It's amazing what a well-written and nicely presented resume can do for your job search. Before you send yours out, follow these tips to ensure you are sending out an excellent quality representation of yourself.
List things backwards - An important thing you should keep in mind is to start from the latest information and then move backwards. Start from your recent education and mention the subjects studied at your college, school, courses, etc. Similarly, start from the latest job responsibilities you are holding.
Employment history - Don't stress out over exact dates. It is far more important to tell a quick sentence about what you learned while working there. You can even do a short bullet list for each job. I like to list 2 or 3 items for each position. These items can be responsibilities, skills learned, accomplishments, or other factors about the work environment.
Keep it short - Writing a resume is much like writing sales copy. When you do it correctly, it shouldn't take many words to convey your ideas. Most people advise that you not write more than 2 pages. I, personally, never go past 1 page. Most of the page is just lists. I believe that you should keep your resume down to around 10 sentences and a few lists.
Education section - When you have a degree, list only the year that you obtained your degree. When you list your dates, (i.e.: 9/1998 to 1/2002) many resume-scanning systems will not recognize that you obtained a degree, only that you attended college for a period of time.
Hyperlinks - All e-mail and web addresses that you list need to be deactivated in your resume. To do this in MS Word, highlight the link, go to the "Insert" drop down menu, scroll down to and click "Hyperlink", and on the lower left-had side of this screen there should be a little button that says "Remove link", when you find it, give it a little click and voila! Alternatively, you can highlight the link, right click on it, and scroll down to "remove link" to deactivate the link.
There are many little things you can do to help your resume. The most important thing to remember is that it should flow and be a showcase of skills. If it feels difficult to write, then you are probably trying too hard. Don't worry too much about the formatting. Use simple statements with impactful verbs. Stand out from the crowd by just not doing the boring black and white letters that everyone else does.
List things backwards - An important thing you should keep in mind is to start from the latest information and then move backwards. Start from your recent education and mention the subjects studied at your college, school, courses, etc. Similarly, start from the latest job responsibilities you are holding.
Employment history - Don't stress out over exact dates. It is far more important to tell a quick sentence about what you learned while working there. You can even do a short bullet list for each job. I like to list 2 or 3 items for each position. These items can be responsibilities, skills learned, accomplishments, or other factors about the work environment.
Keep it short - Writing a resume is much like writing sales copy. When you do it correctly, it shouldn't take many words to convey your ideas. Most people advise that you not write more than 2 pages. I, personally, never go past 1 page. Most of the page is just lists. I believe that you should keep your resume down to around 10 sentences and a few lists.
Education section - When you have a degree, list only the year that you obtained your degree. When you list your dates, (i.e.: 9/1998 to 1/2002) many resume-scanning systems will not recognize that you obtained a degree, only that you attended college for a period of time.
Hyperlinks - All e-mail and web addresses that you list need to be deactivated in your resume. To do this in MS Word, highlight the link, go to the "Insert" drop down menu, scroll down to and click "Hyperlink", and on the lower left-had side of this screen there should be a little button that says "Remove link", when you find it, give it a little click and voila! Alternatively, you can highlight the link, right click on it, and scroll down to "remove link" to deactivate the link.
There are many little things you can do to help your resume. The most important thing to remember is that it should flow and be a showcase of skills. If it feels difficult to write, then you are probably trying too hard. Don't worry too much about the formatting. Use simple statements with impactful verbs. Stand out from the crowd by just not doing the boring black and white letters that everyone else does.
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