Tips & Guidelines

There are always opportunities for motivated and talented professionals. If you are one of those individuals and work in one of our applicable industries, WE SHOULD KNOW YOU.

Even if you are not currently "in the market," we should know you anyway. This will enable you to keep informed of what opportunities might exist in your field as they become available.

 


 

Remember, there is no second chance for a first impression. Your resume is your  introduction to a prospective employer.

What a well-written resume should be:

  • A marketing flyer that highlights your best skills, qualifications and achievements.
  • No longer than two pages.
  • Clear example(s) of how you helped your previous employer(s) make money through quantitative and qualitative examples. SEE BELOW for an achievement list worksheet which can be incorporated into your resume.
  • An outline for an interview giving you, the candidate, control of the conversation.
  • An indicator of your writing and communication skills.

What a resume should NOT be:

  • A lengthy job chronology.
  • History of the family and world part III.
  • Mea culpa

To get your resume web-savvy:

  • Use nouns as key searchable words
  • Think in terms of hot buttons throughout the resume
  • Eliminate fancy formatting such as italics and images; scanners will only scramble them.

 

Recruiters' Pet Peeves: A survey of the top 20 things recruiters hate about resumes

 

ResumeDoctor.com undertook the immense project of conducting a survey of more than 2500 recruiters / headhunters throughout the US and Canada to find out their "Pet Peeves" with regards to the resumes they receive. These recruiters represented a wide range of specialties and industries: Engineering, Information Technology, Sales and Marketing, Executive, Biotech, Healthcare, Administrative, Finance, etc. ResumeDoctor.com sought to find out what the recruiter's likes and dislikes are in a resume and what it takes to get them to read a resume.

 

TOP 20 THINGS THAT RECRUITERS SAID THEY HATE ABOUT RESUMES

1. Spelling errors, typos and poor grammar

2. Too Duty-Oriented: A resume that reads like a job description and fails to explain what the job seeker's accomplishments were and how they did so.

3. Dates not included or inaccurate dates

4. Contact Info: none or inaccurate contact info, unprofessional e-mail addresses

5. Poor formatting: boxes, templates, tables, use of headers and footers, etc.

6. Functional resumes as opposed to writing a chronological resume

7. Long Resumes: too long

8. Paragraphs: Long paragraphs instead of bullet-points

9. Unqualified Candidates: Candidates who apply to positions for which they are unqualified

10. Personal Info included not relevant to the job

11. Employer info not included and/or not telling what industry or product candidate worked in

12. Lying, misleading (especially in terms of education, dates and inflated titles)

13. Objectives or meaningless introductions

14. Font choice - poor font choice or style

15. Resumes sent as PDF, ZIP files, faxed, web page resumes or mailed. Resumes not sent as WORD Attachment

16. Pictures, Graphics or URL links no recruiter will call up

17. No easy-to-follow summary

18. 1st or 3rd Person - Resumes written in the 1st or 3rd Person

19. Gaps in employment

20. Burying important info in the resume


 

Achievement List Sample

 

 

This is also known as a P.A.R. list for problem, action, result. Using this technique in your resume helps quantify your specific accomplishments.

Problem That Caused Action

Specific Action That Led To Achievement

Specific Achievement for Resume

Example: Production line operating at 20% efficiency

Example: Changed plant layout to better utilize personnel

Example: Layout resulted in a five-fold increase in efficiency

Below is a sample resume format that demonstrates many of these guidelines listed above. It is equally applicable as an e-mail resume or a hard copy which you mail or fax.

 

Sample Resume Format


 

 

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