Resume Development

Seek professional assistance in the development of your resume unless you know yourself to have excellent writing skills. Don't be misled by the flippant advice of workshop instructors at outplacement centers and unemployment offices. Those who cannot use "power words" themselves in their writing and speaking should not be handing out lists of supposed power words to the innocent victims of downsizing and a volatile economy. This is cruel and mean!

Unfortunately, good writing skills are not widely available due to the inadequate instruction in composition offered by many public schools and even colleges. If you have strong written communications skills, then use them in the development of your resume, even if you use the services of a professional preparer. If you plan to design your resume by yourself, check out some recent books on resume writing to see what is current practice. When you have a draft prepared, show it to someone whose writing skills you trust. A review by someone familiar with resume writing would also be very helpful.

Comb Out Errors Vigorously!

Errors in spelling and grammar will not be well received by a human resource director. They may be viewed as signs of carelessness or a broader incompetence. Do not write the way you talk! Use the spell checker in your word processing program. As needed, use a dictionary online or in hard copy. For sharpening your thinking about good composition, take a look at The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White. Read and reread your work and invite others to comment on it.

Exclude the Irrelevant!

Do not include any personal information unrelated to your professional skills and experience. It is no longer acceptable in American business culture to include on your resume personal details such as date of birth, social security number, height, weight, health, and marital status. Some details may be requested on a detailed application form for the purpose of background checks and insurance matters, but anti-discrimination laws apply to employment procedures (not that violations are infrequent). Inclusion of hobbies will rarely be useful. Matters of salary history and requirement do not belong on the resume, but on the cover letter. Only include them if requested and even then use your judgment. Try to keep salary issues for the interview.

The resume (r�sum� is French for summary; r�sumer means "to sum up, give a summary of") is only a summary of your qualifications and experience. If you have years of experience, early part-time jobs may not convey any useful information. If you made a career change years ago, the earlier experience may be irrelevant for evaluating you for a place in the list of applicants to be interviewed. Reasons for leaving past employment and your self analysis of weak points should be left out. The resume should make a positive case for granting you an interview. Be prepared to answer questions at the interview about weak points and past problems in employment.

Include All That is Relevant!

Would you hire you? If so, why? Present at least a small section on your valuable skills, experience and accomplishments to show why you are the right candidate for the job. Do not include fluff or empty flowery language. Know and use the keywords relevant to your field of work. Include certifications you hold. Indicate all pertinent education, including employer-sponsored workshops and seminars that sharpened your skills. The reviewer of your resume is probably not interested in the elementary or middle school you attended. Your achievement of a high school diploma or GED may be relevant.

The largest section of the resume is often the work experience in chronological order, starting with the most recent and working back. Occasionally, a more functional approach is better, but the chronological approach remains quite common. Include the job title and company name for each position you held along with years of service at each. Often the beginning and ending year for each position is adequate, but the months are sometimes specified as well. If you are dealing with potential employers who are looking for a continuous work history, you will need to show an employment history without gaps, if that is honestly possible. For each position enumerate your responsibilities and accomplishments. Remember to use all relevant keywords.

Don't Fabricate!

Some employers do check references. They may even hire private investigators to perform employment background checks as a regular policy. Such investigators are usually quite familiar with fabrications on resumes, especially in the area of education. If you drove through the campus of Harvard University and stopped there to eat lunch, don't say you went to Harvard on your resume! Don't think some don't try such foolish things. Avoid being rejected for the position because of lack of integrity. Even worse, do not subject yourself to the risk of later humiliation of dishonorable dismissal and possible prosecution for fraud on your resume.

Accommodate Virtual Reality!

In the real world resumes are carefully designed to be informative, attractive, concise, and compelling. They are given impact by the use of active verbs as power words. But what if your resume is not reviewed or handled by a real human being? More and more employers and employment agencies are immediately placing resumes into a database which is searched by keywords. Only those resumes selected by their search program appear on the screen for review. The keywords used in their searches are more likely to be nouns than action verbs. How do we adjust to these changes in human resources?