This is Your Resume?

March 03, 2011, By 6 comments

This is Your Resume?

I was recently asked by my superiors at work to join in the search for a new office assistant. This new assistant was slated to help with general office duties, but the focus is going to be on our side of the floor – creative.

This was a positive development. We feel over worked as it is, so some support was long overdue. I was excited … until I started reviewing resumes. Depression quickly set in.

The art of crafting a quality resume has clearly been left behind in today’s high school and college curriculum. Sadly for the job seeker – this skill is still a critical one in landing that first big gig. So, I am going to provide you with four modern, timely tips to escalate your resume writing skills.

  1. Spelling is critical. This is a no-brainer right? You would think so. But trust me, I was amazed at how many misspelled words I came across when reviewing those awful resumes recently. Ammassed. Seperate. Independant. Those words aren’t spelled correctly, and even I know that running a spell check can solve this little problem. If there is even one misspelled word – the resume is worthless. End of story.
  2. Consistency. Resume writing should demonstrate continuity through the entire document. If there are periods after each entry, then there should be periods after every entry. You cannot have it both ways. This is another example of a deal-breaker. No consistency, no interview.
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Comments (6):

D J. Any intelligent manager will consider substance over style. A goof here or there should not sink a viable candidates. Also: although I agree with the PDF format as it provides a consistent format, not all resume parsing software can accurately read PDF files and your resume / application may simply be rejected, or banished to the HR black hole. In fact many companies insist on Word or text files for this very reason. I know that you have a small office and may not have these issues. Perhaps a little research next time before espousing? - 06/07/2011
Dave G. ..."it can’t be changed, and it’s easy to throw away." It can't be changed? Easily. Open it in Adobe Illustrator. Easy to throw away? So is any other form of electronic data. I know this comment is wallowing in minutia, but this article is just plain pompous. - 05/19/2011
I.D. K. A PDF is "easy to throw away." What does that even mean? If it's electronic, PDF or Word (or the email either came in) are equally easy to delete. If it's printed out, they're equally easy to round-file. - 04/22/2011
Bill A. You can protect a Word document so that it's read-only, and you're still submitting a Word document. - 04/02/2011
Dan P. PDF? I guess you need to tell the majority of companies that they're wrong requesting Word documents. Shame on them for not requesting PDFs. - 03/07/2011
Jason A. "If you're going to lie on a resume, make it believable..." PK, I've been a recruiter for 10 years, and I'm floored by this. I've coached hundreds of candidates and peers on resume writing, I've interviewed and hired countless people from entry- to C-level, and when it comes to lying on a resume, I tell everyone the same thing. "Don't." - 03/04/2011

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