Gordaen’s Blog

Note: I’ve chosen to write “résumé” as “resume” throughout this article.

I don’t know if I should feel bad for those who have to read resumes regularly or if I should be envious. The process is simultaneously painful and humorous. Apparently, the majority of schools (high schools and colleges/universities) do not teach anything about resumes or the job search overall, and people appear to have a difficult time using logic.

Size does matter
For 99% of jobs, one page is how long your resume should be. If you have a two-page resume, you stand out, and not in a good way. Employers expect a one-page resume (the front side of one sheet of paper), so more than that says that you don’t understand the nearly-universal expectations of a resume (i.e., you can’t follow directions) and/or you don’t know how to summarize (i.e., you have a comprehension problem). If you have less than one page, employers will think that you must not have many valuable skills.

Appearance does matter
Just like the expectation of length, employers expect a particular format. The resume should be on the nicest white paper you can buy (this keeps it from looking like a cheap, photocopied resume and it increases the contrast and readability). Each section should have some kind of heading and that heading should very clearly go with the section it is for (e.g., 12pt of spacing above the heading, but only 6pt below it). Don’t include a photo of yourself on your resume no matter how beautiful you think you are.

Pay attention to alignment. You should be able to take a ruler and see that all bullets on the page line up, all headings line up, etc. When applicable, text should be justified (usually CTRL+J) so that both the left and the right edges go to the margin. This ensures the right side of the document appears as full as possible without being choppy.

Consistency should be consistent
If you are listing bullets that go along with a job, they should all start the same way (e.g., with past-tense verbs). Your headings should all be the same size and font (which should be different from the size and face of the primary font). The spacing between each section should be consistent and your left margin should be the same as your right margin.

It’s not you, it’s me
Never say “I” on a resume and never sound pompous. You’d be amazed at how often people write descriptions of their past jobs like this:

I learned how to be the best paper stapler ever. I had a coworker who wanted to keep his Swingline stapler, so I had to put him in his place. I got a lot of praise from my boss and I got a lot of awards.

By the power of Grayskull
Sound like you have done something important by using strong action verbs and specifics. When applicable, list your action and their effects.

Terrible:

• Got awards
• Made a new security plan
• Helped get people together to save the world

Improved:

• Displayed professionalism on a continual basis, earning three “Employee of the Month” awards
• Developed and implemented security plan, eliminating all work center theft
• Coordinated with seven hundred personnel to protect the world from large-eared presidents

Other thoughts

• Make your point the first time - If you’re a web developer, you should list a few of the sites you have worked on (particularly the best, most recent, and/or most relevant to the job you are applying for) not the 100’s you have worked on. Each bullet should reveal a different skill.
• References available upon request - Generally, employers assume that you have references should they request them. Saying “references available upon request” just takes up valuable space.
• Full but not crowded - Use whitespace to make your resume easier to read. Don’t use whitespace just to “fill” the page.
• Relevance - Every detail should be worded/applicable to the job the resume is for. If you were cashier at a fast food restaurant, your burger-flipping experience is not as important as your people skills.
• Conventions - Read your resume on the computer. Print it out and read it again. Have a friend read it. Have an enemy read it. You should not have any spelling errors or grammatical mistakes. You should make sure you didn’t accidentally type something twice type something twice. This shows your attention to detail, speaks something of your educational background, and convention errors can easily eliminate you from large candidate pools.
• Rules can be broken - The above rules can be broken, but they should only be broken if you have a very good reason for doing so.

A real example

Sometimes it is easiest to learn by example (original found online with a Google image search). Looking at this thumbnail, can you tell where each section is? You should not have to read a heading to know that it is a heading. Left of the white space is where the image is a bit confusing. If you look at the full image, you’ll see that there are four sections, but the underlined “WOMEN’S UNIVERSITY” can throw off your eye. I recommend avoiding underlining altogether. I strongly recommend not using all caps for anything other than a heading.

I highlighted the dates in green to show how scattered they are and I colored a large chunk of white space to make it stand out. These problems are directly related to the weak wording in this section. “Licensing: Teacher’s License, 2002″ makes me fall asleep and the word “recipient” makes it sound like the scholarship/award was not earned but simply received. With better wording (which requires more than three words), the dates could easily be pushed to the far right so they would line up all the way down the entire resume.

Notice there are no specifics: “Coordinate and manage CEO’s meetings and schedules.” Could that sound any more bland? “Eat saltine crackers” would have accomplished the same thing. More importantly, I have no idea what this person is applying for (that’s why I added all the question marks). The top lists several unrelated or vaguely related skills and the rest of the resume does not cater to any particular skill besides basic “secretary stuff.” If a stranger can’t guess what you are applying for 1/3 of the way into the resume, then it’s too generic.

I’m sure you can see that there are several other issues with this resume, which many people would consider “good.”