Some time back I wrote an article on job interviews titled Job Interviews: Series One and I wanted to take the time to discuss the resume itself. The resume is extremely important in your journey in finding and obtaining the dream job you have always wanted. If you are not comfortable with writing your own resume then you could always turn to a professional service. Just be sure of the service you are using and that the resume is truthful and accurate. I prefer writing my own resume but if you choose a service here are a handful that I am aware of but keep in mind I am not advocating any of these services nor have I used them. You are on your own should you decide to travel this road.
Use of Bullets
You should use bullets with short sentences burst to structure the body of your resume. The main selling points of your resume must be direct and quick to scan. Remember that the first page of your resume is what many potential employers scan and if you do not grab their attention on this first page they may not read any additional pages. Don’t worry about the specifics; you will go into the details during the interview.
Use of Action Words
Use action words like prepared, managed, developed, mentored, monitored, and presented will cause your resume to stand out. Avoid using the same verb over an over. If you fall short on the use of action words then Free Resume Builder has a number of action words that can assist you. Of course you could always pull out your dictionary, thesaurus or jump over to Dictionary.com should you need to.
Use of Buzzwords
Many employers scan for certain buzzwords from the job description such as .NET or J2EE for example. The worst thing I believe you can do is not incorporate the use of buzzword within your resume. There may even be a case where your resume in scanned into a database and a keyword search is performed against a specific technology. Think out this for a moment and don’t cheat yourself out of a job from the start.
Use the Resume to Result in an Interview not a Job
Use your resume to obtain an interview, realistically this must be your end goal. You don’t need to go into detail about every accomplishment rather provide enough detail as a teaser to entice the employer to want to sit down with you. The purpose of your resume is to generate enough interest in you to have an employer contact you for an interview so that you can then clearly explain your work history and future plans.
Summary
I hope that you find these tips beneficial and I always find keeping my resume current to reflect my skills and milestones is much easier than putting it on the shelf only to dust it off should you find yourself back in the job market at a later date.
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Steven enjoys all things technical, politics, fun and family. Basically life in general.
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