Resume Help

Resume Advice

This is a simple way to organize your thoughts and assemble basic information about your work history. It is of utmost importance that you include the scope of your responsibility for each of your jobs, as outlined below. The enclosed sample résumé is for the human resources professional but can easily be adapted for any profession.

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REQUIRED:

At the top of the first page, centered:

  • Name
  • Home address
  • Cell phone
  • Personal e-mail address
  • LinkedIn profile link (optional)

For each EMPLOYER include:

  • Company name and location (city, state)
  • Dates employed (format in month and year—for example, May, 2011)
  • What the company does (product or service)
  • Company statistics (annual sales, number of branches or plants, domestic or International locations, etc.)
  • Number of employees (total employees and/or the number at this location)
  • Organizational level (for example, headquarters, division, region, plant)

For each POSITION include:

  • Job title and dates in this job (format in month and year)
  • Job description. This is the most important information you will provide to the reader.
  • The easiest way to think about what to put in this section is to separate your job responsibilities away from projects and accomplishments—those will be included next. Think about how you spend 75% of your work day or week and include those things here. It’s not important to include something that you only do periodically.
  • Title of immediate superior
  • Number of subordinates managed

List PROJECTS and ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

Include one sentence (two lines or less) descriptions of significant:

  • Projects (distinguish from responsibilities)
  • Teams you participated on
  • Awards you received
  • Quantify savings you were able to achieve
  • Note statistics you assisted in improving (for example, turnover, absenteeism, large number of hires in a period)
  • List above with simple bullet points—fancy formatting doesn’t e-mail well.
  • Some great words to use are: Leader, Strategic, Solution, Innovation, or ROI

EDUCATION and PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

  • Include Colleges or Universities attended.
  • List each degree including major (graduation year optional).
  • List recent involvement with professional associations and note any participation with committees or boards.
  • If you are just out of college, put education first, otherwise it goes at the end of your professional experience.

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OPTIONAL:
  • An objective section at the top of the resume—this statement is often phrased with “canned” words. For example, “seeking a challenging position with a growth oriented company.” I recommend omitting an objective unless your background is very diverse and you want a job that focuses on just one area of interest.
  • Include your GPA from college only if it was exceptionally high (3.5 or above). After a few years of experience GPA should be dropped but continue to list your academic honors.
  • List training classes or seminars on a separate sheet. If you have attended a program relevant to your next job, perhaps include it a bullet under accomplishments and projects.
  • Since a resume is a summary and cannot possibly describe all of your work history, keep a separate list of information about your work experience. Write brief paragraphs describing the items and your specific involvement. If you keep this updated it is an excellent tool to preparing for an employment interviews.
  • Leisure activities and hobbies—I like these items listed at the end of a resume. I use them often as ice breakers to start a face to face interview.
  • Omit “References Available Upon Request.” We presume they are. ALWAYS:
  • If you send your résumé via e-mail, use a PDF to preserve your formatting.
  • Use a simple font like Arial. Calibri, Georgia, Helvetica, Garamond.
  • Check your document for spelling and grammar errors—don't rely on spell check. Have
  • Other people read it or proofread it backwards.
  • If you have more than two years of work experience, keep your résumé on two pages.
  • One page if your experience is less than two years.
  • On the top of page two, repeat your name and include the page number.
  • Include graduation honors If you received Magna, Summa or cum laude.
NEVER:
  • Never use your office e-mail address at the top of the resume. Instead, get an address from a free service (for example, your.name@gmail.com). Don’t use a cute address and don’t use another person’s address.
  • Check your email account name to be sure it matches your name.
  • Avoid including all personal information which suggests your status (for example, marriage, age, health, children, race, religious or political group.).
  • As you often hear, there is no standard format for résumés. I believe the above chronological style format is logical and designed to highlight your experience in a format that is easy to understand. Remember, the final product should be a document that accurately represents you and you can be proud of.

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I hope these tips help you. If you have comments or questions please contact us.