Resumé Tips

Are you Ready to Make an Impression?

Take a good look at yourself, set your game plan and start preparing to wow. Your resume, cover letter, interview and, if you are a designer, portfolio need serious preparation. Try as you might, you cannot escape them. They are each an integral part of the job hunting process.

How to Start

Make a list

• Strengths
• Expertise
• Characteristics
• Ask friends/colleagues

On structure
Depending on where you are in your career you will need to determine the order of these sections:

• Education - degrees, courses, workshops
• Skills
• Work Experience
• Honors & Awards

You should focus on accomplishments that are related to the job you are trying to obtain - volunteer work, projects, organizations you belong to and network at, any board positions you hold or committees you are active in

On content

• A common error is trying to say everything about yourself in your resume
• You should say enough for the interviewer to get a sense of your qualifications without learning your entire life story
• Your resume should be success-driven or accomplishment-oriented
• Include a maximum of 4 to 6 points per job
• Do include your name and contact information (name, email address, physical address, telephone numbers)
• You may also include objective, summary, profile, computer and language skills, honors and activities, affiliations, foreign travel, military, etc.

On language

• It is important to select key words for your resume as a lot of companies utilize an applicant tracking system that searches for key words
• Use action verbs, like "created", "managed", "implemented", designed", "presented" "integrated", "communicated", etc.
• Include quantitative achievements, such as "increased sales by 10%", "managed staff of 10 designers overseas", "implemented a new process", etc.

On layout

• Your resume should be easy on the eyes
• Resume Wizard is a great tool
• Chronological
• Align left, do not justify
• Bullets are reader friendly
• Use simple fonts like Arial. Cursive and vanity fonts are harder to read and will distract the employer from the information on the paper
• Keep the size of the font large enough to be ready effortlessly. Generally speaking, 10 points is the smallest you should go and 12 points the largest

How to Perfect

If you want to get it right, run your eye over your first draft and ask yourself these questions:

Is it easy to understand?
Keep it simple. Keep it clean. This is not the time for long, poetic sentences.
If someone has to work too hard to comprehend your resume, it will probably be tossed aside. No joke.

Can I scan it quickly?
Stick to the 10 second rule

If you cannot grasp the complete picture in that amount of time, nobody else will either! It means there is too much going on in your resume. Revise. Revise. Delete. Delete.

Am I formatting correctly?
If you are emailing your resume, you need to make sure it's readable to the recipients. Do not send a resume that is not formatted correctly.