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Write a Better Resume: 10 Tips

By Kenneth Anczerewicz

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 19Jan2008 Word count: 559 Viewed: 163 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

Resumes may inspire fear in the hearts of job seekers, but they don't have to. Just follow these 10 tips to a better resume:

1) Be sure your contact information is up to date. In this fast-paced era, we often change phone numbers, email addresses, and so on. Make sure that you change your resume to reflect the latest, most current information and to ensure that the employer is always easily able to contact you.

2) State your intentions clearly. You should always start off by stating your career objective—what is your goal in terms of your desired position and industry? Explaining this under the heading "Objective" gives the employer a shorthand indication of exactly what you want.

3) Write in your own voice. It's tempting to use complicated vocabulary to make your resume and application more impressive, but more often than not this ends badly. You may misuse words or give the employer the impression that you are posturing and overreaching, and that's never good. Stick to a tone and style that you are comfortable with.

4) Don't be too modest. The resume is a place for you to shine. List your accomplishments and explain them proudly. Let the prospective employer know what you have to offer, and don't be afraid to blow your own horn.

5) Keep it to one page. Unless you have a very long or very extensive professional history, you should never let your resume go beyond one page. Employers want to be able to scan your background quickly and easily, so keep it short and to the point.

6) Be specific about your qualifications. Even though it may be tempting, you should never just send out the same Xeroxed resume to every company you're applying to. This may save you some time in the short-term, but it's not going to win you very many job offers. It's far better to customize your resume to fit each individual prospective employer, because this shows the employer just how well suited to the position you are.

7) Never list your salary requirements. Employers often ask for your desired salary, but the resume is not the place to put it. Salary discussions should be left until later, after the interview, when you have more leverage.

8) Proofread. No matter how careful you are when you're typing out your resume, there's bound to be at least a few errors—punctuation errors, spelling errors, grammar errors, or just careless mistakes that make the entire resume look sloppy. Don't let a handful of casual mistakes (or even a single flaw!) undermine all your hard work. Proofread carefully so that the resume is perfect when you send it off to prospective employers.

9) Get someone else to proof it, too. Two pairs of eyes are always better than one. You are often too familiar with your own resume to be able to view it objective and catch errors; give it to someone else who can look at it afresh and proof it more thoroughly.

10) Make sure your resume has a professional presentation. Thin paper with streaky ink is not a good way to present yourself to the employer. Use thick resume paper with clear ink, preferably printed with a laser printer. Remember, appearances count for a lot!

Remember the 6 P's: Proper, Preparation, Prevents, Particularly, Poor, Performance.

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