Resume 101 – The Do’s and Don'ts of How to get Noticed (for the right reasons). Part I in our III part Series.

Your Resume:

There is no question, looking for a job is one of the hardest jobs you will ever have.  To make it a little easier on yourself, and the recruiters who may decide your fate by filing your resume in their “No Thanks” box if your resume is too busy or unclear, review the pointers below.  These pointers will not guarantee you a job or even an interview, but they will give you a much better chance of being noticed for all the right reasons.   

1. Get both the name of the company and the title of the job right. Keep in mind, in the current economy, hundreds of people may be applying for the same position.  Many people will be rejected because they simply do not meet the qualifications.  Many people will be rejected because their resume is too difficult to read or understand.  And many people will be rejected because they do not give the impression that they even bothered to look at the company name or job title.  As an example, “Please accept my resume as an official indication of my interest in permanent employment with your organization.”  At least try to give the impression that you have taken more than 15 seconds in applying for a position.  Nothing will get your resume tossed faster than addressing it to the wrong (or no) company, or referencing the wrong job opening.  

2. Proof-read your resume.  Have someone you trust, who reads and writes English well, proof-read your resume before sending it to any companies. “To secure employment where that requires dedication, attention to detail,…”  No thanks. (This was really on a resume I received recently.)

3. Make sure your resume is EASY to read.  Use one easy to read font and make sure it is large enough to read – nothing under 10 point. And no italics, no underlining (bold o.k. but not too much of it).  Unless you are applying for a job in creative capacity (advertising, marketing, graphic arts), keep your resume very simple – no graphics or tables that do not follow a consistent flow. And as silly as it may sound, make sure your name and contact information are easy to find on the resume (best at the top).

4. Follow chronological order.  List most recent to least recent in the companies and titles.  Do not break your resume out by skills unless you are a high-level IT person - it is too confusing and recruiters probably won’t read it.  If you are a recent graduate or do not have a lot of work experience, put your educational experience at the top followed by your work experience.

5. Use Complete Dates. When listing your educational and work experience, use complete month and year dates – otherwise, it looks like you are trying to hide something.  2009 – 2010 could be December 2009 to January 2010, or it could be January 2009 to December 2010.  See the problem?

6. Keep your resume relevant.  It is o.k. to tailor your resume a little bit for a job opening.  “I speak five different languages; have lived on three different continents, but most importantly I boast of experience that spans across the continental USA…”  If you are applying for an international position, that you are able to speak five languages might be really important so go ahead and mention it in your resume.

7. Keep it real. “Recipe for Success: Study while others are sleeping; work while others are loafing; prepare while others are playing; and dream while others are wishing.”  (Yeah, I got this recently, too.)  A recruiter is not going to have any patience for things like this – remember, he or she has a few hundred resumes to read – and this is just silly and arrogant.  Keep to the point. 

8. Objectives – Keep them real.  “To obtain a position where I can utilize my work experience and educational background while gaining new skills.”  or “Accomplished contributor seeking a personal and professional growth opportunity in support of people strategies in alignment with my career intention, to encourage a community environment through inspired leadership.”  (That’s exhausting!) The real problem with these statements is they don’t actually say anything.  How about this, “Seeking Customer Service position”?  Honestly, that’s sufficient.

9. Keep it short.  With only a few exceptions, your resume should not be more than two pages long.  If you do not have a lot of experience, try to keep it to one page but don’t force your resume to be only one page.  A resume with normal margins and in a 10 point font size on two pages is much easier and more desirable to read than a resume in a very small font with no margins. 

10. Special Skills: ‘Social Networking: Facebook, Twitter, MySpace’.  For the most part, these are not special skills.  If you are looking for a job in Marketing, being able to navigate around Facebook and knowing how to Tweet could prove very useful.  But for most other job openings, it is unlikely anyone at an office is going to ask you to spend any time on Facebook. 

11. Your duties and responsibilities.  List professional experience followed by responsibilities but do not copy and paste from your job description – it makes you appear lazy and incapable of thinking for yourself.  If you want to use the job description as a guide, make sure all tenses are in the first person – past tense for previous jobs, present tense for current position. 

Now, go re-write your resume and maybe use one of the two sample resumes I have on this blog!  Good luck.  And don’t forget to have someone proof-read it!!!