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The Dos and Don'ts of Résumé Writing

Employers, recruiters, or directors of human resources have so many résumés to look at that they will take any excuse they can find to throw yours out: misspellings, bad punctuation, poor organization—even an ugly font can turn them off. So how can you impress your future employers? Here are a few tips for crafting a winning résumé, as well as some things to avoid.

Dos

Place your most important achievements and accomplishments in the top three inches of the page. This is the first place an employer will look, so it should be impressive. Highlight your qualifications with a professional profile section that succinctly sums up your strong points for the reader.

Give priority to your most recent positions. Your last ten years of experience should carry more weight, and the descriptions should contain more information than those of your earlier positions.

Quantify your accomplishments using numbers that demonstrate impact. If you cut costs, say by how much. If you managed a team, say how many people.

Pay close attention to the format of your résumé—it could be a deciding factor in whether you get a job or not. Use a common 10 or 12 point font, and take advantage of formatting tools such as bullets, italics, boldface, and capitals to highlight your accomplishments. Try to contain the text within one-inch margins. Keep your résumé to one page; however, if you have extensive experience, it is better to spill over to another page than to squish all the information onto one page.

Include professional and academic accomplishments, such as publications, patents, presentations, honors, and relevant activities or volunteer experiences. These additions not only show that you are well rounded, but they can be a key factor in winning an interview.

Edit, edit, edit! Typos and grammatical mistakes are the kiss of death and can get your résumé thrown out immediately. You can never proofread your résumé too much. Look it over a million times before sending it off, and give it to as many pairs of eyes as possible, such as friends and family.

Use a variety of "action words." Repeating the same ones over and over can get tiresome. Instead of always using words like "developed" or "led," break out that thesaurus and try words like "leveraged," "delivered," "directed," "established," or "initiated."

Spell software names correctly. If your skills include knowledge of Excel, putting "Excell" won't get you far.

Remember, your résumé is not a list of duties. It is a list of accomplishments!

Don'ts

Don't write the word "résumé" at the top. If an employer can't tell what it is, then you're in trouble.

Don't invent or inflate your accomplishments. Don't fudge dates or job titles in order to hide that you've frequently switched jobs or that you've held a number of low-level positions. A prospective employer only needs to do a quick background check to catch you in a lie.

Don't treat your résumé like an autobiography. The best résumés are succinct one-page documents. If an employer wants to know about your summer job at the ice cream parlor, he or she can ask you in an interview.

Don't assume that you need to include an "objective" line at the top of your résumé. Usually objective lines are extremely general and use up valuable space at the top of the page. Objective lines such as, "seeking job placement in a challenging environment where I can apply my professional skills" are vague and useless.

Don't provide personal information. American résumés do not include data such as gender, marital status, date of birth, or physical descriptions.

Don't include more information than necessary about a given position. Dense résumés can be overwhelming and hard read. Include no more than five bullet points per position, and limit each bullet point to 1-2 lines.

Don't limit yourself to a chronological format. If you are switching fields, a functional résumé which organizes your experience by skills can better highlight your relevant experience.

Don't use corny adjectives like "motivated" or "dynamic" to describe yourself. Let your experience speak for itself.

Don't include references at the bottom and don't say "references available upon request." If employers wants references, they'll ask you for them.

Recalling Information

Choose true or false according the information you just read.


1	You should space out your important achievements throughout the résumé.
		A)	TRUE
		B)	FALSE


2	Your résumé should include all the positions you've ever held.
		A)	TRUE
		B)	FALSE


3	The format of your résumé could be an important part of obtaining an interview.
		A)	TRUE
		B)	FALSE


4	It is important to fit your entire résumé on one page, even if it means using a small font or having small margins.
		A)	TRUE
		B)	FALSE


5	You should have a lot of people review your résumé before sending it to potential employers.
		A)	TRUE
		B)	FALSE


6	Your résumé should have the title "Résumé" at the top.
		A)	TRUE
		B)	FALSE


7	Your résumé should not include references at the bottom.
		A)	TRUE
		B)	FALSE


8	Your résumé should include personal information such as age and sex.
		A)	TRUE
		B)	FALSE


9	Words like "motivated" and "dynamic" are good descriptors and are an important part of your résumé.
		A)	TRUE
		B)	FALSE


10	Your résumé does not have to be chronological.
		A)	TRUE
		B)	FALSE

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