employers still receive sloppy, hand-written resumes. If it is difficult to read, some recruiters or executives may not take the time to wade through it. Your resume typically is the first thing an employer sees from you, and first impressions count. So be sure your resume features a clean layout with some white space between sections. Use short to medium sentences with bullets. Use good quality paper in plain or ivory color, and select printer fonts that are common and easy to read. If you are not comfortable with developing your own resume, get the help of a skilled writer or a service that specializes in developing effective resumes.

On-line Resumes

It is not necessary to develop a different resume for the Internet or scanning purposes. You only need to alter the presentation format. A well-written resume will contain all of the necessary keywords to attract attention whether it is being read by a hiring manager, scanned and searched in a management system or indexed on an Internet site.

Here's a few guidelines for submitting resumes on the web: 

• Always send a text version of your resume in an e-mail response unless it is clearly indicated that you can attach a word file, such as one created in MS-Word or Word Perfect. Unless otherwise instructed, be sure to include a cover letter in the same e-mail. Test your submittals by sending an e-mail to yourself with the full data included. This will help you identify any formatting problems before you start sending it out to possible employers.
  
  
• Some positions advertise online but do not accept resumes via electronic mail, so read all instructions carefully.
  
  
• Remove bullets, italics and other highlights and save the file to plain text, sometimes called ASCII, Text Only, or DOS text. Instead of bullets, use asterisks (*) or plus signs (+) at the beginning of lines. For lines, use a series of dashes to separate sections. Don't try to underline text. If you need to use bold text, consider capital letters or use asterisks to surround the text.
  
  
• Keep copies of the files on a diskette or your computer's hard drive so they are ready to edit, print, or email whenever you want.
  
  
• Use caution. Posting your resume on-line essentially makes it a public document and it is out of your control. If you are concerned about having your address on the web, consider renting a post office box during your job search. Also, many employers and recruiters still prefer to contact applicants by phone, so carefully consider whether or not to include a telephone number on your resume.