• No typographical errors.
• No spelling errors.
• No grammar, syntax, or punctuation errors.
• No factual errors.

• Target the resume to job advertisement.
• Highlight the key skills that match the job.
• Highlight key qualifications for the job.

• Highlight your strengths - place most of your focus here.
• De-emphasize your weaknesses.

• Wherever possible, prove that you have the desired qualifications through clear strong statement of accomplishments, rather than a statement of potentials, talents, or responsibilities.
• Indicate results of work done, and quantify these accomplishments whenever appropriate. For example: "Initiated and directed complete automation of the Personnel Department, resulting in time-cost savings of over 25%."
• Preface skill and experience statements with the adjectives "proven" and "demonstrated" create this results-orientation.

• Keep sentences as short and direct as possible.
• Eliminate any extraneous information.
• Use phrases rather than full sentences when phrases are possible.
• Start sentences with verbs, eliminating pronouns ("I", "he" or "she").
• Vary words.
• Don't repeat a "power" verb or adjective in the same paragraph
• Use commas to clarify meaning and make reading easier.
• Remain consistent in writing decisions such as use of abbreviations and capitalizations.

• Use a laser or ink-jet printer to print your resume. The results are best with laser printers.
  

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Unprofessionalism

By Max Messmer

The following excerpt from the book Job Hunting For Dummies®, 2nd Edition appeared on the Resumania.com website.


Your resume, above all, must look professional. Consider the following:
Using paper or ink in unusual colors (such as pinks and blues) and paper in unusual sizes (anything other than 8 1/2 x 11) demonstrates that you are not a candidate to be taken seriously. You want your qualifications, not your choice of paper or ink, to stand out.

It should be printed in black ink on 8 1/2 x 11, preferably white bond, paper. (Ivory and light gray are okay, too, but stay away from light pinks and blues.) The margins should be at least 1 inch all around.

You should use one of the most commonly recognized resume formats. See Chapter 6 for more information about resume formats.

The typeface should be simple, unadorned, and easy to read. It should not look like calligraphy - the typeface people use for wedding invitations. Although it's okay to use graphic flourishes such as bullets and boldface for emphasis, remember to keep them to a minimum and avoid them altogether in resumes that are destined for optical scanners (see Chapters 7 and 8). Stick to a single typeface in a single size.

The information in the resume should be presented in short, easy-to-read paragraphs.

Make sure that no extraneous pen or pencil marks or correction fluid appear on the resume - and please, no gravy stains.

Carelessness
The fact that your resume is marred by typos, misspellings, and grammatical mistakes may not be an accurate reflection of how qualified you are for a particular job (unless, of course, the job is proofreader). As a rule, though, employers are neither patient nor forgiving about these flaws. A single typo in an otherwise well-organized and professional-looking resume may not necessarily sink you, but if the resume is riddled with misspellings and grammatical errors, you send the message to would-be employers that you don't pay attention to details.

Cuteness and cleverness
Cute is for babies and kittens, but not for resumes. So play it straight. Forget puns and clever plays on words; they don't belong in a resume, and they don't belong in a cover letter, either. People who read resumes are not looking to be entertained. And what you might consider clever, most people - even those who may be amused by the cleverness - will not consider appropriate.

Irrelevance and fluff
The people who read your resume are interested in one thing above all: whether, based on what they read, you deserve serious consideration as a candidate. Given this priority, any information in your resume that doesn't contribute an answer to this basic question is irrelevant. If you're a college graduate, you don't have to mention the high school you attended. And go easy on your hobbies and interests. The fact that you are a low-handicap golfer or have one of the world's most extensive beer can collections may make for interesting conversation at a dinner party, but it's of no interest to a would-be employer - unless you're applying for a job as a golf pro or at a company that markets beer cans.

Vagueness or jargon
Vagueness occurs when you mention a job title, task, or set of abbreviations that nobody other than you and the person you used to work for are going to recognize, such as Asst. VP, RTP Div. of Corporate Reclassification of ETY Documents. It also rears its ugly head when you fail to mention specifically what you were responsible for in your last job, the number of people you supervised, the size of the budget you controlled, and so on. Don't assume that the people who read your resume will figure out for themselves what you did. They won't.

Misrepresentation
Don't lie. It's that simple. And don't be tempted to embellish the truth. Of course, you would be foolish to include in your resume anything remotely unflattering. (It's one thing to be honest and another thing to be suicidal!) But the risks of fudging the truth in your resume far outweigh the benefits, particularly when it comes to specific facts, such as credentials and titles.

If you were not a vice president of whatever in your last job, don't anoint yourself with that title simply because the company you used to work for is out of business. The issue here goes beyond ethics; it's practical as well. If, in checking your references, a would-be employer discovers that you misrepresented yourself in your resume - even if the misrepresentation is inconsequential - your credibility will take a beating and you stand a good chance of losing an offer. If your employer discovers a lie after hiring you, you could lose the job that you worked so hard to get. And you might find yourself in over your head if you inflated prior titles or responsibilities - obviously counterproductive.

Overkill
Overkill is the excessive use of superlatives, regardless of who or what those superlatives modify. There's nothing wrong with tooting your own horn in your resume, as long as the notes you toot are actual accomplishments and not simply adjectives that proclaim to the reader how wonderful you are.

For example, instead of calling yourself a "dynamite salesperson" (which you shouldn't do unless you really did sell dynamite, because adjectives like dynamite don't belong in a resume), report that you were Salesperson of the Month for six months running.

Underwhelming
As you can come to appreciate in Chapter 7, you need to do more in your resume than simply list the specific functions you performed in your previous jobs. What you did is obviously important. More important to an employer, though, is the impact of what you did - your accomplishments. The fact that you were the purchasing agent for a doughnut-making company is nice, but of more interest is the fact that you reduced purchasing expenditures by 15 percent during your first year.

Longwindedness
The extent to which a resume is "longwinded" has less to do with how long it is - whether it's a one-pager or a two-pager - and more to do with the language you use to describe your past experience. Don't fall victim to the misconception that the best way to make a mundane task appear more important is to dress it up in lofty language.

If one of your responsibilities in your last job was to check the accuracy of invoices, think twice before you write, "Ensured the numerical veracity of documents sent to customers in order to effect the collection of funds due for purchases." If you were a short-order cook, say so. Don't say, "Assisted in daily preparation of large quantities of consumable items in a fast-paced setting."

Editorializing
Your opinions on matters such as why a particular project didn't work out or why you had to leave a job don't really belong in a resume. In other words, don't write, "Project would have been much more successful if the birdbrain I had for a boss had let me do it my way," or this gem that actually appeared: "Reason for leaving: Boss was as twisted as a pretzel." Keep your views and sentiments to yourself, as valid as they might be.

Overpersonalizing
Apart from the basics - your name, address, and phone number - don't include in your resume any information that relates to your personal life. Don't mention your age, your height, your weight, the color of your eyes, the kind of dog you own, your marital status, the number of children you have, the condition of your health, or how many push-ups you can do. Don't talk about your hobbies (unless they are career-related or reveal some aspect of your personality that could shed positive light on your personal qualities - the fact that you run marathons, for example). Don't mention your favorite author or favorite food; an employer who spends seconds looking over your resume isn't going to care.

Resumespeak
The most effective resumes are written in plain, simple language. Yes, the writing style you use in your resume should be professional and businesslike, and yes, you should avoid slang and trendy words. But be equally wary of business jargon and go easy on "businessese": words and phrases such as "assisted in the facilitation of" and "optimized."


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Five Ways to Really Screw Up Your Resume: Avoid these mistakes if you want to make a good impression

By Laura Lyjak
Career Focus, Fall 2003, Vol. 6 #2:16


Yes, your resume is just a piece of paper. Although it might not seem fair that the job of your dreams is riding on the piece of paper, it's your first opportunity to impress the person with the power to hire you.

There are more rules to writing a resume. The more you know about applying these rules, the better your chance of writing a resume that will lead to phone calls, interviews and eventually a job that makes you very, very happy.

Sometimes perfectly good job candidates are eliminated because they chose the wrong keywords. Other times, important qualifications are overlooked because they're in the wrong place. Or it may be the little details of spelling and grammar that take a resume out of the running. Here are five common mistakes that can send your resume to the bottom of the stack, and leave you wondering why no one calls, no one writes and all your fine talents are going to waste.


Mistake One: Ignore technology
It used to be that there was one way to write a resume. You got some nice cream-colored paper and typed up all your education and experience. Maybe you added a tasteful graphic, a fancy headline font, or some bullet points for interest, and you sent your resume off with a cordial cover letter. Sometimes you can still do that and get good results, but now many large corporations scan resume to keep in a searchable database. This creates a whole new set of rules for resume writers. The best resumes are simple and easily deciphered by a scanner. Forget the cream-colored paper; stick to plain white paper. Forget the fancy fonts; use a simple san serif typeface throughout the resume. While it's alright to use action words like "developed, " "trained" and "spearheaded," be sure to chose specific searchable keywords to describe your education and experience, such as "bachelor's in computer science," and "five years network experience."

The Internet has added yet another dimension to resume writing. In her book Electronic Resumes and Online Networking, Rebecca Smith says "Traditional resumes focus on visual aesthetics and content set off by many action verbs. The goal is to capture attention. Online, a resume must grab a computer's attention by conforming to some electronic standards." These days many corporations actually prefer to receive resumes as e-mail. That's even more bare bones than a scanned resume: one font, one type size, just the facts.


Mistake Two: Say too much (or too little)
Your goal is to convey your qualifications for the job as clearly as possible. Details about why you left your last position, where you hope to be in 10 years or your passion for windsailing are best left out.

On the other hand, details about your specific accomplishments and skills should be included. Yana Parker, author of the Damn Good Resume Guide, advises resume writers to list accomplishments that demonstrate their skills. Were you an employee of the month? Did you save your department money? Did you win an award? Did you master the latest software? Do you have a 3.8 G.P.A. from Harvard? Make sure your resume mentions facts such as these.


Mistake Three: Put good information in a bad place
You probably have heard of functional and chronological resumes. In a chronological resume you list your employment from present to past. In a functional resume you create a description of your skills based on your experience and education. Each has its merits and it's up to you to decide which way to go.

But be sure you put the most important information where it's most visible. Brad Karch of Jobound.com estimates that your resume will get a 20 second scan to determine if it's a keeper. "Everything, yes everything, on that resume needs to be just right. From what goes on it, to how it's written, to where it's written, has to be perfect, or you won't get a second look. In fact, it's jut like an ad. Think about flipping through a magazine. Do you stop and read every word of every ad in every magazine? Didn't think so. The only ones your read are the ones that are appealing and relevant to you."


Mistake Four: Stick out rather than stand out
One word: Proof-read. Careless errors can be a resume's downfall.

Your resume should be correct and professional. Of course, that means grammar, spelling and punctuation are meticulous, but it also means knowing the etiquette of resume writing. Just like you wouldn't think of wearing a T-shirt to a job interview, slang, humor and sloppiness don't belong on your resume. Resumania.com has thousands of examples of resumes faux pas. Their advice is to avoid "personal information, attempts at humor, misusing or omitting words, extraneous or inappropriate information and awkward phrasing. It pays to carefully proofread all resumes and cover letters before submitting them to potential employers - just one typo may knock you out of the running for a job!"


Mistake Five: Trust the system
If you believe that job hunting means simply searching the job boards and classified ads, and then sending your resume to the human resources department, you're going to be disappointed.

Even a flawless resume won't help you if it doesn't get into the hands of the person who can hire you. That means skirting the human resources bureaucracy whenever possible. One way to do this is to network with others working in the field where you'd like to have a job.

Says Katharine Hansen of quintcareer.com, "Only 5 to 25 percent of jobs are advertised, so you can find out about all the unadvertised openings only through talking to as many people as possible and telling them you are looking for a job."


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