Resume Tips
Crafting a resume can be a stressful experience, particularly when the job market is weak. Based on experience of weeding through applications as an administrative assistant, and on conversations with several friends who have done similar weeding as managers and HR staff, here are ten tips to make the job a little easier.
1 - Contact information
Include your contact information: your name, your mailing address, a telephone number which will reach you during the day, an email address which you check regularly and which is not too unprofessional. Don’t use [email protected];[email protected] be a much better choice. Including your contact information might seem obvious, but many people forget to include it. Ideally, include it in a header or footer of every page of multi-page resumes. If the hiring committee can’t contact you, they can’t offer you the job.
2 - Bullet points
When you are describing what you accomplished and what you did in a job, put the bullet points in order of importance. Many people who review resumes don’t pay much attention past the fourth bullet point. If you keep a master resume with every detail of every job, it is a simple matter to “save as” another file name and simply delete the details you don’t need, and then re-arrange bullet points as needed.
3 - Make it easy to see what a great fit you are
Make it easy for the hiring committee to see what a perfect fit you are for the position. If the job posting says the committee is looking for a web designer who has three years of experience with WordPress, and you have that experience, list it as “three years of experience with WordPress” within the appropriate bullet point. If the committee is looking for a secretary who has experience drafting reports and brochures in Microsoft Word 2003, indicate that you have that specific experience. “Single-handedly designed, published, and maintained fourteen commercial blog sites for five years” and “general secretarial duties, reporting to the Director of Finance” won’t cut it. Many such committees have no idea that WordPress can be used for blogs (“Isn’t WordPress what print technicians use?” Um, no.) or what constitutes “general secretarial duties” beyond a vague idea of typing letters and answering telephones. This point is especially important when applying for some Civil Service jobs, for which the hiring committee is not allowed to assume anything: if it isn’t spelled out, it didn’t happen.
4 - Paper and font choices
Stick with standard, formal fonts such as Times New Roman and Arial. 11 or 12 point generally safe for smallest type on page. These sizes look professional, without straining the eyes. The paper should be plain white. If you are sending a hard copy, the weight should be a minimum of 20lb bond. Slightly heavier is better. Sometimes you will see advice to this effect that gives an exception for artistic and advertising people. It is safer to do a formal resume, and wow them with the brilliance of your portfolio and cover letter, than to try to impress with clip art and strange paper colors. A hiring committee who is accustomed to dealing with artists and advertising gurus will have “seen it all before” anyway. A hiring committee who normally does not deal with artistic, creative people will tend to wonder what you were thinking of.
5 - Tables
Don’t use tables, unless specifically requested. Many job postings specify that resumes are not to include tables. It is not unheard-of for resumes to be disqualified simply because the resume used a table-based template.
6 - Read the instructions
Read the job posting, and follow any instructions it gives you. For example, if it indicates that the resume is to include a list and description of every course you’ve taken since tenth grade, include that list. If it tells you that the resumes are expected to be use 14-point Arial font, don’t use Times New Roman. This might sound almost as obvious as including your contact information, but applicants have been rejected for overlooking these kinds of instructions. Incidentally, if the instructions are very strange or condescending, be aware that it might be an indication of what it will be like to work for that employer.
7 - Back up your cover letter
Be sure that your resume backs up any claim made in your cover letter. For example, if you mention your skill in fake-marble faux finishes a cover letter, check and double-check that you have that skill in your bullet list under the appropriate job or jobs.
8 - Spell check is your friend
Spell check, proofread, and ask someone else to look it over. The spell check function on your word processor will not catch everything. Sometimes there is no time or opportunity to have a second person check your work. If that is the case, pause for a few minutes after your basic proofreading, and do something else. When you come back to proofreading your resume, start at the bottom and work upwards. You are more likely to catch spelling errors if the words are not in the usual order.
9 - Hobbies and other interests
Include a list of hobbies and outside interests if they are related to the position. For example, if you are applying for a position as a Graphic Arts instructor at a community college, the hiring committee will be interested in the workshop you did with the Cub Scouts, showing them how to use Photoshop, and probably interested in the painting circle you attend on Thursday nights. Your table-tennis score is probably not so interesting to them. That said, if you have a few career-related hobbies listed, it usually won’t hurt anything to list a couple of unrelated activities as well.
10 - Tweak and explain
Tweak your resume for the job application. For example, if your presentation experience is with Corel Presentations and the new job calls for Microsoft PowerPoint, make a note in the Presentations bullet-point that the two are very similar programs. Here again, while being totally honest, make it easy for the committee to hire you.
By using these top ten resume tips, you can write a resume that will help set you apart from the competition and land you an interview.
