Can you tell me some tips on writing an excellent resume?

Question

I am looking to redo my resume, I have a college education, and I own my own home based tutoring business, which is running more part time at the moment, and I have about 10 years experience with children and various other jobs. I am trying to make a resume that doesn't sound so *all over the place*, lol. Any serious suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

short, sweet and to the point! No HR rep wants to spend precious time digging through irrelevant details that are important to you but no to them. when you proof the document, it must A. be PERFECT--no type-o's, no grammar messes, etc. and B. be DIRECTLY ON POINT with the ad to which you are responding. There is nothing worse for me when I come in to my office to begin going through resumes for postings that we have and have to dig through details that are completely irrelevant to me or the position the individual is attempting to apply for. Be very careful here!!

I suggest that you develop a "master" resume that can be tweaked for each ad that you plan to respond to. You will then have an excellent point of reference to begin with and work your magic!!

Best of luck to you!!!
JT

Answer 2

Besides setting all margins to 1", 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. If the original resume was created in Word, WordPerfect or Mac Appleworks, it can be Saved As a PDF file which then can be saved as an email attachment. Otherwise, you can simply use a scanner and scan a hard copy of the resume and then save as a PDF file.

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 3

Custom the resume to the job advertisement. Make simple facts ie your experience in bullet points on the first page. Dont leave the desired skill buried in the detail of the resume. Employers are busy and give-up easily in the first 10 seconds of reading the resume. Use strong words to define your skill because if you dont then someone else will be using them to get attention. You have broad skills and this is desirable to employers. The person
reading your resume also has a boss, so its a reflection on them to employ the best person, therefore reassure them that you have the skills and desire to do the job confidently. Icould go on all day but also make a breif, one sentence, letter.

Answer 4

Make sure it is tailored to make you look as qualified as you can for the position you are applying for. - Recruiters don't want to waste their time with irrelevant information.

Make sure your greatest selling points are on the top 1/3 of the page. - Most recruiters look at your resume for 20 seconds or less.

Keep it short and sweet - the purpose of the resume is JUST to get you the interview - so you don't need to be super detailed (but not too vague either)

Answer 5

Keep it short; 1 page, 2 at most. No one wants to read a novelette. Keep the descriptions as concise as possible. Once you've done it to your satisfaction, double check it, triple check it, and then have your most critical friend check it for spelling, punctuation, and grammar.