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Five most violated resume-writing rules
This is the problem with the resume-writing world: Everyone thinks they’re an exception to the rules. Everyone thinks they can pick and choose which rules are important. Do not do this. Until you work in human resources and personally scan 300 resumes a day, you are in no position to discard rules of resume writing. Here are the six most violated rules among the resumes that people send to me to review:
1. One page. The job of a resume is to get you an interview, not get you a job. A hiring manager has to sift through a pile of resumes to figure out which person to interview. Each resume gets about a ten-second look. If you think you need a longer resume, give someone one page of your resume and have them look at it for ten seconds. Ask them what they remember; it won’t be much. They are not going to remember any more information in ten seconds if you give them two pages to look at; ten seconds is ten seconds.
2. Ditch the line about references on request. It’s implied. Of course, if someone wants a reference, you will give one. No one presumes that you will not. So when you write that you will provide a reference you seem to not understand how the game is played. (Bonus tip: If you have an excellent reference, like a CEO of a Fortune 500 company who vacations with your Mom, have the reference call before you even go to the interview. Sets the tone for the employer to think you are amazing.)
3. Tread lightly on the personal interests line. Your personal interests are not there to make you look interesting. They are there to get you an interview. Every line on your resume is there to get you an interview. So only list personal interests that reveal a quality that will help you meet the employer’s needs. If you are in sports marketing, then by all means, list that you kayak. If you were an Olympic athlete, put it down because it shows focus and achievement. If you are a mediocre hobbyist, leave it off. Personal interests that don’t make you stand out as an achiever do not help you. And personal interests that are weird make you look weird and you don’t know if your interviewer likes weird or not, so leave weird off the resume.
4. You must list achievements, not job duties. Anyone can do a job. Achievements show you did the job well. Past performance is the best indicator of future performance, so don’t let someone think you just showed up for your last job and didn’t do it well. It’s very hard to see your achievements from the trenches; you might think you did not have achievements because your boss doesn’t ask you to do achievements, your boss asks you to do tasks and projects. But you need to recognize that you do not see achievements and ask for help to see them. A resume coach, or even a friend, can help you to see them more clearly.
5. Don’t be a designer unless you are. If you have more than three fonts on your resume and you’re not a designer, I can promise you that you’ve botched the layout. If design were easy, no one would get paid for it. Recognize your strengths and keep design elements to the bare minimum. And please, save Photoshop for cards to your mom: Just because you know how to use the shading tools doesn’t mean you know how to use them well.
6. List your most recent job first. Chronological order is only a good idea if you are looking to get hired to go back in time. Otherwise you look like you’re bucking resume writing convention in order to hide something, which you probably are, but you have to do it with a better sleight of hand than that.
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2. "Ditch the line about references on request."
Very good advice. But if someone is dumb enough to think I won't ask for references if they don't put that line in, there's little hope of them giving it up. I struggled — struggled — to get a friend to give it up without success. He consulted the VP in his company and that eminent personage (goofball) told him not to listen to me.
1. "One page." I don't agree. It depends on how much information you have to handle. Mind you, if you're in Gen Y, you won't have enough experience for two pages and then this advice would be fine.
4. "List achievements, not job duties." A lot of people who don't understand your job will be scanning your resume for duties they can match to the job specifications. I'm one of those people. So, duties then achievements is what I look for.
Posted by Recruiting Animal on 03/24/2007 at 09:40pm | permalink | Reply to this comment
How do you feel about listing basic computer competence? I feel it is a waste of a line to put: proficient in MS Outlook, Powerpoint, Word, etc. I think you'd have a difficult time finding a professional today that lacks those abilities.
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Yes. Agree.
Posted by Jobsearching Jill on 03/27/2007 at 09:38am | permalink | Reply to this comment
You obviously don't have colleagues like mine, whose documents and spreadsheets I get called on to fix almost every day…
(On the other hand, if people list computer proficiencies on their resumes, I would tend to be sceptical without a proficiency test.)
Posted by UncleBaldric on 07/13/2009 at 07:20pm | permalink | Reply to this comment
on Reverse Chronological Order: what's the problem with this? I've only ever seen resumes that start from the job you currently hold then work backwards from there. It makes sense for an employer to be able to see them in that order. Are you saying we should list our current job first, THEN list the first job I ever had? won't that look weird?
Thanks for pointing out the error. I fixed it.
Posted by veronica on 04/27/2007 at 05:02pm | permalink | Reply to this comment
I agree with everything except number one. There is no way a resume should be just one page long. I look for historical performance and job consistency. And to be honest, I am also looking for keywords (skills) and how long those keywords were in use. If I have to go to the 2nd or 3rd page to get those details – so be it. Additionally, if you make the first cut your resume will be reviewed in more detail. One page doesn't provide much detail.
Posted by Peter on 05/11/2007 at 07:53am | permalink | Reply to this comment
Penelope,
What do you think about including an line in your resume for your "objective"? As in, "Objective: To make company xyz the leader in widget production worldwide"? My stepmother swears it's essential, but I think it's goofy. What do you think?
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Leave it off. Your objective is to leverage your skills and experience to get a job with the company you are applying to. If your objective is anything else you shouldn't be applying.
Penelope
Posted by Daniel on 06/27/2007 at 12:39pm | permalink | Reply to this comment
As far as the one page resume I think this an important rule to follow if it is even a question in your mind. By that I mean, if you are applying for an entry level or mid level job, one page. If you need more than one page you will "know" you need more than one page.
Posted by Ryan on 01/02/2008 at 12:52pm | permalink | Reply to this comment
Accomplishments for scanning by the human eye; a separate resume with duties for those machine scanners that have not yet evolved sufficiently to understand accomplishments.
That initial 10 second skimming seldom gets beyond the middle of the first page. At that point a one or multi-page resume is irrelevant. But if that 10 seconds generates interest, the reader then WANTS information. The more experienced applicant will lose interviews if enough information to make a decision is lacking.
Posted by jay on 12/01/2008 at 01:16pm | permalink | Reply to this comment
I have redone my resume a million times over. I am at wits end…….can't seem to find a job in this Houston. Moving to PA, my hubby got a job there….seems they have jobs there……..are there sites that can help in doing my resume for a fee..
Posted by kay on 10/04/2009 at 01:46am | permalink | Reply to this comment