Resume writing

Timothy Webster , “The Career Guru”, Who write for The Star Workplace is a Personal Brand veteran who now coaches candidates helping them find and secure their dream job and proactively manage their career through to their dream retirement. Here are some of his tips for writing a resume that will get you hired; Once upon a time, long ago (2007), in a land far away (actually right here in South Africa) legend has it that candidates didn’t need good resumes to get jobs.  In fact, back before the  GFC, GEC or whatever other acronym is currently in vogue to describe our current economic situation, with the labour shortage at its peak, many candidates didn’t need a resume at all; But alas, those heady days are gone (at least for the time being) and now it’s not only critical that candidates have a good resume, they need to have an outstanding, flawless and impeccable resume.
I do a lot of public speaking and, no matter what the topic, the vast majority of questions I get are on how to prepare resumes.  Even the most savvy business professionals can be completely dumbfounded when putting together this rather straight forward document; Statistics show that the average resume is read for only 15 seconds.  Look at your watch. Now measure 15 seconds.  Not a lot of time is it?  Make yours one that stands out in those 15 seconds by following the top 10 tips below necessary for a resume to get read and get interviews (which, after all is the ONLY purpose of a resume).

1. How far is too far? 
   The only reason to go back more than 10 years is to demonstrate experience beneficial to the job you are applying for, that you have not done in recent times.  Besides that, would you even want to do a job you did 10 years ago?

 

2. The company does what?
   Especially if you’re in a position of responsibility, it’s quite important to let the reader know what your previous employers do.  A sentence or two on the size of the company, the company’s products and any other relevant information helps the hiring manager understand your background in more depth.

 

3. Don’t look like a job hopper when you’re not!
   Many candidates list separate positions within 1 company as completely separate jobs, repeating the company name, etc.  Interviewers are basically lazy (and you would be too if you had the number of resumes to read that they do at the moment).  At first glance they may not realise that you’ve been promoted every 18 months to 2 years (which is a good thing).  They may interpret your format to mean that you’ve changed jobs every 18 months to 2 years (not so good).  The proper format is to list the company name and details once and make it stand out (larger font, bold and underlined, etc).  Then list each position underneath and make it obvious that they are positions within the same company.

 

4. How long is too long?
   Remember the 15 second rule?  Resumes should be from 1 - 4 (at the most!) pages depending on your level of experience.  Less is more, as long as it’s impactful.

 

5. A picture tells 1,000 words.
   Except on resumes.  The rule of thumb here is never.  Ever.  Full stop.  Period.  The end.

 

6. Ditto
   In regards to including your age, marital status, children or pets names (don’t laugh, I’ve seen more than 1!) see #5.

 

7. Form over substance.
   Again, remember the 15 second rule?  Make it easy for the interviewer to read your resume and keep it from being unread; Use lots of white space, put paragraphs into bullet points, don’t use a lot of different fonts, standardise your presentation and be concise and articulate in your descriptions. 

 

8. Once is never enough.
   One standard resume is generally not sufficient to apply for every role you look at.  I encourage my candidates to have 2 - 3 resumes highlighting different areas of expertise.  But always, always, always customise your resume to the job you are applying for.

 

9. I’ll call you.
   Make sure that you have your contact details (name, phone number and email are sufficient these days) in your header or at least on the top of your first page.  Don’t make the interviewer struggle to figure out how to contact you or they may just say, “next!” Also, make sure that you have voice mail turned on if you’re actively looking (with an appropriate message). And nowadays it’s perfectly appropriate to include your Linkedin Profile in your contact details as well.

 

10. Substance over form
    The most important thing on your resume is not your duties and responsibilities, not your education, awards or qualifications.  The most important thing on your resume is your achievements.  Your achievements should be specific accomplishments that are a result of your doing your job or (preferably) going above and beyond your job description.  They are what separates you from others with the same experience. 

Bonus: I know I shouldn’t have to say this but I must, given the number of spelling and grammatical errors I see on resumes.  Spell check!!!  It’s easy enough to do with today’s software.  It’s also a good idea to have at least 3 people look it over, including at least one person that has no idea what you actually do.  Many human resources people do the first screen on roles that they are not that familiar with.  Having someone unfamiliar with what you do ensures that anyone can follow your resume.
Your resume doesn’t need to win awards.  What it does need to do is keep the reader engaged long enough to have him or her say, “I need to call this person for an interview.”  By following these simple steps you will come one step closer to hearing those words you long for, “You’re hired!”