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Little Resume Help
King Kong
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I'm totally redoing my resume after 13 years and need a little help. The main reason I am doing this is first I have to for a human relations class I'm taking. Second I'm changing career fields and most the information may seem as not needed or old.
My question is exactly what work history do I include or omit? how far back should it go? Do I need to name my high school even if I graduated in 96? Maybe even a website of things to omit and keep would help me out. Even Office templates you think are best as the one I'm using is quite old.
Any help would be great!
My question is exactly what work history do I include or omit? how far back should it go? Do I need to name my high school even if I graduated in 96? Maybe even a website of things to omit and keep would help me out. Even Office templates you think are best as the one I'm using is quite old.
Any help would be great!
King Kong on
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1) Clarity. Your resume needs to be clear and well laid out, dont jump around, don't have your hobbies mixed in with work experience. If I can't find the applicants name within a couple of seconds of glancing at the resume, I'm not going to be overly impressed.
2) That said, tailor your resume to the field. Are you going for an artistic Marketing or creative design position? Then liven your resume up, throw some art in there. But even beyond presentation, tailor the content of your resume to the job itself. Is this a job you're overqualified for but simply need the money? Remove your degrees and high level work experience. Is it an technical position? Focus on your strengths.
3) Don't lie. You may be able to get away with it a couple of times, but eventually you will get caught. Do not claim you went to Harvard when you only got your GED.
4) Spelling / Grammar is a big thing. If you can't be bothered to spell check for a job application, why would I expect you to spell check when contacting a client?
As for specific questions:
Work History: If its applicable, include it. It sounds like you've had the same job for 13 years, so you're not going to be running out of room. If you're the type of person who jumps from job to job every 6 months, you may want to creatively edit that portion.
Include your high school. Its only 1 more line under the education heading, so who cares. If nothing else, it may start a friendly conversation during the interview.
For Templates, I just stick with the traditional Word template called Modern (i think)
You could also check out John Lucht's book called Rites of Passage:
Amazon link
If you are doing a resume that is organized by the jobs you've held, it is going to look weird and raise suspicion if you leave the dates out. Put the dates in if you're doing that format, it's better to let them see and then you can answer any questions they have about why you skipped around to different jobs.
Or, if you are really really worried about what those gaps will do to your chances of getting an interview, go with a skills-based resume, which is organized NOT by jobs you've held, but by things you've done/skills used. The person reading may think "I really wish I could see how all this lines up on a timeline" but should not hold it against you unless they asked for a specific format. (Google this for examples or templates, but you don't have to use a template - you can just get the idea and then arrange your text to look similar to the format you like best)
Omit all personal pronouns - no 'I,' 'me,' 'my,' etc. The subject of this entire document is you, so you can save space and sound less repetitive and conceited by leaving the personal pronouns out.
No. This would make it impossible for your resume to give a picture of who you are and who you've been, and it would also make it look like you have something to hide.