• Part 1: The Basics
• Part 2: Structure
• Part 3: Content

Content

While using proper formatting is very important, your resume won’t get you anywhere if there are problems with its contents.

Here are some tips based on the mistakes we see most frequently:

• Do not use position-specific abbreviations and jargon: You may have submitted over 150 ZBD’s to the Grand Poobah every day, but we don’t know what the heck any of that means. Think of ways to describe your duties so that anyone can understand what they are.

• Do not list your reasons for leaving positions: This is information you can provide during your interview. Placing it on your resume could actually work against you and prevent you from getting that interview in the first place.
• Do not list unnecessary personal information: Such as your social security number, height, age, weight, religious beliefs, etc. Do not put photos of yourself on your resume.

• Avoid “impressive” language: Using excessively flowery wording garbles your meaning and sounds stilted and off-putting rather than intelligent and professional. Saying you “interfaced with customers” makes you sound like you’re a robot. Saying you “assisted customers” is actually much more accurate and clear, even if it’s not as fancy.

  Stay away from the thesaurus. Think about the kind of language you hear in commercials and ads—it’s always simple and direct. And what is your resume if not a commercial about you?

• Be honest: Do not falsify your resume. While it’s important that you make yourself sound like a great candidate, putting a positive spin on information and outright fabricating it are two entirely different things.

  Employers really do check things like job titles and responsibilities, degree information, and dates and places of employment. Lying will come back to haunt you.

• Keep it serious: Don’t try to be funny. Present the information on your resume in a serious and straightforward fashion. It can be very difficult to interpret tone in text. The joke that you think sounds playful or charming may come off as flippant. Trust that your personality will shine through once your great resume has snagged you an interview.

• Stick to the important stuff: Even though it’s commonly done, it really isn’t necessary to include information about your hobbies, information about references, or even the words “references available on request.” Employers assume it’s a given that you have reference info that you can provide, and that you will give it to them at your interview.

  Generally, employers don’t read the information you place in the hobbies and interests section of a resume, so why not save yourself a little time and leave it out? If you feel that you have a hobby that specifically relates to the position you’re applying for, your cover letter is a great place to mention that.

• Don’t go overboard: If you’ve got a couple great reference letters, it’s okay to include them with your resume submission (although you can also choose to provide them at your interview instead). Don’t overdo it, though! Keep your resume submissions to a few pages. Don’t include things like certificates, old performance reviews, diplomas, etc. Try not to include more than two reference letters. Aim for short and sweet.

Other Resources

If you require assistance creating your resume, there are people who offer professional resume building services. Typically, they will charge you a fee to consult with you, examine your skills and work history, and construct an appropriate resume. You should be able to find local resume building services using a phone book or search engine.

For free assistance, Worksource offers resume tips on their website. Additionally, representatives at your local Worksource office should be able to direct you to similar resources.

• Part 1: The Basics
• Part 2: Structure
• Part 3: Content

Resume Basics

Many job seekers underestimate the importance of their resumes. We often receive resumes that are incorrectly or poorly formatted, and that sometimes even appear to have been thrown together in a matter of minutes.

If at least a few hours of time and thought haven’t gone into the creation of your resume, you’re probably doing something wrong.

A resume’s purpose is to summarize essential information about you and your work history in a format that is clean and easy to read. The goal is to showcase your skills and most valuable qualities. Your resume is a commercial, and you are the product it’s selling.

Your resume is your one and only chance to impress potential employers with your professionalism and worth as an employee. It needs to be perfect.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Spell check, spell check, spell check! All word processing software and even web-browsers like Firefox come with spell check capabilities. Spelling errors can ruin even the best resume—fairly or not, they cast doubt on your writing skills and attention to detail.
• Proofread, proofread, proofread! Spell check programs will not catch grammatical errors, incorrect punctuation, or misuses of homonyms (for example, using “hole” instead of “whole” or “manor” instead of “manner”). Read your resume out loud to yourself to catch errors. Ask a friend or family member with good writing skills to review it closely. Put it away for a few days and then examine it again with fresh eyes. Proofread it repeatedly.
• Spell check and proofread! These tips are so important that they deserve to be mentioned again. And again. And again. Your resume is the most important—and possibly the only—representation of you that a prospective employer is going to see.

  Submitting an error-riddled resume is like attending a job interview wearing your jammies and a tinfoil hat: It’ll make you look terrible, and it will cost you a job.

• Part 1: The Basics
• Part 2: Structure
• Part 3: Content

Resume Structure

It is important to format your resume so that it is easy to read.

Every resume should have a similar construction and follow the same conventions. It’s a good idea to use resume templates, such as those provided in Microsoft Word or other word processing programs.

Using a template will make it very easy for you to create your resume. Templates are widely used by job seekers, so they are very familiar to employers.  This means that employers know exactly where to look to find the information they need. This makes your resume easier for them to read.

Here’s what you need to know:

• Place your complete contact information at the top of your resume.
• Always include the names of your employers, the dates of your employment, and a description of your duties at each position. We require resumes to be formatted in this manner. Place job titles, company names, and dates of employment in bold or italics to draw attention to them.
• List your positions in reverse chronological order, with the most recent jobs at the top.
• You must describe your responsibilities at each of your positions. Format the description of your duties in a bulleted list, with the most important responsibilities or experience listed first. Use short, efficient descriptions. Each job should have its own list of duties. Do not lump all of your responsibilities at each of your positions into one big list.
• Avoid large blocks of text like the plague. Impenetrable walls of words will make an employer go cross-eyed before they can learn anything about you. If an employer finds it hard to read your resume, they won’t read it at all. This is why bulleted lists and short, efficient descriptions are so important.
• Make your resume readable. Never use funky fonts or odd colors. Print your resume on white paper. Don’t bother with using fancy paper or folders—employers don’t pay attention to them, and they cost you money. It’s the quality of the construction of your resume that matters. Putting a bunch of window dressing on a bad resume is like putting lipstick on a pig.