Seven Tips for a Better Resume

Yahoo lists seven tips for a better resume as follows:

1. Select the best format.
2. Make certain your document is error free.
3. Find a balance between wordiness and lack of detail.
4. Do not use personal pronouns.
5. Use numerical symbols for numbers.
6. Think "accomplishments" rather than "job duties."
7. Keep it positive.

Some of these are no-brainers, and I'll note that in my thoughts/comments. Here goes:

1. I prefer a "plain" resume on white paper. To me, creative resumes aren't worth the risk.

2. Of course. If your resume is full of errors, the employer is likely to think your work will be sloppy as well.

3. There's a debate over how long a resume should be. I have been working for almost 20 years and I have a two-page resume. I can't see needing more than that even 10 years from now.

4. I don't like these either. Using them means you're either talking too much about "me" and/or it looks like you're bragging. Write the resume as a third-person observer who's just stating the facts and it will come across as unbiased and clean.

5. I agree. Not much else to say.

6. Yes, I LOVE accomplishments (and so do employers -- especially quantifiable accomplishments.) Using them is a KEY part of writing a winning resume.

7. This is also point #5 on my five steps to getting a raise.

Final thought: you may want to check out Four Ways to Improve Your Resume for additional information on this topic.

Comments

[F]

5. Thanks for the hint, I fixed my resume and it does look better indeed.

[Greg]

3. The purpose of the resume is to get an interview for a specific position, nothing more. Anything superfluous should be saved for the interview. With a strong focus, most resumes can be one page, solid, and read in less than a minute.

[J in FL]

I just finished helping my fiancee out with her resume, and we printed it out on a gold color parchment. I told her I think it's a little bold, but she thinks it's fine for her field of work (corporate fitness/health and wellness). We'll see how things turn out... she's going to a few interviews tomorrow.

I also think that the resume format can be different from what is considered "standard," as long as it's appropriate for your specific industry. What do you guys think?

[Craig]

Nice tips, they are very helpful. The only thing I want to add on top of a creative resume is to update all online social media accounts. Depending on the industry you are looking for this may not matter. But social media is a large part of many companies and you can get a better sense for someone, their accomplishments, network, etc from a LinkedIn profile than a boring white paper resume. I think both should be balanced.

Craig

[randomjohn]

#2 should be #1 on the list and then repeated 5 more times. I'm a corporate lawyer, so typos leap off the page at me. I give everyone the benefit of the doubt as I read the resume and I read with an open mind, but look for reasons to disqualify a candidate. As soon as I see a typo, though, the tables turn and it's now up to the candidate to overcome the mistake.

It's an open ended assignment with no deadline that directly affects your career.

For the love of all that is holy, proofread, proofread, proofread, give it to your friends and family to proofread, call your High School to get an English teacher to proof it. JUST GET IT PERFECT.

[Greg]

J in FL,

It is all about tailoring your resume to the person and the job.

[Slinky]

I've always done a pretty standard resume with just a few nice details. A dark blue line under the header and dark blue bullet points. It's subtle, not really 'creative', but makes it stand out from the crowd a bit. I've gotten a lot of nice compliments on it.

[Lauren]

In a class I took about being a career counselor, we were advised against using grids or templates on our resumes to make them look nicer. The reason behind this was that a lot of jobs are applied to electronically, and many larger companies use software to scan through the document for key words to identify potential candidates out of a large pool of applicants. When a person is using a template, it can cause these programs to miss certain areas or in some cases skip it completely.

So feel free to make it look nice, but do it manually. Or have a separate electronic version that is more plain than the one you bring in person.

[J in FL]

Well, she took the road less traveled and it seems to have paid off... in the sense that it was well received. She got a few positive comments. Hopefully standing out will keep the propective employers from forgetting her, since she won't be graduating until the spring semester which is still a ways off.