Tips for Writing Your Resume
What Is The Purpose Of A Resume?
A resume is a brief and concise document outlining your knowledge, skills, abilities, experience, education and accomplishments. It is your professional advertising and marketing tool to a perspective employer. The objective of a resume is to effectively communicate in writing why you are the best candidate for the job, how you can add value and get an interview with the employer.
What Should Be Included In A Resume?
Education
If you have recently completed your bachelor’s or master’s degree this should appear at the beginning of your resume. If you have taken specific classes that relate to the job you will want to list these on your resume. You can also include training classes and certifications.
Work Experience
List current and previous jobs in chronological order. Include a brief summary of the job and responsibilities, then highlight how you added value in your position. For example, special projects, training, an idea you came up with that saved the company money or improved a process, promotions, and other types of recognition. It is important to highlight how you contributed to the success of the organization. Employers want to hire people who add value, are team players, and have demonstrated their positive impact on the workplace.
Professional Memberships and Organizations
Include professional organizations or memberships if applicable. If you do not have a lot of work experience in a particular field, being part of an organization where you can develop and build this skill demonstrates initiative and related experience or transferrable skills to an employer.
Other Tips
Proofread your resume. Make sure it is free of typos, grammatical errors, and other mistakes. It is always a good idea to have another set of eyes review your resume. If you have been working on your resume for a long time, you may not see errors that a fresh set of eyes may catch.
Keep it brief. Unless you have extensive experience or are applying for a high-level position, your resume should ideally be kept to one page. Your current job or most relevant job experience should contain the most information. Limit the content on previous jobs or those that are not as relevant to your career search.
Be factual. Do not embellish or exaggerate your experience or skills. Be accurate with the knowledge, skills, and abilities you present on your resume.
Do not include personal information. Your resume should contain professional information regarding your work experience, knowledge, and skills. Do not include personal information such as pictures, family and marital status, height, and weight.
Highlight results! Employers want to know – “What can you do for our organization? How did you add value? What did you accomplish at your previous job?” List promotions and ways you saved the company money or had an impact.
Provide a professional summary or objective. Make sure to tailor it to the job. The objective or summary should focus on what you can do for the employer.
Use a professional font and size - i.e.: Times New Roman or Calibri in size of 11 or 12.
Proofread. Proofread. Proofread. Spellcheck!
Include a cover letter.
References can be provided. If you include references, list this information on a separate page.