You need extra money. Maybe you’ve recently been widowed, divorced, or had investments that didn’t pay as well as expected. You may be restless and want something to do, or want to socialize more. Maybe you just want to make a little extra for travel. Whatever the reason to re-enter the workforce, you need a resume. You need a good one. You need one that will get you the job.

I’ve always recommended having a resume professionally done. It’s a great investment. The cost, however, can range from $200-$800 so you need to determine if it would benefit you for the jobs you’ll be applying for.

If you decide to create your own, these guidelines will help make your resume better. Although I’m not a professional resume writer, I have reviewed hundreds over the years, so I can give you some basic pointers.

Whenever we had a position open, we received 150-250 resumes. Over half went in the trash after a 3 second glance. Why? Because guidelines were not followed for at least one of the following:

• FORMATTING
• LANGUAGE
• GRAMMAR AND SPELLING
• REFERENCES

FORMATTING

Formatting is extremely important. If it’s easy to read, it stands a better chance of actually being looked at.

Look at this example. The font is difficult to read, far too small, there’s no white space and if, by some slight chance, Mary did get the job, there’s no information for contacting her. It hurts my eyes! It would immediately go in the trash!

Changing the format (font style, size and leaving white space) at least makes it easier on the eyes. I may read it.

These are basic formatting guidelines you should follow:

• Type your resume using WORD (Software made by MicroSoft, that is available for PCs and MACs and totally worth the investment of $110). The majority of applications are submitted online nowadays, and WORD is widely used.
• Limit the resume to 2 typed pages.
• Use a font that is easily read. I recommend Arial and font size 12 or 11. (No one wants to use a magnifying glass to be able to read your resume.)
• Keep white space. (Don’t use narrow margins or eliminate spacing. The white space makes it easier to read.)
• Identify yourself immediately and provide good contact information. (Include your full name, address, contact phone number and email address.)

Need help with formatting in WORD? Get started with Updating WORD Basics.

LANGUAGE 

The language you use can be a deal breaker.

• BE PROFESSIONAL
• IDENTIFY YOUR SKILLS
• BE CONCISE
• USE ACTION VERBS

BE PROFESSIONAL

Start with your email address. Would you hire someone with an email address of [email protected]? Or how about [email protected]? If necessary, create a new email account and make sure it reflects someone that will be welcome at the workplace.

On a side note, let’s talk briefly about Facebook, blogs and other websites. Believe it or not, hiring managers will google prospective employees. If you’re one of those people that get on the internet to express your “total freaking dissatisfaction with all the crap that’s going on” and love to be vocal about it, or love to post pictures of yourself drunk at parties, you want to stop now and remove everything that is currently out there.

IDENTIFY YOUR SKILLS

Blow your own horn but only list skills that apply to the job you’re applying for. If you were hiring a house painter, would you care that they were awesome bowlers?

Keep a master resume that lists all of your skills (which can be as many pages as you need), then create condensed resumes for specific jobs. Select only the skills that are required for the position you are applying for.

Never exaggerate or lie about your skills, but identify all of them. Did you throw a huge, successful fundraiser at church? Those are organizational and project management skills. Do you volunteer at the community center to coordinate activities? You have leadership skills. Do you write a blog or have an online shop (Ebay, Etsy, etc.)? Then you’re self-motivated and have examples of writing, computer and communication skills. Think about your experience in time management, teamwork, problem solving and interpersonal skills. Don’t neglect skills you have just because you didn’t hone them at school or on the job.

BE CONCISE

Don’t ramble and don’t write paragraphs. Sum it up! The hiring manager needs to be able to SCAN the resume and determine if it’s worth looking at deeper.

Scan this resume and see how quickly you can pick out the skills.

Separate the dates and the company/organization from the skills. Using bullet lists draws the eye to the skill, so use them. See if you can pick out the skills a little quicker when information is presented differently.

USE ACTION VERBS

Hiring managers don’t want to know what your duties or responsibilities were. They want to know what you accomplished and how well you accomplished it. A good rule of thumb is to always start your skill with an ‘action verb’ and whenever possible, include a result.

Look at these examples. If you were hiring someone to ship for you, which would you be more comfortable hiring?

GRAMMAR AND SPELLING

It should go without saying that resumes should be error free. There should be no spelling or grammar errors. If you’re not confident in your abilities, have a friend review it. Have 9 friends review it!

If you took my advice and used WORD, make certain you run the Spelling and Grammar tools on your resume.

REFERENCES

It’s more important then ever to actually include references on a resume. No matter how tempting, do not put “References available upon request”. Do not put your sister, best friend, or someone that was willing to say “I’d hire them in a second!”.

Find references that can validate your skills. If you organized that fundraiser for the church, ask the pastor; if you volunteer at the community center, ask the administrator. You want to list people that can say they have personal knowledge of skills you possess.

Did this article change the way you create resumes? We’d like to know! We love hearing from you so please share your comments.

For a limited time, we’ll provide help with creating outstanding resumes for our subscribers at very reasonable rates. Go to our Contact Us page and let us know that you’d like assistance with you resume. (Offer is limited to confirmed subscribers at sistersfolly.net)