Most resumes are nothing more than a collection of various facts about your past – your work history with descriptions, dates, education, affiliations, list of software mastered, etc. If these attributes are put on the top of your resume, anyone reading it will feel like they are reading a form. This is boring no matter how extraordinary you are. All this facts are placed in the second half of the resume. We should be putting hot stuff in the beginning, and all this information afterwards.
When evaluating a potential résumé, many employers look at the employment history before they review anything else in the profile. The employer evaluates tenure at each firm and accomplishments, career progression and any gaps in employment. To employers, the tenure at each job is critical while evaluating a résumé score. A large number of jobs with very short tenures implies that the candidate is flighty, unsure of their career path or unable to work with management. On an average, three years is the average employee tenure, and employers evaluate their candidates accordingly. In a résumé, most people do not put why they left, but a string of jobs with short tenures implies repeated firings.
Formatting and Grammar
A sloppy résumé is a big NO. According to a recent research, 61 percent of hiring managers said typos would make them automatically dismiss a candidate from consideration. However, many candidates fail to carefully proofread, or pay someone else to proofread, their résumés. The most common, and easy-to-spot, flaws in a résumé are in the formatting. Common formatting errors in résumés are inconsistent spacing, randomly colored fonts, misspellings and bad punctuation. Non-essential information, such as marital status, fraternity affiliations, religious affiliations will most likely hurt a candidate’s résumé.
One should take the time to customize résumé (especially the objective if you have one and cover letter for each position you want, and don’t apply to those jobs in which you are not interested. If your resume doesn’t
reflect the job they’re hiring for, the only thing you’ve done is waste their 20 seconds.
List Accomplishments vs. Duties
The more specific you can be, and the more accomplishments you can offer to an employer, the better your chances of getting through the initial screening. Every job has duties, as does the one you are applying for, and these most commonly are listed on the requisition. However, an employer is more interested to hear how you can exceed those duties to help their company grow and excel. Example- “Checked orders and sent out P.O.s” is something unimpressive, as is a common job description. An employer would be more likely to call if you mentioned that you “managed a revenue of $XX million annually. It’s great that you can do the job, but how can you excel? Employers base your potential for future success on your past – wow them.
Choose an Appropriate Length
While most résumé writing books say one page is appropriate, you should understand when to cross the line.
Consider a one-page résumé if:
• You have less than 10 years of experience.
• You’re pursuing a radical career change, and your experience isn’t relevant to your new goal.
• You’ve held one or two positions with one employer.
Consider a two-page résumé if:
• You have 10 or more years of experience related to your goal.
• Your field requires technical or engineering skills, and you need space to list and prove your technical knowledge.
While the absolute mandate of one page is out of vogue, it is critical that your résumé be no longer than it needs to be. If you find yourself increasing the font size, making 1.5” margins or pondering additional bullet points for each job, cut a page.