Resume Tips & Guidelines

As a job seeker, you have only one very brief opportunity to make a first impression. It is imperative that it is a good one! Hiring Managers typically scan a resume and make a decision within 2-3 seconds on whether or not to read on or move on. This may not be right, but it is the reality. Below is a list of tips & guidelines to help you get off to the right start and potentially a call from the Hiring Manager.

Always Live By These Rules:

• Always use spell check before sending to a company or printing.

• Use good grammar and punctuation.

• Be truthful, clear, concise, and keep it simple.

• Provide enough information on your resume to encourage a hiring manager to contact you for more. Be able to elaborate during a phone screen or interview.

• Keep your resume to no more than 2 pages, if possible. Hiring managers do not want to read through 12 pages of work history. Again, you will have the opportunity to elaborate over the phone or face to face.

• Provide explanations for any gaps in your employment. This can be done in a cover letter as well as on the resume. Don’t make it difficult for a hiring manager to figure out your work history.

• Bold or highlight any skills where you excel or that you feel are important for a particular position for which you may be applying.

• Always keep the information focused on your accomplishments and not the obstacles you faced such as with a difficult boss, lazy coworkers, poor product/quality, etc.
  
  
• Bing Crosby was right: “Accentuate the positive, Eliminate the negative, Latch on to the affirmative, Don't mess with Mister In-Between”
  
  

Provide the following information on your resume:

• Name & all contact information -
  
  • Always provide accurate information such as address, telephone, and email
  • Indicate the best method for contact (i.e. telephone after 6pm or email anytime, etc.)

• Objectives/Goals –
  
  • Be clear about what you kind of position you are seeking and why you are a good fit for their open position.
  • It may be appropriate to have more than one resume, largely the same, but with different Objectives/Goals. For instance, perhaps, you have both Java Development and Business Analyst experience and would be happy in either role. Your Objectives/Goals can be specific to these roles.

• Work History –
  • List all work history in reverse chronological order.
  • Ensure to include the company name, title, dates of employment, and a description of your accomplishments.
  • Demonstrate that you think outside of the box and are not afraid to go that extra mile to help the project or the company that you work for. The following kinds of information are especially eye catching to hiring managers:
    • “Led a team of 5 Java developers on a web application using Struts, Hibernate, and Spring. The concept of an Agile Methodology was introduced. Due to my recommendations and leadership, we were able to complete the project on time and under budget.”
    • “The company saved $25K in software licensing fees during the first year because of my research and recommendation to switch to an open source editing tool.”
  • Unless you have zero industry experience, there is no need to include high school and part time college jobs or irrelevant jobs.
  • For Recent Graduates - It may be beneficial to include part time and full time positions (no matter their relevance) and elaborate in your cover letter the fact that you held these positions to “pay for college tuition”, etc. while maintaining a 4.0 GPA, coveted the position of Team Captain of the Basketball team, leading them to the state championship game, etc. This will show that you work hard, have good time management skills, can multitask and are dedicated to your own professional development.

• Education –
  • Include college classes and degrees obtained.
  • Include the name of the college, city, state, and year graduated.
  • If you have not graduated, yet, put the expected graduation month/year.
  • Any honors or exceptionally high GPAs should be mentioned as well.

• Technical Summary – if appropriate for your position
  • This can be a bulleted list or a couple of sentences describing technology environments, etc.
  • Only list the technologies used as well as the technologies that you want to highlight for that particular opportunity.
  • Do not provide a laundry list of everything you’ve ever looked at or read about. You don’t want to provide the impression that you are an expert at everything because that is unrealistic.

• References –
  • It is not necessary to list the references on the resume, however, always mention that References “are available upon request”
  • Ensure to obtain the permission of your references prior to providing a company their name, title, and contact information

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