Having a good resume is an important part of the job search. Below is some resume help that can greatly boost your job search as well as a change in career search.
Choose the right length – We usually recommend a length of about 1-3 pages depending on your number of years of experience. If you have over 10 years of experience, one page is usually not going to adequately describe all of your skills and expertise. Trying to cram everything into one page for an experienced professional can actually work against your job search. Over three pages usually means you are providing too much information.
Capture their attention immediately – Resumes have typically 10 seconds to catch a potential employer’s attention. Make sure you have your job title and top skills listed at the top of your resume with a summary statement that will make them want to read the rest of it. More important than length, is a great introduction.
Use Action Words – When describing your experience, begin most sentences with an “Action” word. This achieves a greater impact in describing your capabilities.
Focus on your achievements and successes – At the top of your resume list your 3-5 top achievements or personal characteristics that make you ideally suited to the position you are applying for. List your accomplishments with the result stated first for impact, then what you did to get that result. This is particularly important when you are in a change in career search.
List your work history with the most recent position first – Determine how far back to go based on what is applicable for the position for which you are applying.
Avoid lengthy paragraphs – Make your paragraphs as short and concise as possible. Resumes that are too lengthy may not be read.
Keep the resume clean and easy on the eye – It’s important to make good use of “white space”. Don’t try to jam a lot of information onto one page by removing double-spacing where appropriate, decreasing the font size and margin sizes. It’s better to have a longer resume, and accentuate your “key” points with the use of white space.
