There's probably no aspect of your résumé more important to selling yourself to prospective employers than the benefits you've made to your previous employers. Keep this in mind as you prepare your résumé. Don't just describe the duties and responsibilities of your jobs. Focus on your accomplishments and achievements. Tell prospective employers what you've done in your past and current jobs that's made a difference in your employers' bottom line. Maybe you increased sales, or reduced costs, or implemented new procedures, or streamlined existing procedures. Give this some careful thought. Stand out from the rest of the applicants by showing prospective employers how you do more than just take care of the "duties and responsibilities" of the position. Show them you have a history of going beyond that to make yourself a valuable asset to the company.
Length
Your résumé should only be as long as it needs to be to market yourself effectively. If it's too short, you may not be selling yourself effectively. It it's too long, you run the risk of prospective employers not reading it at all. One page is ideal, but if it takes two pages, that's okay too, as long as you've looked it over with a critical eye to make sure you've eliminated the "fluff" and zeroed in on what will sell you to prospective employers. You should also pay close attention to your format and layout so that you make effective use of the space available to you on the page.
Positive Attitude
Project a positive image. If possible, don't include any negative material on your résumé at all. If that's not possible, try to soften the negative impact as much as possible. For example, if you're a recent college graduate and have a low overall grade point average, either don't list your GPA at all or list your upper division GPA or your GPA in your major instead, if those are higher. Just be sure to identify your GPA accurately (i.e., 3.7 in major, or 3.5 in Engineering, or 3.6 upper division). Watch your wording when describing your work experience. For example, compare these two statements:
- Assigned to work on a multi-million dollar
marketing project
- Participated on a multi-million dollar marketing
project
Both statements are true, but the second one is much more positive.
Conservative Approach
Don't go overboard on what I said in the previous section. Sure, it's important to project a positive image, but no one likes an over-confident, pompous, know-it-all. Be positive and confident, but not smug.
Accuracy and Honesty
Don't guess. If you're not sure about your dates of employment or any other information on your résumé, check it. One inaccuracy on your résumé can make the rest of your information suspect. Check very carefully for grammatical and spelling errors. Honesty is even more important than accuracy, so be careful about telling the truth. You might be able to talk your way out of an honest mistake, but if you're caught in a lie, you're finished.
Organization
First, make sure everything on your résumé has a good reason for being there. Second, make sure everything on your résumé is arranged in an orderly and logical manner. Present your most important information first and follow through with the rest of your information in descending order of importance.
Appearance
Regardless of what your résumé says, if it doesn't look nice, you're in trouble. It should be laser printed on good quality paper, with text arranged in a pleasant manner. It should be prepared in a typeface size that easy to read (preferably 12 point, but no smaller than 10 point).
