Resume Re-Tooling Guide

3 quick points to remember about resumes:

1. Your resume will not get you a job, only an interview; it is an advertisement about you.
2. The days of pretty resumes printed on ivory colored paper are over. Today it’s about optimizing for Applicant Tracking Systems, and being found in search results.
3. Your resume should answer more questions than it creates. If you need a mechanic who fixes brakes and you have 2 ads in front of you, one says he fixes brakes and the other doesn’t, who do you call first?

This guide will help you re-tool your resume with some quick adjustments to make it more effective. There is only so much that can be covered in a quick two-page guide. If you want detailed, start to finish resume writing guidance without having to pay hundreds of dollars to a resume writing service, we offer a Resume and Cover Letters Course in SpeedUpMyJobSearch.com that can help. Your resume has to be done right and it MUST be quickly customizable to maximize results, and our course will give you the knowledge you need to consistently hit the target, AND you can get opinions about your resume in our Private Member Forum.

Keep your address and contact information at the top of every page. If you put it on the bottom or scroll it down the side, it will just irritate the person who has to hunt for that information. ALWAYS include your email address. When jobs first open, Recruiters and HR professionals send initial emails out for speed and call the respondents first.

Don’t put a phone number on your resume that does not have voice mail set up on it! If the phone just rings and rings with no answer, chances are VERY good that they won’t call again. If you answer, be professional; “Yo!” is not!

Include your name, desired job title, and the word Resume in the title of your saved resume document. Do not save it as “Resume2” or “Management” or “Resume for ABC Company” or anything that will say to the employer, “I wrote this resume specifically for you, if it doesn’t meet your qualifications, just let me know and I’ll make up another one that does!” Also, when sending the resume, don’t use a reply email address that gives them a reason not to call you. For example, an email address with profanities, obscenities or anything like [email protected] or [email protected]. (Yes, LOTS of people do this, enough to make me say it here; it matters.)

Avoid using Fonts and Formats that are difficult for Applicant Tracking Systems read. Some of the largest and most well-known Applicant Tracking Systems WILL DELETE YOUR RESUME AUTOMATICALLY if your font size is smaller than 11 points, or if you use a font style that curls the letters too much; for example, Times New Roman curls the bottom of the lower case letter y and the ATS cannot read it, and consequently deletes it. Use Arial or Calibri and never smaller than 11 point font. (No it’s not as pretty, but pretty isn’t the goal.)

Also, if your contact information is in a Header, or a Text Box, or in an Image, the ATS cannot read it. These systems automatically extract and parse your information (i.e. putting your name in the name field, your phone number in the phone number field, email address into the appropriate field). However, if the software cannot read your resume, then when they print the list of people to call, your name and number fields will be blank, or deleted.

Don’t include personal information, for two reasons. One, the employer doesn’t care if you like to read and go skiing. Two, if the employer hates people who can ski, you’ve just given him/her a reason to throw your resume out. Don’t give them any additional reasons to discriminate against you.

Stay away from writing in the first or third person. Instead of writing “I worked as a developer…” or “Mr. Jones worked as a developer…” simply write, “Worked as a developer…”

The thought that resumes should only be one page is a myth. Two pages are great, three or four is even okay if your experience warrants it. Once you hit that fifth page you’re getting a little extreme; two to three pages is good.

Start your resume with a Summary or a Profile statement about you. It should be about two to three sentences long. AVOID using an Objective statement. Here is why: Think from a hiring manager’s point of view. You have a great position available with incredible advancement potential, a great bonus structure and constant training opportunities on the latest technologies. Let’s say you receive two resumes for the position. The first candidate immediately tells you exactly what he wants from his new position. However, what he has described he wants does not exactly fit what you have to offer. The second candidate gave a brief description of herself and her skills. Then she went on to explain her professional experience. Both candidates have the skills necessary to fill the position, but the first candidate is looking for a different job. Who would you interview?

Stick with a Chronological resume and NOT a Functional format. A Chronological resume lists your most recent work experience (co. name, location, dates) and works its way back through your employment history. The more detail you provide about what you did on a daily basis, the better. List the skills you’ve used relevant to the job in the bullets under each company where you used them, and bold them. You have 7 to 15 seconds to demonstrate you have the skills they need; using bold type will make it easy for them to find what they are looking for. Listing percentages of time you’ve worked on specific technologies is a plus. For example, “I spend 60% of my day administering the UNIX system and 40% developing with Perl.” If you only list skills in the Skills section and not under the jobs where you’ve used them, the employer doesn’t have any idea how recent your experience is, or how long you’ve used that skill.

It’s important not to be vague. Which of these sounds better? “Improved efficiency over a short period of time” or “Cut costs by 20% while increasing productivity by 30% over a 2 month period.” Employers want to see tangible, quantifiable results that will make them want to hire you to do the same for them.

Near the end of your resume should be where you list your education. It is extremely important to list dates, or at the very least the degree received. If there is no date or degree, they will assume you did not graduate and wonder why you listed the school there in the first place. Never misrepresent your education, they will verify it.

Here’s an easy tip to end with. Rather than writing, “References Available Upon Request,” like 99.9% of everyone does, instead write “Excellent References Available Upon Request.” That one extra word says that you know what your references will say about you because you’ve asked them, and they are excellent. It’s amazing how many bad references are given, either because the person didn’t recommend the candidate, the reference hasn’t worked with the candidate (or even heard from them) in 8 or 9 years so they don’t remember them, or they are non-work related references. If you’ve taken the time to create an excellent list of professional references that you know will be positive, let the employer know it right there on the resume with one extra word. For help with this, see our blog post: How to Give and Get Good References.