The challenge with resumes is there are a lot of “best practices” and not a lot of hard and fast rules. If you give your resume to ten different recruiters you’ll likely get ten different opinions. Those best practices are there for a reason.
- Use a clean font like Tahoma or Arial; a sans serif font. It’s easier for a recruiter to read when going through hundreds of resumes.
- Use bullet points rather than the paragraph format. Again, it’s easier for recruiters to pick out the key points.
- Start each bullet point with an action verb if at all possible. If your verb is “managed” or “administered” is there another verb that is more descriptive? Collected, gathered, collated, tracked, etc. may be better.
- Think about the results for each bullet point and describe them if applicable. Recruiters and hiring managers want the “oh wow” or “so what” factor. Tell them what you did that sets you apart from other candidates.
- No more than two pages, unless you’re in IT or academia. Wonder what a typical resume might look like for your position or industry? Try googling to find out. e.g. inside sales resume, direct sales resume, attorney resume. Review a few to ensure you’re seeing similarities.
- Proofread, spell check and proofread again. Ask family and friends to proofread for you. Read it out loud, and read it backwards. You can’t proofread it enough! Miniscule mistakes may cost you. You get only one chance to make a good first impression. Many employers think if you make a mistake on this important marketing tool you are using to promote yourself, your work product will be the same (less than 100%) or worse when working on their behalf and they’ll pass you by for the person whose resume has no errors.
More resume tips next week.
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