How do you type the perfect resume and what do employers look for?

Question

I am currently looking for work in the Perth area as a salesman or retail clerk at either at a computer store or general electronic appliances store. I studied in the US for about 7 years and have a great knowledge for home electronic equipment and would like to know what would make me stand up the most. I have not work retail before, but I dont see it as being to hard of a job.

Answer 1

Firstly, there is no such thing as a perfect resume.

I know there are plenty of books and websites that claim that they can help you write a resume that will get you a dream job, great salary and non-stop sex for the rest of your life.

But the reality depends on a lot of different things.

Firstly, a resume needs to be not much more than a list of your qualities. Education, experience, personality, career goals and other skills (eg, electronic equipment)

A letter of application describes in a more prose like format why they should give you the job.

But sales people are born not made. 10 years of sales experience could mean you are still useless. So the best way to prove that you are a good sales person is to be self-confident and sell yourself. Go out and shake your money make on the street baby.

Armed with your own one page resume and letter of application (double side it) head out looking for work.

In your local area make a list of companies that you could work for. Rock up and ask to talk to the manager, then tell them what you want. Then expand your circle. Go to places you are less interested in working at (eg, K-mart, Big-W etc, ie department stores with a electronic goods section and apply for a job). Go to more remote places.

If you are capable of being a sales person then after 1 week I guarantee at least one job offer.

Get experience and go from there.

Oh, if you are a yank (as we say in aussie land) then you should realise that many Americans may come across as a little pushy in Australia, and appear to be selling yourself too hard. Maybe you need to tone your attitude down a little, but be yourself.

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

On Microsoft Works they have a good resume builder. Just type in where they tell you to.

A standard resume would have your name address and phone number/ and or email centered on the top.
Your introduction of yourself (abilities, character, skills)
Then your Work Experience
Education
Personal References
Then a summary.

They say to try and keep it simple with no more then 2 pages, or less than one is even better. Too much detail will be another trash thrower. Personalize it as much as you can.