Ah, the resume: the one piece of paper that allows you to showcase your accomplishments, boast, brag, and exaggerate….if ever so slightly. While it may simply be a piece of paper, a resume is the key to employment for many. This makes a proper resume particularly important, if you want your career to resume, that is.
Upon preparing your resume, consider the following:
Be honest: Past experience and qualifications are often directly proportional to one another; hence, the more duties you have under your belt, the more qualified you ultimately become. However, the overzealous applicant may list responsibilities that they rarely – if ever – possessed. For instance, if you were once given petty cash and sent to fetch lunch at the local sandwich shop, the job description of "handled company money and bookkeeping on a regular basis" should probably not be used. Employers are generally well versed in dissecting a resume, and they will know if the listed job duties do not match up to the listed job title. If you come across as dishonest, your resume will be tainted by both desperation and deceit.
Be Specific: Being specific in a resume may appear to be a bit of a conundrum: you want to be as detailed as possible but you don't want to drone on to the point where your resume must be delivered in volumes. Thus, the key is in picking what you decide to be specific about. Does a potential employer really need to know every single thing you've done in every job you've ever had? No. But, you might want to elaborate on the fact that you "increased company profits by 50 percent in the first quarter." This will speak volumes over being vague and simply stating that you "increased profits."
Don't be Superfluous: Sure, a resume is your podium, a proverbial place for you to stand on your accomplishments and "Thank the Academy." Even so, there are certain things a resume should not include. A list of hobbies, for instance, is a waste of space. Most employers don't have the time - or patience - to read about how you won first place in the city bowling league. Salary requirements are another thing that should be omitted. Unless they are specifically requested, listing salary requirements can take you out of the running before the race has even begun. An applicant must first charm an employer before automatically ruling themselves out by asking for too much money.
Add on Finishing Touches: An effective resume needs to have confidence, but also humility. Being overly timid, or overly boastful, will both work against you. Keep in mind that you are asking for a "chance" at a job. This makes your task particularly challenging: you need to make the potential employer think that you walk on water, without actually saying that you do. A resume should also be eloquent and intellectual, but not overly verbose with big-worded vocabulary. An employer doesn't want to, and probably won't, consult a dictionary to decipher what a resume is trying to convey. Finally, the checking of spelling and grammar is an essential part of the resume process. Before submitting a resume to a employer, you should proofread your resume like someone with obsessive compulsive disorder. Getting someone else to look it over is also a good idea. Nothing will hurt a resume more than typos, spelling mistakes, or incorrect usage of grammar.
If even after a stellar resume is written, and sent to prospective employers, the applicant still has no hope at finding a job, simply initiate plan B: Marry Rich.
Jennifer Jordan is an editor and staff writer for www.verbaladvantage.com. An English major and professional writer, she spends her days correcting grammar and wondering why she's unpopular. |
