A well written, attention grabbing resume is crucial to getting an interview. It is important to be concise, highlight your qualifications, and present yourself as a proactive employee. Recruiters will only briefly skim your resume to determine if you are worthy of an interview. Therefore, it must be easy for recruiters to find the information that sells them on you. The following is a critique of my resume from the folks at Career Builder prepared for me:
In order to more effectively showcase your skills and abilities, Illustrate what you can do for the employer:
- Use the top of your resume to emphasize your competitive advantage and most relevant skills. Make sure that your resume sells yourself to the hiring manager in one glance.
- Don’t include references, employers know that you will provide your references to them at their request. So, don’t waste valuable real estate by stating this fact on your resume. Wait for the appropriate time and place to provide this information and use this space to convince the recruiter that he/she can’t live without you.
- Consistently format your resume: When a hiring manager sees a consistently formatted resume, they know that you pay attention to detail and take pride in your work. You want to show the employer that you will put as much effort into the job as you did into your resume. Put your best foot forward and consistently format all of the abbreviations you use for states and dates. Also, be sure that you present headings, job titles, school names, etc in the same format.
- Don’t use 1st, 2nd, or 3rd person references: A resume is a formal document in which convention calls for you to eliminate the use of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person references. A resume that is well put together shows professionalism and an understanding of appropriate word choice.
- Highlight your more recent accomplishments:Focus on what you've achieved over the last several years rather than emphasizing your early career successes. Employers will want to know what you have been doing as of late, not what you did years ago.
- Put your best foot forward: Your resume has only 10 seconds to make an impression. Be sure that an employer can quickly understand who you are and what you have to offer. We recommend that you grab the hiring manager's attention with a brief overview of your most impressive and relevant strengths.
- Include your first and last name in the file name: In order to prevent your resume from getting lost on a hiring manager’s computer, we recommend that you use both your first and last name in the file name of your resume. If you use a generic file name like “Resume{2}”, it makes it difficult for an employer to locate in their “my documents” folder. You should position yourself as the easy to hire candidate – easy to contact with an easy to find resume.
- Keep in mind that your resume is a marketing tool. You must display only the most pertinent and impressive pieces of your experience.
