Tips to Get Your Resume Into Tip-Top Shape

In a good resumé, writing is concise and to the point. Keep sentences as short and direct as possible. Eliminate any extraneous information and any repetitions.

Don't use three examples when one will suffice.

Say what you want to say in the most direct way possible, rather than trying to impress with bigger words or more complex sentences. For example: "coordinated eight city-wide fundraising events, raising 250 percent more than expected goal" rather than "was involved in the coordination of six fundraising dinners and two fund-raising 'Big Walks' which attracted participants and were so extremely successful that they raised $100,000 (well beyond the $80,000 goal)."

Vary long sentences (if these are really necessary) with short, punchy sentences. Use phrases rather than full sentences when phrases are possible, and start sentences with verbs, eliminating pronouns ("I", "he" or "she").

Vary words: Don't repeat a "power" verb or adjective in the same paragraph. Use commas to clarify meaning and make reading easier. Remain consistent in writing decisions such as use of abbreviations and capitalizations.

Make it look great. Use a laser printer or an ink jet printer that produces high-quality results. A laser is best because the ink won't run if it gets wet. It should look typeset. Do not compromise.

If you do, your resumé will look pathetic next to ones that have a perfect appearance. Use a standard conservative typeface (font) in 11 or 12 point. Don't make them squint to read it.

Use off-white, ivory or bright white 8 1/2 x 11-inch paper, in the highest quality affordable. If you are applying for a senior-level position, use heavy paper, and make sure the watermark is facing the right way. Use absolutely clean paper without smudges, without staples and with a generous border. Don't have your resumé look like you squeezed too much on the page.

Shorter is ususally better. Everyone freely gives advice on resumé length. Most self-declared experts say a resumé should always be one page. That makes no more sense than it does to say an ad or a poem should automatically be one page.

Your resumé can be 500 pages long if you can keep the reader's undivided attention and interest that long, and at the same time create a psychological excitement that leads prospective employers to pick up the phone and call you when they finish your weighty tome.

Don't blindly follow rules! Do what works. Sometimes it is appropriate to have a three pager. But unless your life has been filled with a wide assortment of extraordinary achievements, make it shorter. One page is best if you can cram it all into one page.

Most Fortune 500 C.E.O.s have a one- or two-page resumé. It could be said that, the larger your accomplishments, the easier to communicate them in few words. Look to others in your profession to see if there is an established agreement about resumé length in your field.

The only useful rule is to not write one more word than you need to get them to pick up the phone and call you. Don't bore them with the details. Leave them wanting more. Remember, this is an ad to market you, not your life history.

Length of consulting resumés: In a consulting
resumé, you are expected to shovel it as deep as you possibly can. If
you are selling your own consulting services, make it sizzle, just like
any other resumé, but include a little more detail, such as a list of
well-known clients, powerful quotes from former clients about how
fantastic you are, etc.

If you are seeking a job with a consulting firm that will be
packaging you along with others as part of a proposal, get out your
biggest shovel and go to town.

Include everything except the name of your goldfish: A full
list of publications, skills, assignments, other experience, and every
bit of educational information that you can manage to make sound
related to your work. The philosophy here is: More is better.

Watch your verb tense. Use either the first person ("I") or the
third person ("he," "she") point of view, but use whichever you choose
consistently. Verb tenses are based on accurate reporting: If the
accomplishment is completed, it should be past tense.

If the task is still underway, it should be present tense. If
the skill has been used in the past and will continue to be used, use
present tense ("conduct presentations on member recruitment to
professional and trade associations"). A way of "smoothing out"
transitions is to use the past continuous ("have conducted more than 20
presentations...").

Break it up. A good rule is to have no more than six lines of
writing in any one writing "block" or paragraph (summary, skill
section, accomplishment statement, job description, etc.). If any more
than this is necessary, start a new section or a new paragraph.

Experience before education ... usually. Experience sections
should come first, before education, in most every case. This is
because you have more qualifications developed from your experience
than from your education.

The exceptions would be 1) if you have just received or are
completing a degree in a new professional field, if this new degree
study proves stronger qualifications than does your work experience, 2)
if you are a lawyer, with the peculiar professional tradition of
listing your law degrees first, 3) if you are an undergraduate student,
or 4) if you have just completed a particularly impressive degree from
a particularly impressive school, even if you are staying in the same
field, for example, an MBA from Harvard.

Telephone number that will be answered. Be sure the phone
number on the resumé will be, without exception, answered by a person
or an answering machine Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

You do not want to lose the prize interview merely because
there was no answer to your phone or could not be reached, and the
caller gave up.

Include the area code of the telephone number and your mobile
phone number. If you don't have a mobile, get one. Include an e-mail
and fax numbers, if you have them.

Source: Providence Journal. Powered by Yellowbrix.