Does your resume break mirrors and have dogs barking? Alright, so it s ugly. You can live with that. But if it s also failing to generate job interviews, something has to give. Let s take a fresh look at that old resume, and see if it can t be tweaked into better shape. Here s help in the form of a 5 point resume makeover.
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Got a resume that s a beast? Does it need a leash when you take it out of the house? Maybe it s time to consider a resume makeover. After all, creating a good first impression is pretty much what a resume is all about. If yours isn t doing that, it s not doing its job.
I ve compiled five key things you can do to quickly improve your resume, creating a better look and a better first impression of this most important document and thereby increasing the odds of an interview invitation.
Resume Makeover 5 Points To A Better Looking Resume
1 Lose the self centered objective. If the first line of your resume objective reads like: To work for a company offering advancement opportunities and salary commensurate with... you are dead to every hiring manager in the free world. Replace that self centered objective with something that hints at your worth to the company. Something like: Position as Territory Manager to advance a proven track record for identifying new business opportunities and delivering bottom line results.
2 Drop kick the mundane job descriptions. If you re a Registered Nurse, we don t need to hear that you dress patients wounds, hook up IVs and maintain charts. The basic stuff is a given. We do need you to tell us the degree of your responsibility ( Charge Nurse on a Medical Surgical Unit with supervisory responsibility for a staff of 5 ). And we do need to know any achievements of note ( Served as Preceptor for new employees. Selected to teach IV Therapy Program to nursing students and EMT A s Member of Code Blue Team. ).
3 Organize info especially accomplishments into bulleted lists. Big blocks of text are difficult to read. And when a hiring official has to plow through 300 resumes, you do not want yours to be difficult to read. Lead off a section with a sentence or two, then organize the balance of information in a bulleted list. That creates white space, and makes comprehension of that data far more likely and pleasant.
4 Pick out and highlight those qualifications, skills and accomplishments that speak to the position you re seeking. If you re been in retail sales all your life but are seeking a job in management, you ll want to point out not only that you increased counter sales 150 of quota but that you Set up and organized stock room and new store wide filing system, and were Selected to assist in new store opening, with accountability for stocking and merchandising.
5 Cut the clutter. If you ve been to college, drop any mention of high school and elementary school. Scrap the dates on college extracurricular activities. Remove mention of any hobbies, sports and interests. Relegate professional references to a separate sheet. Indeed, if you re pressed for space, you don t even need the sentence References Available Upon Request at the bottom of the resume. It does make a nice closing statement and signals to the reader that he or she has reached the end of the resume. But if your resume needs to be de cluttered, it s expendable.
And that glamour photo in the upper right had corner? OK, if you ve got a photo on your resume, here s what you do. First, send a copy to your mother. She ll appreciate it. Now feed the rest of those photo resumes through the shredder.
I know it s tough. But better you than the hiring official.
Author Resource:
Providing resume help on a number of sites, former recruiter David Alan Carter reviews the Web's most popular resume writing services at the website http://www.TopResumeServices.com, comparing quality of workmanship, spelling out pricing, and giving each a star ranking.
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