Resume...?

Question

Is it better to use bullet or paragraph form these days? I have heard the argument either way, but have recently redone my resume in bullet form... I would love as many answers as possible!!!! (So I can take the majority!)

Answer 1

Most employers seem to prefer bullet. Short, sweet, and to the point. Most people spend an average of 30 seconds reading a resume, and if they don't see what they're looking for right away, it'll probably hit the round file.

Answer 2

You may want to use a mixture of plain text and bullet format, just to keep things visually appealing. Too many bullets and your resume starts to resemble a laundry list. There are good samples of what I mean at you local bookstore; refer to anything in the resume section by Wendy Enelow.

Don't believe the 10, 20 or 30-second resume reading myth. This has become corrupted via word-of-mouth and lost its meaning. What you should consider is that you have a very brief time to get the reader's attention (THAT'S the 30 seconds). Once you have their attention, then they will take more time to read the rest. A good way to build their interest is to start your resume with a strong summary or profile at the top that presents the best of what you have to offer, i.e., what YOU can do for THEM.

Answer 3

Either use of a paragraph [heading] or bullets to highlight a particular entry is acceptable. The most important criteria for setting up a professional resume besides relevant text, is "scanability." Here are some helpful tips:

1. Place just below your identification header [your hame, address, phone, email address] any Conditional Warning Statement such as "Confidential Resume,"Do Not Contact Current Employer," etc.
2. Always fill-in an Objectives category [just below the Conditional Warning Statement] and make sure that he Objective will contribute to the profitability of your future employer;
3. Select a mono-type font such as Helvetica, Arial, Courier or Times Roman; do not select any cursive handwriting styles which cannot scanned;
4. Keep font sizes within a range of 10 to 12 pts.;
5. Avoid styling text with a justified alignment, keep it flushed left;
6. Instead of using tabs to set up blocked text entries, generate a table and use the column and row settings accordingly;
7. Do not place an i.d. picture anywhere on the resume, this is a major taboo due to discrimination issues;
8. Do not place any graphic text [saved as .gifs] onto the resume since it may be overlooked during the scanning phase;
9. List at the very end of the resume your interests which should include travel experiences, language skills, social interactions such as golf, team sports, tennis, etc.

In conclusion, the above helpful hints were designed to allow ease of scanning of your resume into PDF which can then be text captured for seach purposes by your potential employer. Failure to conform the resume to appropriate fonts and styles as outlined above will result in rejection of the resume simply due to the inability of the scanning device to properly index relevant resume entries.

Good luck!

Answer 4

Bullets. Short & to the pt. If you wanna write in paragraph form, then also write a cover letter. Cover letters are used to stand out even more to get a job. They cover things that haven't been mentioned already in the resume. I've never heard of a resume being written in the form of paragraphs b/f actually... W/ bullets you're typing as few words as possible & still get your pt across. Good luck !!! :)

Answer 5

Bullet points draw the eye. Exploit that by putting important information in bullet form and getting straight to the point.

As a resume writer, I often combine a short paragraph with no more than five bullets.

Paragraph = brief description of what you do, including number and type of people managed, company revenues, budget size, whether you were promoted or recruited into the position, and a few more highlights.

Bullet points = accomplishments and successes. Incorporate numbers or percentages to make them interesting. (You can almost always represent accomplishments through numbers. You will increase, decrease, or improve something, right? Then represent the change numerically.)

EXAMPLE. (Asterisks serve as bullet points here since this environment won't allow a bulleted list.) Also, in this example subheaders break things up and allow for a few more than five bullets.


BEGIN EXAMPLE


Promoted to cultivate and manage 200 volunteers, three employees, and six trainers. Raise funds and oversee career advancement program serving 1,600 clients annually. Manage $400,000 program budget and 90 nonprofit referral partners across two counties. Serve as principle public spokesperson; measure and track outcomes; hire and train consultants; and write monthly e-newsletter. Report to Executive Director.

Resource Development

- Raised $7,000 in seven minutes at live auction bid challenge.
- Increased program graduates' employment rate - from 20% to 80%.
- Rewrote 180-page manual and increased training sessions by 50% annually.
- Reduced consultant costs by nearly 50% - from $3,000 to $1,600.

Volunteer Cultivation

- Created volunteer speaker bureau, recruiting and training 13 new speakers.
- Wrote 25-page volunteer training manual with accompanying PowerPoint slides.
- Unified recognition and appreciation opportunities.
- Improved client service relations across socio-economic boundaries.


END EXAMPLE


Remember, don't exhaust your reader by giving to much information, especially if it's redundant. If you're a cashier, it's clear that you reconcile money so skip the obvious and tell them the amount of money you reconcile over what period (daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly - whichever is most impressive). Consider mentioning your 10-key speed, or your per-customer transaction speed.

Don't make the reader search for important data. Let bullet points help.

Answer 6

When looking at resumes, the bulleted for catches my eye better, It looks cleaner and organizes the information.

Good luck with the job-hunt.

Answer 7

Bullet form is short, sweet, and most easiest to read.

Answer 8

I like to see them in bullet form, it's easier to see what the person has done.

Just personal preference.