Tips for writing a good resume:  

Stick to one or two pages, with no underlining.

Use 12 point for body text; 14 point for headings.

Tailor the resume to the job description or want ad.

“Echo” (rather than parrot) key words from the ad or job description.

--Always use industry standard terms for technical positions.

A resume is about your future, not your past. Describe what you did as it applies to the current needs of the job you apply for.

Stick to what’s relevant and marketable to the job (this is not a tell all or therapy).

Don’t list boring job descriptions, write achievements (quantify where possible).

Promote skills you enjoy; never list things you don’t want to repeat.

Place action verbs prominently where they will attract attention, i.e. “developed”, “planned”, “assisted”, “negotiated” from the job description into the top half and left edge of your first page (front load and top load).

Write accomplishments, i.e. “problem, action, result” which you did and made a difference to management and the bottom line. Quantify your past accomplishments with the same benchmarks your future boss would use.

Always have two people proof read the resume before you send it to an employer.


RESUME FORMATS:

Functional Type: Emphasizes accomplishments & skills.
Most often used when changing from dissimilar careers/jobs.
Emphasis on capabilities, not necessarily on length of experience
Varied work experience background(s).
Prior work was temporary, consulting or projects.

Functional Hybrid:
Combines the achievements of the functional resume with the work history of the chronological format so that the employer can see stability of employment with diversity of experience.

Chronological Type: Listing of similar jobs/experiences by date.
Used by those staying in the same field.
Pattern of growth, upward responsibility.

Always use a cover letter.

Resumes - Chronological, Functional Samples
Resumes - Scannable Samples with Instructions
Resumes - Displaced Homemaker
Resumes - Displaced Homemaker/Care Taker

A. Job Objective
Brief, clear and to the point. (Show your intent.)

Tailored to the employer’s requirements by using the employer’s job title.

Level and function of the desired position equal to the job objective.

Objective stated from the employer’s perspective. (Employers like to think you are interested in them and the job applied for.)

B. Relevance
Is content limited to information that is clearly relevant to your stated objective?

Does the resume stress skills, accomplishments and results, as opposed to duties and responsibilities? (Employers want to know how you did something, not just what you did. Use experience like: Worked well with new employees and was selected to do all orientation classes because of excellent presentation skills, or Promoted to lead heavy equipment operator because of my ability to operate back-hoe without damaging installed pipe.)

Are the results clear and quantified when possible? (Use experiences like: Worked with bookkeeping staff to increase accounts payable collections by $10,000 a month.)

Are numbers greater than ten indicated with digits (e.g., 25, 50%, $400,000) instead of being spelled out?

Does the listed education and training support the job objective?

Does the summary of qualifications illustrate that you meet or exceed at least 80% of the requirements of the position for which you are applying?

Do the computer and/or technical skills listed reflect an understanding of current state-of-the-art equipment, techniques and applications?

Is the use of acronyms minimized or explained?

C. Organization
Are key words quickly and readily found within the top half of the first page?

Are action verbs used at or near the start of each accomplishment statement?

Are past tense verbs used consistently throughout the resume?

Are dates limited to year (i.e. leave months and days off.)

Are dates consistently located, either on the right or left side, within the resume?

Can all dates, job titles and work places be found immediately?

Does the education section start by listing the highest degree obtained?

List degrees and certificates in order of degree/certificate, major, school/institution, city and state.

D. Employer Appeal
Does the resume make an employer want to invite the author to an interview?

Does the overall presentation of the resume read like a good “product literature” advertisement, or a bland autobiography?

Is the type, size and resume format easy to read?

Is there enough white space within the borders and throughout the resume?

Is the content clustered into short, bulleted sections?

E. Rejection Prevention
Do the dates of qualifications and experience go back a maximum of 10 years?

Omit high schools, “Personal” sections, and phrases such as “References available upon request”.

Is the resume free of spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors?

Have others proofread the resume?

Omit dates of the certificates and/or degrees if they are more than 10 years old.



TEN RESUME DON’TS
By Peter Newfield/Monster.Com

Resumes are a necessity for almost every job on the planet—accountants, teachers, CEO or municipal employees. Unless you carefully and objectively examine your resume before sending it out, recycling bins across America may be filling up with those ill-planned documents. Before mailing your next resume, check the ten resume “don’ts” below:

1. Appearances Count – Don’t try to save money by printing your resume on cheap copy paper instead of good quality stock. Check for typos, grammatical errors and coffee stains. Use the spell check feature on your word processor and ask a friend to review the resume to find mistakes you might have missed. 

2. Does Size Matter? – If your career warrants a two-page resume, then go ahead and create a document that reflects the full range of your experience and accomplishments. Don’t reduce the type size to such a degree that your resume becomes difficult to read.

3. Truth or Consequences – Don’t fudge over dates or titles on your resume to hide the fact that you have been unemployed, that you switched jobs too frequently or that you held low-level positions. If a prospective employer conducts a background check and discovers that you lied, you can kiss the job good-bye.

4. State Your Case – If you are seeking a job in a field in which you have no prior experience, don’t use the chronological format for your resume. By using a functional or skill-oriented format, you can present your relevant experience and skills up front.

5. Put Your Best Foot Forward – Don’t simply copy the job description jargon from your company’s HR manual. To show that you are more qualified than the competition for the positions you are seeking, you need to do more than simply list your job responsibilities. Present specific accomplishments and achievements: percentages increase, accounts expanded, awards won, etc.

6. No Excuses – Don’t include the reasons you are no longer working at each job listed on your resume. The phrases “Company sold,” “Boss was an idiot.” And “Left to make more money.” Have no place on your resume.

7. What Have You Done Lately? – While it is certainly acceptable to have a two-page resume, don’t list every single job you’ve ever held. Personnel managers are most interested in your experience from the last 10 years, so focus on your most recent and most relevant career experience.

8. Target Your Audience – Don’t mail out your resume to every ad in the Sunday newspaper. If you are not even remotely qualified for a position, don’t apply. Read the ads, determine if you have the right credentials and save the wear and tear on your printer.

9. No Extra Papers, Please – When you send out your resume, don’t include copies of transcripts, letters of recommendation or awards, unless you are specifically asked to do so. If you are called in for an interview, you may bring these extra materials along in your briefcase for show-and-tell.

10. Don’t Get Personal – Personal information does not belong on a resume in the United States. Don’t include information on your marital status, age, race, family or hobbies.

Questions to Help Build Achievement Statements

1. What work-related projects are you proud of that relate to your job objective?
Example: Increased productivity 20 percent as lead assembler on production team.

2. What are some quantifiable results that point out your ability?
Example: Drove profits from 10% to 25% by initiating new marketing campaign.

3. When have you demonstrated PAR? (Problem, action, results.) What was the problem, what was your action to remedy it, and what was the result?
Example: Reduced theft 47 percent by instituting Shoppers’ security program.

4. When did you positively affect the organization, the bottom line, your boss, your co-workers or your clients?
Example: Enhanced staff morale through a six-month incentive program that prompted a major increase in sales.

5. What awards or commendations have you achieved that relate to your job objective?
Example: Awarded “Top Salesperson” for three months.

6 How is success measured in your field” How do you measure up?
Example: Selected by management to represent the company at the Professional’s Conference in Washington D.C.

7. Are you good at using the skills required for this job? When have you demonstrated that to be true?
Example: Used advanced CAD tools to create a totally new look in video game modeling.

8. What activities, paid or unpaid, have you performed that used skills you’ll be using in your new job?
Example: Offered academic counseling to 40 students at “Make it Happen”, a volunteer program at Sanford High School.

9. When did someone sit up and take notice of how skilled you are?
Example: Commended for achieving 97 percent of production goal in an industry where 85 percent is considered high.

Tips to get inside an employer’s head and grab their attention:  

• Statements which demonstrate the ability to make money.
• Ways you found to save money.
• Reduction in time per task.
• Elimination of non-essential tasks.
• Ability to solve difficult problems.
• Finding new ways to increase business by reaching out to new markets.
• Good customer service skills that kept business.
• Found new kinds of products or services the customers wanted.

Incorporate professional terms  

The use of professional words can help de-emphasize informal training or work experience, but you must be careful when doing this to show good judgement about the work world.

Professionalizing your domestic experience is a tightrope walk: Ignoring it leaves you looking like a missing person, yet you can’t be pretentious or naïve. Don’t say housewife; say family caretaker. Refer to home management to minimize gaps in time spent as a homemaker. Important: Fill the home management period with transferable skills relevant to the targeted position.

Delve into what you did during your home management period. You did not hold a paid job, but you did do important unpaid work. Dissect your achievements to find your deeds—they can be impressive. Examples range from time management (developing the ability to do more with less time) to budgeting experience (developing the ability to do more with less time) to budgeting experience (developing a sophisticated understanding of priority allocation of financial resources). Other examples include using the telephone in drumming up support for a favorite charity (developing confidence and a businesslike telephone technique) and leadership positions in the PTA (developing a sense of authority and the ability to guide others.)

Despite two decades of media attention to skills developed by homemakers, employers continue to be dismissive of parenting and other abilities acquired inside the home. Many employers believe identifying yourself as a domestic specialist is no more workplace-useful than claiming to be a “seasoned husband” or “experienced friend”.

Make your homemaker skills difficult to disrespect by showing their relevance to a given career field. Be careful to avoid sounding as though you attended a workshop where you memorized big words.

Whatever you do, you can’t ignore the issue—like where have you been for the past few years? When you lack skills developed outside the home in community work, you have to do the best you can to pull out home-based skills.

Other Resources on the Internet for Resume Advice:

www.10minuteresume.com
www.damngood.com
www.jist.com
www.jobhuntersbible.com
www.jobsmart.org
www.jobweb.com
resume.monster.com
www.quintcareers.com
www.rockportinstitute.com/resumes.html
www.jobstar.org
www.careerbuilder.com
www.citytowninfo.com/employment

Here are 50+ immediate free resume examples: http://susanireland.com/resumeindex.htm