Resume Tips
Your resume is a sales tool to get your foot in the door.
Highlight your strengths, focus on your accomplishments, and make strategic choices about how to organize, order, and convey your skills and background.
Your resume should be concise, consistent and uniform, and well-written with no grammatical or factual errors. Your resume has to be perfect. Proofread it over and over again. When you are sure it's perfect, have other people proof it to confirm it.
The person who receives your resume will scan it quickly - perhaps for no more than 20 seconds. Therefore, it should be written to stimulate interest and should not be an entire history of your past or a form of self-expression.
Recruiters or hiring managers don't care if your resume is one or two pages long. But they do care whether it is easy to read and gives key information upfront. If in doubt follow the rule of thumb that less than 5 years experience probably only requires one page and more than that may need two.
Don't necessarily start with an objective. Instead, try using a positioning statement that clearly and concisely explains what you have to offer and tailor this statement for each position so that the reader immediately sees a match between his/her needs and your skills: "Senior Software Engineer with 10 years experience developing leading-edge technologies."
While you should never exaggerate on a resume, you should definitely take credit for the things you've accomplished. If your resume doesn't spark interest, you may never get that opportunity, so don't be modest!
When responding to any ads, either online or in the newspaper, be sure you clearly read the ad and assess your qualifications. Companies don't have time to meet with unqualified applicants.
To find good resume styles, go to any Internet search engine and type "resume sample," Find one that suits your background and skills.
No Generic Resumes. "One size fits all" resumes don't cut it. Tailor them to the jobs, emphasizing the most relevant experience. Hiring Managers are not mind readers and do not read in between the lines.
Make sure your resume is visually enticing and professional. Use a good quality paper in a light color with a 11- or 12-point easy-to-read typeface.
DON'T send generic resumes when targeting a specific job.
DON'T use abbreviations. Use professional or technical jargin only if it is relevant to the position you seek.
DON'T use odd sized paper, overly fancy type, color or style.
DON'T put a snapshot of yourself on your resume.
DON'T list references. Reserve them for the interview.
DON'T give personal data - age, marital status, number of children, health. Any personal information runs the risk of turning the reader off.
