1.  If you are a recent graduate (within the last year) you need to put your education near the top of the resume before the job descriptions and after the achievements.  This is, of course, assuming that your education is relevant to the position that you are applying for.  You may want to list any coursework that is particularly applicable to the position.

2.  If you have been out of school for more than a year put your education at the bottom of the resume.

In this section, include the year you graduated (or the year you are expected to graduate if you are still a student).  If you have been out of school for decades I would suggest you still list your education but leave off the dates.

Also include the institution you attended plus the city and province/state.  Don’t forget to include the degree, diploma, or certification you achieved.

Another section you may want to include is for any Continuing Education courses, on the job training or Certifications you took to advance your career.  This section always goes at the bottom of the resume.

That concludes the 10 steps to creating a resume that will blow away your competition.  I hope you’ve enjoyed the steps and found some useful information.  If you need any extra help writing the best resume possible, I urge you to contact a professional resume writer.  After all, we are here to shine the spotlight on you and highlight the special qualities you offer to your new employer.

Good luck in your job search!

use bullet points for the job descriptions.

keep each description no longer than 1 1/2 lines and no shorter than half a line.

take out any extraneous words until just the bare minimum is there to get the point across.  Now is not the time to pop in fluff words.

Always start with an action verb like Initiated, Resolved, Trained, Supervised, Mentored, Applied, Calculated, Repaired, or Developed etc.

If you are still with your current employer make sure the action verb is in present tense, all others should be in past tense (e.g. “Initiate” if you are still working with the employer and “Initiated” if you are not.)

Use as many bullet points as needed to cover the most relevant aspects of your job duties.  If some of the duties don’t apply to the job you want, leave them out.

Here is a sample of an Objective I recently created for a client:

A committed, creative, and hard-working professional with over 23 years experience in the Hospitality industry seeking a management position within your company. Eager to offer knowledge, superior communication, and team collaboration skills to provide a meaningful contribution. Willing to offer honesty, attention to detail, patience, and courtesy to all interactions.

To break it down, the first sentence includes three strengths my client possesses, the kind of background he has, and the position he wants to apply for. The second sentence lists the talents he excels at. The third sentence indicates the benefit he would provide the employer should he be offered the position. Together, these sentences provide a powerful snapshot of the kind of employee who would be successful in the position.

Try re-working your Objective to include these elements and you will increase your chances of being offered the interview.

Next on the list of things I want to discuss are your accomplishments. You have many and we need to highlight them.

Until next time,

I’ll discuss each type of resume briefly here:

Chronological:

This is the traditional style of resume that lists your professional experience chronologically, starting with your most recent position.  The majority of resumes are written in this format, and this is also the format most employers are accustomed to seeing.  This style is particularly effective in the following cases:

You have professional experience in the position you are applying for.

You can demonstrate measurable results from the employer’s work activities (for example, “Marketed departmental events, resulting in 50% increase in attendance.”)

You’ve held impressive job titles, and/or have worked for big-name employers.

Functional:

This style of resume became popular in the 70’s and 80’s but is still viewed skeptically by some employers.  It summarizes your professional “functions” or experience and avoids or minimizes your employment history.  Just be aware that employers are used to seeing chronological resumes so make sure you have a definite reason for selecting a functional resume format.  This format is often used in the following cases:

“Older workers”, since it minimizes dates

“Career changers”, since it outlines transferable work skills

Recent graduates who don’t have a lot of professional experience in their field, but DO have relevant coursework or training

“Returning employees” after an absence from the workforce since it minimizes dates

You want to emphasize skills you have that haven’t been used in recent work experiences

Combination:

The combination resume uses the best components of the chronological and functional styles.  More recently, the combination resume has included accomplishments under each position or function rather than simply outlining duties and responsibilities.  This style allows for flexibility in designing a strong sales tool.  Again, since employers are used to a reverse chronological format, consider this style when:

Each position you held involved a different job description

You have held internships or volunteer positions that directly relate to the position you are applying for

Next time, I’ll talk about the ever important Job Objective.  You may be surprised by how much it’s changed since you last wrote a resume.

Until then,

As I mentioned before, hiring managers, prospective employers, and HR personnel sometimes have hundreds of resumes to go through in very little time.  You want the most important information to be highlighted within the top third on the first page.  If there are two or more pages they may not even get a glance.

To help you with keeping the resume to one page, ask yourself if the information you want to put on it really applies to the position you are going after.  If the answer is “no” then leave it off.  If the answer is “yes” then it can go on the resume.  Be selective about what you put on the resume.  You can always elaborate when you get called in for an interview.  Remember, you resume is not your life story.  You can leave some things off of it and still sound like the wonderful person you are.

Next time, we’ll get into choosing the proper format for your resume.

Until then,

For the resumes I create for clients, I like to use 28 lb. bond paper.  This weight makes the paper feel heavier and the resume look better.  After all, it’s about the presentation and you want to make the best first impression possible.

Never photocopy your resume to be submitted to a prospective employer.  That gives a bad first impression.  Instead, each copy should be printed directly onto the bond paper using an inkjet or laser printer.  Be sure to inspect each page for marks, smudges, and other imperfections.  If you find any, reprint that page.  After all, the price of a page of wasted paper is less than the price of a lost opportunity.

Next time, we discuss the length your resume should be.

Warmly,

As I discussed in the previous post, you definitely want to chunk your info into bullets for easier reading.  But it doesn’t do anybody any good to have the bullets misaligned.  It’s actually quite jarring to have a point out of place.  At best, it makes the resume look sloppy.  Definitely not an impression you want to make.

On the ruler you’ll notice three marks – two triangles and a rectangle.  These are the marks that you move to align the bullets and text.  I’ll describe what each one does:

• The top triangle moves the bullet to wherever you want to place it.
• The second triangle moves the first line of text.
• The rectangle moves the rest of the paragraph if there is more than one line.

To Move Bullets

To align the bullets, place the cursor at the beginning of the line.  Click on the top triangle and you’ll notice a dotted line appears all the way down the page.  Hold the mouse button down and move the triangle to the left or right and let go.  The bullet will be placed where you let go.  You can use that line to match subsequent bullets and they will all be lined up on the page.

To Move Text

The process is the same for moving text.  Place the cursor at the beginning of the line.  Click on the second triangle, hold the mouse button down, and move the text to the left or right.

To move a whole paragraph or section of a document, highlight the section and then use the rectangle to move the text.  If you use the second triangle, you’ll get a hanging indent where the first line stays where it is and the rest of the section moves to the right.

To make sure that the bullets and text align over multiple pages, click on the Print Preview button on the Toolbar at the top of your screen or go to File -> Print Preview.  There is a ruler there too that you can click on to make sure alignment is correct.

Next time, I’ll discuss your paper choice.

Warmly,

Bullet points allow you to chunk your info into bite-sized pieces that are easily digestible to read.  You have to be concise with a bullet point.  It shouldn’t be any longer than a line and a half or it defeats the purpose of a bullet.

Here is an example of a bullet point from my own resume (in a Microsoft Word document, the length is a line and a half):

• Provided freelance ghostwriting and editing services to several life and business coaches allowing them to effectively market and grow their coaching practices.

You also do not want the bullet point to be shorter than half a line or it looks silly.  Sometimes you can combine two points into one to make it longer.  Just make sure that the points fit together well with similar job duties.

Next time I’ll talk about aligning bullet points.

Warmly,

Have lots of white space. Hiring managers don’t want to see a resume that is crammed with information. Your resume should have top, bottom, left, and right margins that are greater than 0.5”. Anything less than that will look cramped and might get your resume tossed in the circular file (garbage can).

Also leave some space between the headings to make sure that they are eye catching. The whole point of headings is to indicate a separate area of information. They need to pop out.

You know that the competition out there is fierce for jobs right now. Don’t let this simple mistake of not having enough white space eliminate you from the competition. You deserve to have that perfect job!

Next time I will be discussing bullet points.

Until then,