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Making Resumes
I am working on creating a resume for myself, and I realized... this is an incredibly difficult thing to do successfully.
So, I'm wondering, what tips do people have - either from making one yourself or from the hiring end... what do you suggest to put on there or to leave out? Especially if you have ever been a hiring manager, what were the most successful resumes made of?
So, I'm wondering, what tips do people have - either from making one yourself or from the hiring end... what do you suggest to put on there or to leave out? Especially if you have ever been a hiring manager, what were the most successful resumes made of?
Comments
first thing, i always want my resume to stand out. i dont want it to be a template from office theyve seen a thousand times before. this is even more important for me because of my field. graphic design. so i designed my own resume in photoshop, adding unique graphical elements demostrating my abilities. i tend to stay away from color, just a black and white design, tastefully presented.
here are the parts to my resume in order of appereance
1. header with my name, address, phone
2. a mission statement, breifly summarizing what kind of position im lookin for
3. experience
4. education
5. references
one of the big things i think that has helped is adding a personalized cover letter to each resume explaining why im submitting my resume to that particular company.
i found that to be quite a rewarding experience because i didn't realize some of the skills i had and this process sort of helped me know myself better so that during an interview i can confidently assert/highlight my attributes..
the things i leave in/out depends on what the occupations.. but i always hold onto this concept of "stretching the truth" when you can.. it's something my mentor taught me and i found it to be quite useful.. i've never been a hiring manager before but i would think anyone would want a simple and clean resume that is easy to read, concise, gets to the point and where relevant information can be easily retrieved.. that's normally how i cater my resumes..
oh and one more thing.. periodically update your resume when you can.. saves you a lot of time and work.. hope this helps.. =)
especially with what suiying said about listing all the skills you have then determining which skills are relevant to the job you are applying for, that is only if you have an extensive list of prior experience.
I started off without much experience to go with my name. For me, when I got my internship doing marketing/PR work, my prior work experience was working as a waitress. Based solely on job descriptions, my waitressing experience didn't have much relevance to the internship. but instead of just listing job tasks of my waitressing job, i tried to link certain job tasks to the job i was applying for. For example on my resume, I said something like "Involved in promotions of new and/or featured menu items" instead of "Greet and seat customers" since I knew my internship involved Promotions and Sales. catch my drift?
oh and i know there's this resume "formality" about keeping it to either one or two full pages, not including cover letter. anything in between or more is a no-no (or so my boss tells me...)
Go to the career centre at school. They have excellent workshops for resumes & cover letters that have helped me alot.
Your best stuff should be on the upper 2/3 of the first page. Hiring people can get a lot of resumes and give each one probably a 10 second glance & will only read on if they see something of interest.
Also, resumes should always come with a cover letter (unless its a p/t student job- waitressing, clothing store, etc.). The cover letter really benefits you because it spell things out even easier for the person hiring, that you may not be able to put on your resume, ie. exactly how your accomplishments/skills relate to the position, maybe you want to work with children & you can explain how your volunteer work with kids have been so rewarding, etc.
I applied for a job at a few places. I made sure to put a cover letter with each resume, and highlighted the skills that would make me the best candidate for the job. What I never realized until getting your guy's advice was that each resume should be "custom fitted" for each job that I am applying to. That is so true, and I think it will help me land an awesome job.