I often attend Houston Chronicle job fairs to talk with people about their job-search concerns. One of the most often-asked question is: How do I know if my resume is good enough?
The biggest question: How long should a resume be?
What’s better, a one- or two-page resume?
Your resume is what I refer to as your “marketing sheet”. There is no doubt that you want to have the strongest representation possible of your background.
In my experience with recruiters and human-resource professionals, I’ve learned resumes need to be concise.
You really have about 30 to 60 seconds to capture a reader’s attention, and if you have too much information on your resume, it will end up in a think-about-it-later file.
You want your resume to be in a different file, so here are some suggestions for tightening up your marketing sheet (resume):
• Decide which resume format best fits your needs, chronological, functional or a combination format.
• Keeping your resume to one page just to keep it short is not effective. You could be cutting valuable information.
• List your accomplishments like this: situation+action=results. Describe your situation, the action you took and the results produced. Streamline your description to 2-3 sentences.
• Make use of key words all through your resume.
• Develop a strong summary of your career, and keep it to one paragraph. This is your mini-commercial and it ties your resume together.
• Avoid personal pronouns, such as: “I led a team of project managers.”
• The last 10 years of your employment history is the most relevant, but if you have more experience, give yourself credit. Just don’t give it a lot of space.
• Think in terms of results and bottom-line information.
• Always be honest with your information, education and results. Getting caught fabricating your background is an instant deal breaker.
• Take out the line, “References available upon request” at the end of your resume. This is a given, and it takes up space.
• Be careful with abbreviations or acronyms.
• Proof your information, your computer’s spell checker is great, but you can use the correct spelling of the wrong word.
A resume will not get you the job offer. It can generate interest, which can lead to a job interview. When your resume starts generating enough interest to get you interviews, you know you have a good resume.
Do you have trouble getting your resume in shape? What do you think is the hardest part of resume writing?
