Tuesday 5 May 2015

Take Your Resume Seriously

By Bill McMillan


A resume is the first and the most important step in the process of job seeking. A resume consists of a brief account of your qualifications and experience. It basically showcases your skills and experience. The whole idea of a resume is to put you in such a light that the prospective employer finds you perfect for the job. These tips should get you closer to landing that job.

Use colors - Every single resume I see is a boring, black and white list that goes on for too long. A logo or a colored text block on the right side will instantly get your resume looked at. I like to put a full length sidebar block on the right and include small bits of information in it like skill sets, availability, and achievements.

Use the right language - The cover letter can tell a quick story that lets the reader know about your personality and the rest of the resume can showcase your skills and experience, but don't forget to pepper in the right language. Use the occasional industry term to indicate to the hiring manager that you are experienced in the industry.

Run-on sentences - Check to make sure you do not have run-ons that are hard to read. Break up sentences into shorter, bite-sized statements. When I get stuck on a sentence, I simply bust it all up and create new sentences.

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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