It’s time to tackle resumes. Stacey’s Resume tips and tricks really gives a great quick low-down on how to improve a resume and Andy Lester’s comment hit on a couple of my particular pet peeves.
So if you have to have the resume in before the end of the day and you just need some quick advice check out Stacey’s Resume tips and tricks. If you are like me and have a lunch hour to kill and forgot to bring the novel you’ve been reading and are vaguely disappointed by the shift in Spring weather back to cool from awesome… pull up your leftover Thai food and read on.
Resumes
Visualize a resume. It’s printed in an amazing array of colors, colors that span RGB and CMYK, in fact oil painting artistic level colors. At the top is a name. Below it is an email. There is no phone number, no address. It’s such personal information to hand out freely to someone you’re asking to trust you with a paycheck. Surely phone number and address are for the third date or after a commitment has been made!
Below the name and email is some space and then the word “OBJECTIVE” as it is very important to state why the resume has arrived. Hiring managers generally need to be told that theirs is the job that has been objectified and dreamed of for years. The job that fulfills a lifetime of requirements. The desired job, whether or not the qualifications below match. Often this is the only line that gets changed as resumes cycle in and out of the inbox.
Following the objective is the name of a educational facility of some sort, then a list of jobs once held, no dates given, positions described like ergonomic stretches done on a required basis. Businesses named but without sense of context, no sense of what “Clarity” did as a corporation or even where they are located.
There’s a space in the list and then a second unlabeled list of unidentifiable associations, uncatagorized ideas, unexplained notions. Volunteer work? Memberships? Conferences? Side projects done for your cousin’s boyfriend’s bestfriend at a discount?
At the very bottom of the text, smeared well into the second or perhaps third page, is a chunky paragraph of coma separated values. In no particular order are listed languages, traits, software, skills, and sometimes values.
References upon request.
What?
Well, that’s a resume. Or what some resumes look like. There are others. Yet the criticisms held for this resume will apply to many of them.
Color
Stacey brought up test printing to see how your resume looks in black and white. Also test print in color if you have colors on your resume. Printers are not filled with infinite colors, most have four (CMYK) that they mix to try to match the colors you’ve specified. Even if you specified an “easy” color like red if you saved the color in a different color scheme (RGB) then there’s a translation that has to take place on the printer’s side and it can skew what was a plain red into something much more magenta.
For the most part I avoid color. I know myself. At home I choose colors that only match in unique world view. At work I specialize in structure, data, relationships. My resume needs to reflect that. Someone applying to create window dioramas for a specialty store would want to show a resume that reflects a good sense of visual balance, creativity, and either quirkiness or the ability to evoke emotions. I have some of those traits but they are not what I get paid to do. My resume visually represents the traits I do get paid for, even if the words are blurred.
Personal Information
Read an article or two on what potential employers are not allowed to ask you. The list includes most things in that non-discrimination agreement (NDA) most places have. In fact check out the company’s NDA. Any information in an NDA should not be in your resume. Or information that hints at that information. They have agreed not to discriminate against you based on that list and would really rather not know from the get-go any of that stuff.
Don’t give your birthday. Don’t use an SO as a reference. Don’t talk about your spouse, children or chronic mange. Don’t put what church you go to unless you do specific volunteer work for the church that is relevant and then highlight the work and downplay the religion. That is only in the case of an organization that includes religion on their NDA. Some don’t. Do read the NDA.
Address and phone number are a must. If you’re job hunting you need a phone. The hiring manager might feel impulsive and call you, be so impressed with your willingness that you get a same day interview, and then decide that all those other people who are hard to get a hold of are not worth it.
Address is important for larger companies who send rejection notices and also as a symbol of trust. “This is where I live, let me into your community.” If you’re uncomfortable with people knowing your street address get a P.O. Box. The subliminal message is still delivered – “I exist physically.”
Objectional
I hate objectives. Your resume could fit on one page if you weren’t told at some point that saying “Objective: to work as a part of a cohesive team getting things done in the role of ___” was necessary. It’s wasted space! Say it in your cover letter. Say it in person. The resume should be an easily digestible glance at your work history, qualifications and skills. Don’t muddy the waters.
Structure
To make a resume digestible at a glance (how I love mixing up my stomach and my eyes) it’s important to have a recognizable structure with clear labeling.
I just took a peek at the word count on this baby and realized I’m getting wordy. It’s time to sum up and finish lunch.
Label the sections of your resume. Generally the sections are things like “Education”, “Work Experience”, “Volunteer Work”, “Skills”, “Languages”, perhaps “Publications”. Format all these sections consistently. If the name of the company you worked for is in bold italic then the name of the organization you volunteered with should be bold italic, even though they’re in different sections. Keep your fonts consistent. Give the following information: Job Title, Company, City/State, Month/Year Start Date, Month/Year End Date. Write a short paragraph describing the awesome accomplishments you made working for “Clarity, a company specializing in contact lenses.” Try to keep it on one page so there isn’t the paper fumble to look up that cool volunteer gig at the bottom. Be realistic. Have you had a two page resume career?
The order of the sections depends on your strengths and what you feel is best highlighted as you apply to a job. Be willing to paste the Education section above Work Experience when applying to a university. They want to know right away where you land in the academic hierarchy. Small software start up? Put Education at the bottom. Maybe put Skills at the top followed by Work Experience then Volunteer Work to show you’re used to not getting paid. Play around with the order. Cut the sections into blocks and shift them about.
And always have people double check it. Preferably the ones who always spot their/there/they’re. The ones who will notice a tiny speck in the corner and ask if that was done on purpose or is your printer spitting? Picky people. Oh! People like PDXCritiquers this coming Monday!
References available upon request
Oh, please! Like they don’t know that.
Little did I realize last night that our April meeting marked our one year anniversary, so happy anniversary to us. We have reviewed a lot of designs, food and even some poetry this last year and I am very proud to be a part of this amazing group of people.