What Makes a Good Resume?

Resume? AGGGHHH!

These are confusing and sometimes seemingly overwhelming times. Many of us, our friends and our loved ones have lost their jobs and livelihoods over the past weeks and months. Many who have never had to actively look for a job are unemployed for the first time in their lives. An unexpected job search can be overwhelming and scary, but it doesn’t have to be. This is an opportunity to re-assess your priorities and look back at those career aspirations that may have gotten side-tracked by life. In order to get started on this new journey, you need to make yourself available to employers and that starts with a resume. It is not as daunting as you think. Breathe and stay calm. We are here to help.

What does a good resume really look like?

There is so much confusing information out there about what a resume should look like. Do not be overwhelmed. Simple is better. You are not going to land your dream job by having the perfect resume. The job of the resume (see what I did there?) is to simply and accurately state what you have been doing and what you think you are good at. Keep is simple and straight format. Here are answers to some of the most common resume questions.

What is the best format to use?

Simple is best when formatting your resume. Unless you are in the field of marketing or graphic design, your resume length should be kept to a minimum. Fancy graphics, tables, graphs and columns only make it look like you are trying to hide a lack of hard skills. Use Italics and bold font consistently to highlight job titles and company names. Simple bullets are the best to list your skills. Tailor your resume for each job you are applying for by moving bullet points around in order of priority to match the job description. Under each position make a list of the MAIN responsibilities you undertook in each of those roles.  It is not a good practice to exaggerate your skills but, do your best to highlight the one you think are important to each potential employer. You don’t want to mislead anyone about skills that you have. It is a waste of your time and theirs.

How should I order my resume?              

The order of your resume DOES matter. Contact information should be at the top of your resume and in bold, followed by an Education section that lists degrees at the Associates, Bachelors, Masters and PHD level. The Objective section can be below education.  Following your Objective, the Experience section should contain the names of the companies you worked for and your job titles at those organizations. These positions should be listed in chronological order with your current or most recent position first. If you had multiple positions at the same company, group them together under that company name rather than have it look like several jobs. If your company changed names or was bought by another organization, note that with parentheses (MPS Group acquired by Adecco, Inc). You should highlight your job stability as much as possible. Recruiters and hiring managers often mistakenly assume you have had multiple jobs at multiple companies when you don’t group them together under one corporate name and date range.

Each Job Title should be followed by four to six bullet points explaining your core functions in that position. The focus should be on your most recent positions. Standard practice is to list all of the positions you have held in at least the last 10 years or the last three positions if that positions span more than those 10 years. Don’t worry if your resume extends past that “ideal” one page. Make your resume easier to read and see your skills by giving plenty of spacing between points. Don’t worry about it being too long. One page resumes went the way of the fax machine. Your resume may not be printed until the actual interview stage and Recruiters and HR Managers no longer have to worry about stacks of paper crowding their desks. Resume of two to three pages are acceptable for anyone that has held more than one position in their career.

What should I include in the Objective Section?

Way too many resumes have flowery (or fluffy) objectives that speak about long term goals and higher-level aspirations. Instead make your objective simple and to the point. Make it clear to recruiters and hiring managers what kind of job you are looking for and at what type of company. This section should be brief and be one to three sentences at maximum.

What about my certifications?

Certifications with acronyms such as CPA, PHR, CIA, CPA CISA, MBA or PHD should appear after your name at the top of your resume. Certifications that are lengthier, such as Six Sigma, Scrum Master, AgileSafe etc., can be notated in a separate section at the end of the resume. Make sure to add these, as many searches by Recruiters begin with keywords searches for certifications that are applicable or required by the positions they are looking to fill.