Tips on creating an easy to read and effective resume

I received these great tips regarding resume writing from one of my LinkedIn Friends, Steve Anthony of Strategic Staffing Solutions. Steve Anthony co authored this article. Now as with most rules these are open to interpretation as they may not apply to all industries. Enjoy and good luck on your job hunt!

Create an easy to read and effective resume

The Internet has single-handedly changed the way we look for and apply to jobs. Your resume must be “Internet Friendly.” This means that it will post well to the job boards and upload into a recruiter’s HRIS system without scrambling the document while keeping it easy to read on the computer screen.

1. MAKE SURE YOUR CONTACT INFO IS COMPLETE. It is crucial you have provided your potential employer with complete contact information. Be sure to include your email address on your resume. Employers do not have time to try to track you down.

2. STAY AWAY FROM FANCY FORMATTING. Just because your resume looks great printed out, this does not mean it will translate well when either uploaded or be easily read on your reader’s computer screen. Stay away from fancy fonts, tables, templates, graphical text boxes, graphical text lines, headers, footers, centering, inconsistent tab layout, etc.

3. CUSTOMIZE YOUR RESUME each time you send your resume out to match the requirements of the employer. Know what skills and experience that particular job is looking for, and make those specific areas stand out. Be prepared to go beyond the job description, you might have to do additional research to find out more about the company you are applying to. Do not take up space illustrating skills that are not relevant to the job you are seeking. A brief description of our company is helpful, not everyone knows who your company is or what they do. If you have short tenure you might want to list the reason you are no longer with the company.

4. CREATE A STRONG HEADLINE AND SUMMARY. The top of your resume is the most crucial. Your reader should know who you are and what you do within five to 10 seconds of looking at your resume. Create a powerful headline that says who you are and what you do and don’t be generic be specific, companies don’t hire generalists for a specific job. Think of this as a headline to a news story. What will grab your reader and make them want to read on? Immediately after your headline, draft a “skills summary” section that illustrates your hard-core skills and industry expertise and how these specifically matches the requirements of the position. What makes you stand out? Customize your headline and summary every time you send out your resume. If you try to say that you can do everything you will not be taken seriously.

5. USE BULLET POINTS throughout your entire resume. Stay away from long, dense paragraphs; they will not be read. Paraphrase your accomplishments and be concise. Your resume should be very easy to scan through. Use circles rather than squares, diamonds or dashes.

6. CONCENTRATE ON YOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS; stay away from listing your duties. Hiring managers are not interested in what your duties or responsibilities were. What did you achieve with your responsibilities? What makes you stand out from another candidate with the same experience?

7. INCLUDE ONLY RELEVANT INFORMATION. Leave out your hobbies unless they are related to the job you are seeking. Do not include your marital status, age, irrelevant affiliations, etc. Also, there is no need to go into grave detail about past employment that is not related to your desired position.

8. KEEP IT TO TWO PAGES MAX. Do not overwhelm your reader by making your resume too long. Recruiters are only interested in details of the last five to eight years, 10 tops. It is important to list all employment but you can list it rather than go into to great detail.

9. NAMING YOUR RESUME. Imagine being a recruiter and getting several hundred resumes per week all named “resume.doc.” Keep it simple, make it easy for your reader to find you and name your resume document “Smith, John Resume.doc.” or better still “Smith, John Your Title (Marketing Director) Resume.doc.”

10. PROOFREAD YOUR RESUME. One of the quickest ways for your resume to end up in the trash is one that contains misspelled words, typos and wrong grammar usage. Also, be sure to use the correct verb tense. Mistakes on your resume can reflect carelessness as an employee and is a direct reflection of the effort you will put into every project you do.