Resume Writing Tips

Resume Writing Tips 1. Determine who is reading your resume. The reader (HR Personnel, the manager, and the boss) knows the type of person they are looking for and what experience, skills and training they must have. You may be 1 of 100 resumes and the reader is only going to interview 4 or 5 and you want to be 1 of those 4 or 5. You must write what the reader wants to hear and must portray your skills and abilities honestly. 2. Write what the reader wants to hear Ninety percent of people writing resumes do not think about what the company needs to know about you as a candidate for employment, rather the resume writers just tell information about themselves that may or may not be relevant to the position. The company is looking for someone that can best do the job for their company. If the company does not see the qualifications they need in your resume, they will not pursue you as a candidate. Focus on the part of your background that is relevant to what the reader is looking for. Tell them what they want to hear to land that interview. 3. Make your resume easy to read Many resumes are written in traditional paragraph form and that is not easy to read. Paragraphs do not give out information quickly or easily. Writing your resume in a bulleted form will allow the reader to scan your resume. Bulleted job descriptions are 3 times faster to read than paragraphs 20 seconds they can scan a bullet formatted resume 60-90 seconds to read a paragraph Employers only spend an average of 20 seconds on the initial reading of a resume. 4. Write a resume that has substance and depth Don’t over simplify, use headings and bullets to make your point, it is faster and easier to read. It is a win-win technique. It enables you to say a lot about your skills and or experience and it is still easy to read. SAMPLE RESUME Your Name Address City, State, Zip Phone #, Fax # Email address Objective: Include position title and name of company if available and why you would be the best candidate. No more than three sentences. Summary of Qualifications / Professional Profile List up to five of the most important things you want an employer to know about you. These should be things that will connect with the employer immediately. These also include qualifications that you would take with you to any position, such as: set high standards for self, ability to multi-task, team player, and so on. These are often in a bulleted format to make reading easier. Experience Heading This section will allow you to describe your skills, accomplishments, and expertise. You will want to categorize your information with skill headings that are relevant to the position being sought. Try to quantify information by using such words as increased 20 percent, handled 120 clients a day, kept charge of AP/AR up to $150,000 per day, etc. Try to have at least 2 skill headings. Employment History Go back ten years and list in chronological order the most recent first. To make formatting easy, set up a table with columns and then number of rows for the number of employers. The columns will look something like this: Company Name Position Title City & State Dates Education List most recent first and use a table with the following headings in columns: School City & State Degree received or working toward Date(s) You will have as many rows as schools attended. Do not mention High School if you have attended any College or Technical School. RESUME WORKSHEET Name________________________________________ Address_________________________________________ City, State, Zip_________________________________________ Phone Number(s) (h)_______________________________________ (w)_________________________________ (m)______________________________ Employment Objective ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ____________ Summary of Qualifications/Professional Profile ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ____________ Highlights of Professional Experiences & Accomplishments Subheading_______________________________________________________ Skills/accomplishments:_____________________________________________ ____ __________ Subheading_______________________________________________________ Skills/accomplishments: __________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ Subheading_______________________________________________________ Skills/accomplishments:_____________________________________________ ______ ________________________________________________________________ Employment History Co. Name Job Title Location Dates ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ Education Degree Name & Location of School Year ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________