Recruiters and hiring managers say they've seen more poorly written resumes cross their desks recently than ever before. Below are several tips we tell our clients.
Recruiters are seeking candidates who can help them solve a problem or a need within their company. You can't be viewed a possible solution to their problems without stating how you solved similar problems for other companies. Focus on what you did in the job, not just on what your job was. There is a subtle ¬ but important ¬ difference. Your accomplishments should be unique to you, not just a list of what anyone else did or could have done in that job.
The most frequent resume mistake is to load it with general claims and too much industry jargon that do not market the candidate. A resume is a marketing document designed to sell your skills and strengths rather than just portray a bio of the candidate. By including and highlighting specific achievements that present a comprehensive picture of your marketability, you'll engender greater confidence in hiring managers and entice many more interviews. Quantify everything; give them percentages, dollars, number of employees, training classes, etc.
Marketing, advertising, and design professionals have creative license to be more distinctive and use flair in the way they design their resumes. Unusual paper, fonts, layout are acceptable and expected in those industries. Professional industries won't be impressed and may be turned off by distinctive resume design. Your accomplishments, error-free writing, grammatically correct, clean, and crisp type will all help you land that coveted interview.
If you’ve been in the market for a while, it’s important that you update your information to ensure its relevance to today’s market. Job descriptions dating back many years are a red flag. A resume is not intended to be your biography, but a recitation of what you’ve done lately and how your skills will benefit their company. Providing information from the 70’s is hardly relevant and can do much more harm than good.
Recruiters agree that listing personal information isn’t appropriate or necessary on an resume, and including your photograph is the worst offense of all.
Your resume is the one phase in your job search over which you have total control. Based on the strength of that document, you'll either be selected for an interview from among hundreds of other candidates, or passed over. Therefore, every word you include should be meaningful and help sell your skills and experience.
Many people leave off graduation and employment dates because the candidate's intention may be to avoid possible age discrimination. However, most corporate recruiters use resumes to screen out ¬ rather than screen in candidates, and a resume without dates may not be considered. From a recruiter's perspective, candidates eliminate dates on their resumes for only one reason: to hide information, such as a history of job-hopping or a long period of unemployment.
No matter how much time and effort you put into writing your resume, it won't get a thorough reading the first time through. It usually gets skimmed quickly ¬ for a matter of seconds. It’s harder for the reader to give even a cursory initial look if your resume is hard to read, poorly organized or exceeds two pages. Use wide margins, clean type (at least 10 or 12 point), clear headings, a logical format, bold and italic typeface that help guide the reader’s eye. Selective use of bullets calls attention to important points.
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