Resumes 101
I've been helping some friends lately with their resumes and what I'm seeing come across my desk makes me kind of sad. Some of them literally are just lists of companies they've worked for and addresses. Others have no formatting whatsoever. Some are even on 3 pages!! If they have bullet points they're so lackluster and boring that they really are just never going to get hired.
It amazes me with the amount of resources on the internet today how things like this can still happen. But then I remember that probably something like 99% of us never actually got real world training in college. I was lucky and took an interviewing class as part of my major and it changed my world. If you don't have a college degree and you're right out of High School you're probably screwed without a great resume or help on how to get a job.
Even doing a cursory search on the internet will help, but you have to know where to go otherwise you can wind up with some really, truly awful resumes/cover letters.
Once again, I default to twitter. Search hastags such as #resumes, #jobsearch, #recruitment anything and you're bound to see SOMETHING related to resume writing pop up there, even if you watch it for 5-10 minutes.
So here's some things I can help you with right off the bat:
1) FORMAT. FORMAT. FORMAT. Your resume should pass a 3 second test. If I look at it, and can't see job titles right away I'm throwing this in the trash. Your eye naturally goes to the middle of the page. SO - start there. Put stuff on the right side, center, and left side of your paper. Bullets underneath. GOOGLE FORMATS!!! Don't get fancy. Typical Arial font. Just use a word doc.
2) Basics. Name, Phone Number, Email Address. If you're trying to re-locate - take your address off.
3) Basics 2: Company Name. Position. Dates!. Location. 3-4 bullet points all in third person past tense (even for a current job!)
4) Work Experience up top. Education down at the bottom. There are exceptions to this, but for the most part, stick to it.
5) Tell me a story. I have no idea what your job is or what you did or why YOU are better than the 200 other resumes I'm looking at. Try and answer most of the basics - who, what, where, when, why, how? "Advised (3rd person past tense action verb) students (who) at XXX community center (where) on course requirements (what) in order to complete graduation requirements (why)" sounds better than "worked with students"
6) Put the most amazing things at the top of your bullet point list.
7) Copy keywords directly from the job description and put them into your resume. DO NOT SEND THE SAME RESUMES TO MANY COMPANIES. Just don't. You're wasting your time if you do.
8) If you have leftover space, put additional things you've worked on such as committees or volunteer groups. Put your general office skills if that's what they're asking for - Photoshop, Powerpoint, Excel, etc etc.
9) If you're advanced, check out out this amazing Careerealism post about Resumes 2.0 and putting social media on there.
10) Have someone, anyone, a friend look at it before you send it out. If they don't know what you're talking about - a hiring manager sure won't.
GOOD LUCK! Be smart about this. It's a piece of paper that represents you and stands between you and a career.
It amazes me with the amount of resources on the internet today how things like this can still happen. But then I remember that probably something like 99% of us never actually got real world training in college. I was lucky and took an interviewing class as part of my major and it changed my world. If you don't have a college degree and you're right out of High School you're probably screwed without a great resume or help on how to get a job.
Even doing a cursory search on the internet will help, but you have to know where to go otherwise you can wind up with some really, truly awful resumes/cover letters.
Once again, I default to twitter. Search hastags such as #resumes, #jobsearch, #recruitment anything and you're bound to see SOMETHING related to resume writing pop up there, even if you watch it for 5-10 minutes.
So here's some things I can help you with right off the bat:
1) FORMAT. FORMAT. FORMAT. Your resume should pass a 3 second test. If I look at it, and can't see job titles right away I'm throwing this in the trash. Your eye naturally goes to the middle of the page. SO - start there. Put stuff on the right side, center, and left side of your paper. Bullets underneath. GOOGLE FORMATS!!! Don't get fancy. Typical Arial font. Just use a word doc.
2) Basics. Name, Phone Number, Email Address. If you're trying to re-locate - take your address off.
3) Basics 2: Company Name. Position. Dates!. Location. 3-4 bullet points all in third person past tense (even for a current job!)
4) Work Experience up top. Education down at the bottom. There are exceptions to this, but for the most part, stick to it.
5) Tell me a story. I have no idea what your job is or what you did or why YOU are better than the 200 other resumes I'm looking at. Try and answer most of the basics - who, what, where, when, why, how? "Advised (3rd person past tense action verb) students (who) at XXX community center (where) on course requirements (what) in order to complete graduation requirements (why)" sounds better than "worked with students"
6) Put the most amazing things at the top of your bullet point list.
7) Copy keywords directly from the job description and put them into your resume. DO NOT SEND THE SAME RESUMES TO MANY COMPANIES. Just don't. You're wasting your time if you do.
8) If you have leftover space, put additional things you've worked on such as committees or volunteer groups. Put your general office skills if that's what they're asking for - Photoshop, Powerpoint, Excel, etc etc.
9) If you're advanced, check out out this amazing Careerealism post about Resumes 2.0 and putting social media on there.
10) Have someone, anyone, a friend look at it before you send it out. If they don't know what you're talking about - a hiring manager sure won't.
GOOD LUCK! Be smart about this. It's a piece of paper that represents you and stands between you and a career.