4 answers
Sophie’s Answer
1. Include almost all experience, I probably would not add jobs such as pet sitting, baby sitting, etc. unless you are interested in a care giving position. Describe your experience in bullet points, no more than about three. You should be able to summarize experience in a small number of bullet points. Start bullet points with action verbs (developed, worked, studied, created, designed, collaborated, etc.).
2. Keep it short, not more than 1 page.
3. Make it visually engaging, aesthetically pleasing. Use a professional, but interesting font. Play around with the layout. Check out layouts on Pinterest. Ask a friend that is skilled in photoshop or adobe acrobat to help you with the layout.
4. Include a professional email address as a contact. An email looks more professional than a phone number. There is not need to include both. There is no need to include a home address, it is old school.
5. Include a professional picture. Take some headshots in professional outfit and use only for your resume and LinkedIn (use the same for both, continuity). Do not crop from prom, formal events, weddings, etc.
6. Include technical skills (Microsoft office, Adobe, any engineering skills, coding languages, etc.).
7. Include skills that a potential employer would value such as organization, time management, hard working, team player, leader, self sufficient, etc.
Good luck!!
Gary’s Answer
Hi,
My best advice on resumes is to customize each one you send to a company as much as possible to meet the description of the job and any information you can learn about that company that can help you. Remember, the only purpose of a resume is to get you an interview...many times people try to put too much information in their resume - human resource personnel, recruiters and sometimes resume scanners (human or machine) only look for keywords and to see if you have the ability to do the job they are hiring or screening for...then if you get the interview, that is your time to sell yourself and your skills in person.
Good luck! :)
Ayan’s Answer
Write a Human-Voiced Resume Summary that tells the reader (your hiring manager) who you are and what you do professionally.
Avoid business jargon like “Results-oriented professional with a bottom-line orientation” in your resume.
Use the word “I” in your resume.
Tell short stories (called Dragon-Slaying Stories) in your resume to illustrate how you’ve used your talents, rather than just talking about them.
As you describe each of your past positions, tell the reader enough about each of your past employers and each of your past roles for the reader to “see” you in action.
Tell the reader how you got to each job and why you left each job, right in your resume. That way, your story will jump out.
Unless you are in sales, limit the number of figures, digits and numerals you include in your resume. For years we’ve been told to quantify our accomplishments and throw tons of numbers into our resumes, but too many numbers will put your reader to sleep and suck the life out of your story!
Keep your Human-Voiced Resume to one or two pages in length. We don’t have to read about every job you’ve ever held. You can tell us about the most recent 10 or 15 years of your work experience — they are impressive enough!
Make sure that your resume highlights the particular talents, training, and accomplishments that you want to showcase to the managers who can hire you into your next job. Frame your background based on the jobs you especially want, not any job at all.
Finally, use a conversational tone throughout your resume. That will add a tremendous amount of power and personality to your resume — which is, after all, your principal branding document!