Resume tips

[dogdrool]

I'm sure something like this has been posted before, but I've been helping my group hire people recently, and I want to post my tips.

1) Make your resume fit on a single page. Oddly, almost nobody does this, yet everybody should. Employers want an easy to digest summary of your past. They want something they can understand completely in one, quick scan. You can fill in any missing relevant information during the interview process.

2) Don't put stuff on there that you don't know. Either it won't matter for the job, or it will matter, and they'll ask you about it in the interview and you'll immediately get rejected because you don't know it. "So you know Java? Sorta. It says here Java. Well I used it once. I see, bye."

3) Skip the "objective" because it is meaningless and wastes precious space.

4) Put your strongest thing first. Hopefully your strongest thing is what you did most recently. Employers basically want to know "what have you done recently and why are you looking to change and come here?"

5) Have a mix of the typical itemized list and a narrative flow. It will make it easier for the reader to understand the big picture, and also show off your skills at communicating. Half of most jobs is just communicating well with the other drones.

6) Put your name and contact info on it.

[cbloom]

Totally agree accept for this :

[ QUOTE ]

5) Have a mix of the typical itemized list and a narrative flow. It will make it easier for the reader to understand the big picture, and also show off your skills at communicating. Half of most jobs is just communicating well with the other drones.


[/ QUOTE ]

Maybe if it was a customer service job or a writing job or something this would be cute, but when I'm hiring programmers if I see junk like this it's a huge red flag.

The main thing I want to see is a description of exactly what *you* personally did at your previous jobs. I don't care that the company is a Fortune 1000 company or that what your job title was, I care what you actually personally did and you better have done it because I'm going to ask you about it.

[MasterLJ]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm sure something like this has been posted before, but I've been helping my group hire people recently, and I want to post my tips.

1) Make your resume fit on a single page. Oddly, almost nobody does this, yet everybody should. Employers want an easy to digest summary of your past. They want something they can understand completely in one, quick scan. You can fill in any missing relevant information during the interview process.

2) Don't put stuff on there that you don't know. Either it won't matter for the job, or it will matter, and they'll ask you about it in the interview and you'll immediately get rejected because you don't know it. "So you know Java? Sorta. It says here Java. Well I used it once. I see, bye."

3) Skip the "objective" because it is meaningless and wastes precious space.

4) Put your strongest thing first. Hopefully your strongest thing is what you did most recently. Employers basically want to know "what have you done recently and why are you looking to change and come here?"

5) Have a mix of the typical itemized list and a narrative flow. It will make it easier for the reader to understand the big picture, and also show off your skills at communicating. Half of most jobs is just communicating well with the other drones.

6) Put your name and contact info on it.

[/ QUOTE ]

All are good save for #1. I look at hundreds of resumes a day, and I would say that limiting yourself to 1 page is a mistake. I've been told this is a regional phenomena. It also is highly dependent on your field... if you are in IT you absolutely want longer than a 1 page resume. My tip for IT resumes is to include an "Environment: " or "Tools Used:" summary at the end of each position you mention:

example:

ABC Company Dallas, TX March 2003 - June 2006
Responsibilities:
-Fluffed my boss
-Then slept with his wife
-Nailed his daughter when she turned 18
...
...
...
Environment: Java, Swing, Eclipse, SQL, T-SQL, etc etc

It helps both recruiters and primary hirers to get a good idea of what skills you have used professionally and what skills you have used recently.

[DCopper04]

Always round up

[tuq]

[ QUOTE ]
1) Make your resume fit on a single page.

[/ QUOTE ]
Wrong.

[Wes Mantooth]

Many resumes that I have seen that are more then 1 page are too long, they could/should be only one page...though this is not always the case.

[dogdrool]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
1) Make your resume fit on a single page.

[/ QUOTE ]
Wrong.

[/ QUOTE ]

Okay, perhaps my advice doesn't apply to some IT position where your only goal is to list off every single buzz word that you've heard over the past 5 years. I'm more speaking of a position where your overall intelligence and drive is just as valuable as experience in some particular environment.

The point about one page resumes is that if you're smart, and you edit it well, you can fit a lot of information on a single page. It means a lot more to see a rock-solid one page resume than an unfocused buzzword list that spills onto 2.5 pages.

Also, there's just the very practical point that most people who interview you only look at your resume for 1 minute before they speak with you. "Hey Bob, there's a dude down in 14b that we're interviewing. Want to ask him some questions? Here's his resume."

Or even if all interviewers have the resume in advance, many will slack and put off reading them because they probably have other more important or more interesting things to do.

[cbloom]

One good candidate once sent me a resume that had a 1 page "abstract" with all the key information, and then like a 5-page portfolio with a full description of his major accomplishments. I thought that was a fine way to go, though I basically didn't read the portfolio because I already knew he was qualified enough.

1 page may be a bit extreme in some cases but for software hiring I'm with dogdrool that I'd much rather see a really tight 1 page than a thin couple of pages. Basically anything that's fluff or filler just keep cutting and cutting until you're left with only the really interesting meat.

[IggyWH]

I really need to get on the ball with a resume, cover letter and salary history so I can start looking for a new job. Hopefully, I can land myself a job before I move.

I'm pretty stupid when it comes to these things. Are MS Word templates, or templates in general, a bad idea? Any quality websites that anyone has that they can recommend? I need some serious help here!

[cardsharkk04]

So in high school I got some pretty solid awards, in college I don't really do anything. How bad would that look to put an award from high school on a resume when I'm trying to get a finance internship?