A Bunch of Resume Tips

Preparing to check out the job market after Labor Day?

Here are some quick but vital resume tips. You are welcome to send me an inMail if you want a quick/free review of your resume. www.waybeyondresumes.com

ADDRESS – A street address is not necessary. Recommend town or region and zip code since most applicant tracking systems (ATS) allow a recruiter to search within a specific distance from a zip code.

ATS – if you ever receive an unsolicited message offering help to make your resume ATS-compliant, it’s likely a scam. These systems are nowhere near as sensitive as people fear.

FIRST IMPRESSION – Most people who review resumes have developed the ability to categorize a resume as a “Yes, No, or Maybe” in 10-15 seconds. Make sure your desired position is clear on Page 1.

OBJECTIVE – That’s not to say you need an Objective section. I recommend those for early-career candidates or people attempting a career pivot. A Professional Summary is the best way for more experienced candidates to clarify what they do.

TYPOS AND GRAMMAR – Error-free resumes are essential to many hiring authorities, especially for positions that require attention to detail or creating presentations – Sales, Marketing, Engineering, and Underwriting are all examples.

TYPOS AND GRAMMAR II – Some grammar-checking software will offer a free trial. Run your resume through it, and cancel the subscription before the trial expires. I’ve been copyediting for 25 years, and I wouldn’t think of sending a draft that I hadn’t run through my software. MS Word spell-check is not enough. ?

GPA – Only include if it’s a 3.8 or better, and only if you’re less than three years out of school.

LAYOUT – Avoid having a position split across two pages. There is always a solution to prevent this. Play with margins, font size, line spacing, and headers/footers.

MS WORD HEADACHES – Bullets used to drive me crazy. If you have issues with fonts changing when you add bullets, try copying the misbehaving section into a new document, edit it there, then copy and paste it back into the original document.

VOCABULARY – Google synonyms for “Managed,” “Led,” and “Developed.” When I write a resume for a client, I limit the use of these words to one per page.

PAGE LENGTH – With the occasional exception, 1 page if you have less than five years of experience, 2 pages for all others. If you cannot imagine how you’d get to 2 pages, consider doing a separate “Project Summary” page that you can share on request.

PAGE LENGTH II – It hurts a little but chopping off experience on Page 3 that is already showing on Page 1 is a quick way to get to two pages. No one unconvinced after two pages is likely to become interested because of something on Page 3.

QUANTIFY – Numbers are like bullet points on resumes – they are speed bumps meant to slow down and guide the reader. Non-revenue-producing resumes still have plenty of numbers to show, e.g., money saved, number of employees, time saved, size of clients, members on the team, size of the market, length of training, etc. There’s always a number.

TIMES NEW ROMAN – Avoid. Time to try a new look. Verdana, Helvetica, Tahoma, and Calibri are popular. Garamond, if you need to wean off TNR more slowly.

PDF FILES – Always better to send than a Word doc.

KEEP IT SIMPLE – Avoid charts, graphs, word clouds, and hobbies (unless they are unusual and possible ice-breakers) unless your target position relates to design skills. I once received a resume from someone and spent several minutes trying to figure out why it seemed so strange. The author had added a watermark – of her entire face, in color – in the background of her resume.

There are always exceptions to the rule when it comes to resumes. If you have a general question, leave a Comment, and I’ll address it.