I opened up the heater’s cover (which had screws as long as my pinky finger for some reason) to look for the reset button and was greated by a blanket of dust and some warning labels. One of the stickers said that the heater was “Equipped with SMART LIMIT,” which is supposed to automatically adjust the thermostat. Great theory, obviously it didn’t work. Another sticker said “Danger!” and gave various warnings. I ignored the top part of the warning (a grammatically incorrect sentence saying “Shock hazard Shut off circuit breaker now!”), because I figured it was just an advertisement. I mean, what else would you put at the top of something besides the obligatory banner ad?

A good jolt to my finger later and I had the dust mostly cleaned up. Let that be a lesson to you: clean your heaters. You don’t have to turn off the power as long as you work with one hand and don’t mind a little excitement though…

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.”

In a technical writing class I took, the professor used the acronym CRAP, and it worked very well (so I am going to steal it for this post). I have included some screenshots of bad design examples (all of which are from real pages).

Contrast – Bad Contrast Example
The point of text is to pass along information. If you can’t read it, it’s useless. White and black contrast very well and that’s why most word processors use black text on a white background. Since just using black and white is boring, people like to mix in other colors. The key is that the background and the text need to contrast (be different) enough to be easily readable.

Repetition – Bad Repetition Example
If you look at this post, you can see that each of the topics is in bold. That repeating element helps to make it easy to key in on the topics. Each type of heading should have the same styling. You should not change styles (size, font, color, etc.) arbitrarily. That means no thinking, “Well that last paragraph was green, so lets make this one blue and the next one red and..”

Alignment – Bad Alignment Example
Just as each of the topics of these paragraphs is in bold, they are all at the same level (think of indenting). For some reason, people like to indent sometimes, center other times, and generally mix it all up. Don’t center body text; it’s incredibly hard to read.

Proximity – Bad Proximity Example
Headings should go with their paragraphs. Your eyes naturally want to clump information together. If you look at most publications, the images have small captions directly under them, letting you immediately know that caption is for that picture specifically. If you look at the example, you can’t tell if the caption is for the top or bottom picture. This is most commonly a problem with headers, where people don’t specify the spacing and it appears directly between two paragraphs rather than closer to the one it belongs to.

Other Points
Partition your information. That means: break it down into smaller chunks and label them when possible. Imagine if this entire post had no headings and was just one big paragraph. Partitioning not only makes the information easier to read, it makes the information easier to refer back to. Cursive fonts are generally a bad choice. Animation, flashing, blinking, etc. take your eye away from the content.

Final Note
If your MySpace page causes someone’s CPU to spike to 100% for five minutes, your page is terrible and shouldn’t be allowed on the internet.

Apply for a job you can reasonably do
If a job says it requires a fluency in Spanish and you don’t know how to pronounce “llamo,” don’t waste your time or the company’s time. That doesn’t mean to lie a little either. If you took two years of Spanish in high school and are proud that you know how to ask where the bathroom is, saying you are “fluent” on your application is a bad idea. When the interviewer starts talking to you in all Spanish, you’re going to look like an idiot.

Dress appropriately
This should be a no-brainer, but it’s still common to see people under-dressed for interviews, which can be insulting to the company you want to work for. If you don’t know what is appropriate (it doesn’t always have to be a full suit and tie), it’s almost always fine to ask whomever you set the appointment up with (such as the secretary or hiring division).

Be confident, not pompous
Read these three statements:

• “I think I would be good for this job.”
• “I would be good for this job because…”
• “I am the best X so I would be great at X’ing.”

The first statement is not assertive and gives no backing, which makes you a very weak candidate. Assuming the second statement ends with solid examples and not mumbling, it is a much better option. The third statement is a little too much. You aren’t the best and everyone knows it. You might be the best qualified candidate they talk to, but you should prove so with examples that don’t make you sound like you are full of yourself.

Be ready for the usual questions
There are certain questions that you should specifically be prepared for. These are the general questions that are asked at the majority of interviews (and, even if they aren’t asked, the answers you are prepared to give for them could work their way into the answers for other questions).

• “What are your strengths?”
• “What are your weaknesses?”
• “What about this job caught your eye?”
• “Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?”
• “What leadership roles have you had in the past?”

Don’t oversell yourself, but don’t sell yourself short either. You should list strengths that you know you have, not that you think you have. That’s especially true if you had to submit some samples of your work or a portfolio. Don’t use the weaknesses question to break the first rule (don’t be pompous!). Saying, “I guess my biggest weakness is that I like to work too hard,” is likely to make it hard for the interviewers to avoid rolling their eyes or groaning.

Keep the company in mind
This goes along with the above questions. Everything you say should have them in mind, not you.

• You say: “This job would be a good opportunity to become a better designer.”
  They think: “He doesn’t bring much design experience.”
• You say: “I saw this job on *insert job-hunting website*…”
  They think: “He doesn’t know anything about our company.”
• You say: “My friend *name* told me that your company was looking for a *position*. I’ve been using your company’s *product* for a few years now and it’s great. I’d really enjoy working on *product* or any of the other exciting projects this company is undertaking, because this company is on the cutting edge of *field*.”
  They think: “He might have connections; He knows and uses our products; He is excited and energetic; He makes our company sound good.”

Keep the people in mind
Try to remember at least a couple of the names of your interviewers. Normally, the interviewers are introduced and give a brief explanation of their jobs (or at least their title). If you take this knowledge and use it during the interview, they’ll see that you pay attention to details and are at least a pretty good “people person.” You don’t have to memorize all of their names, but each one helps. Simply responding to an interviewer’s question with his or her name (e.g., “Oh certainly Tim, I love…”) will make that person feel special and start building a connection with you.

Be proactive
When the interview is over, ask what the next steps are. Do you need to call for a follow-up? Do you need to talk with someone else? Are there more forms to fill out? You can also use this as a chance to piggy-back on the previous point. Asking Dave what program he uses for a specific task or asking Mark which cranes they use shows that you learn quick and pay attention.

Finally,
Don’t forget to follow-up. You would be surprised how much difference that makes. The résumé is supposed to land you an interview. The interview is supposed to put your toes in the door. The follow-up is your best chance to keep your name in the pile. Even if you don’t get the original job, conducting yourself well and following up can give you a chance at another position in the company or even another company. Word of mouth works wonders.

Use the appropriate lane
Unless otherwise noted, the right lane is for the slowest people and the left lane is for the fastest people. You should be as far right as you can be as often as you can be. Before pulling out to pass someone, make sure that you are moving at least as fast as anyone you’ll be pulling out in front of.

Use turn signals
Ever come to an intersection, waiting to take a right but someone is coming from the left… so you wait… and wait… and then they turn down the road you are on? It’s annoying when someone wastes your time, because he or she is too lazy to click on the car’s blinkers. Use your turn signals as a courtesy and as a safety device. You may think it is obvious that you are changing lanes so you don’t need to signal, but other people might not think so. To them, you could be drunk, sleepy, or simply unsafe.

Merge safely and efficiently
Unless it is unsafe to do so, you should be trying to get your car up to highway speed on an onramp. In most cases, you should be merging at the speed everyone else is already traveling. When the roads are fairly busy, merging should be a one-by-one process (the “zipper effect”). Each person in the merging lane should let one person in front.

Don’t be selfish
If your lane ends ahead, change lanes as soon as you are able. Don’t try to wait as long as possible so you can pass a bunch of people, because that often results in dangerous merging and the slowing of traffic. Never change into a closing lane, merging lane, or on/offramp to speed past someone because you think your time is more valuable than everyone who is actually showing patience. Yeah, you’re special, but so is everyone else.

Safe distance
At highway speed, you need at least two or three seconds to safely stop. If you are driving a larger vehicle (e.g., an SUV) or you know you’re a little slow to respond (such as when you are a bit tired), you need more room. Tailgating irritates the person in front of you, which won’t make the highway any safer. The time you lose from having to go slower than you’d like is less than you’d lose for being in an accident, even a minor one.

When it all comes down to it, you basically need to be courteous, be aware, and be patient.

Credit cards build credit very easily and many have good reward packages. Having a solid credit history can save you thousands of dollars throughout your life, ensuring you have a good interest rate on the loans that you will make (such as for a house). The problem with credit is that it takes time to build. If you are 25 and decide to obtain a loan for a house without credit, you’re pretty much out of luck. If you have had a couple of credit cards since you were 18 and never missed a payment, you have a better chance.

The Costs
You should acquire a credit card as soon as you can and you should use it. When looking for a credit card, you should pay special attention to all of the details. Notice the APR. You should be paying off the card each month, but that doesn’t make a 30% APR acceptable. Also look for any monthly or annual fees and avoid cards with these. Credit cards are one of the few chances you have in life of taking advantage of a major company, so you should avoid paying them anything if possible (you can tell all your friends you are “sticking it to the man,” and hope they aren’t laughing at you immediately afterward). The grace period is also very important as it is the amount of time you have after a purchase before it starts to accrue interest. Generally, grace periods are around thirty days, which means if you pay off your card every month, you never have to pay interest, but be wary; some cards offer short grace periods such as 15 days.

The Benefits
The niceties should be the last thing you consider (look at what the card could cost you before you look at what you could gain). I recommend cards that offer cash back. Many cards offer 5% on gas stations, 2% on grocery stores, and 1% on everything else (or something similar to this structure). That’s your chance to make money from these companies while you are borrowing their money. If you make $20,000 a year and half of that goes into credit card purchases, 1% cash back could be $100 in your pocket at the end of the year. Some people prefer frequent flier miles or “reward points” that you can spend on particular items. Whatever it is, make sure it’s something that you will use. Frequent flier miles are great—if you use them. With some cards, they could expire before you have a chance.

Usage
Your limit will be low when you start, but that’s okay. Use the card for smaller purchases (such as $20) and pay it off regularly. Pay close attention to your limit. Never go over your limit. Never miss a payment. Never buy anything you can’t afford. Never buy anything you think you will be able to afford if your paycheck is big enough next time. Those are the main ways people find themselves in trouble. Missing your payment generally means your interest rate jumps (often to 30% or more) and a fee is applied to your card (usually $20-$50), and it’s especially bad if that fee puts you over your limit, because that gives you another fee. Missing your payment could cost you a quick $100 and plenty more down the road when your credit score suffers and causes you to have higher interest rates.

Credit Reporting
Credit cards affect your credit by the percentage you owe. If you owe 10% on your card, that’s “good.” If you owe 50%, that’s “bad.” That means some people can owe $5000 and still have a good credit report, but another person can owe $100 and look bad. This is also the reason you should avoid Capital One and American Express (unless you have a specific need, such as an AmEx card for shopping at Costco). Those cards report your limit as whatever the highest balance you’ve held was. That means they could tell you that your limit if $5000, so you make a $500 purchase. They report it to the credit monitoring agencies as using $500 of $500, which effectively says you have “maxed out” your card. That tells other companies that you are not only unresponsible, but that you are probably in financial trouble. Check your credit report from the three major agencies at least once a year (you can do so for free).

Things To Remember
You should have 3-6 months of income in a savings account. That money should be used for emergencies (e.g., pay the bill with your credit card, then pay it off with your savings). If you rely on your card for emergencies, you might not be able to pay it off right away which will cost you much more in the long run. A savings account will also earn a small amount of interest.

If you can’t afford something, don’t buy it. Don’t think, “I can just put it on my card and pay if off in the next couple of months.” That will cost you money and could be the start of ongoing credit card debt.

If for some reason you cannot completely pay off the credit card, pay as much as you can. Paying the minimum often just covers the interest (and not always all of it). As soon as you have more money, pay more.

Credit cards are considered revolving accounts, and, although they help your credit score when used properly, also having a loan and paying it off can help your credit score significantly. Some people take a small personal loan of a few hundred dollars and put the money into their savings account. They pay the monthly payments, eating the interest, until it is completely paid for. That is a solid way to build credit, but it costs money, so consider if it is right for you.