Resume Writing Tips

A good resume can make the difference between landing that great new job and continuing to look for new employment. Nearly all employers, with very few exceptions, will ask for a resume so that they can quickly get a sense of your skills and experience. It is therefore critical that you write a resume that will stand out from the pile that they have to read and make them want to hire you. Here are some tips on how to do that.

Show, don't just tell

When writing down your experiences, make sure that you show whoever is going to read that resume what you have accomplished. The employer is going to be far more interested in seeing how and what you accomplished. They are not interested in simply reading a list of the duties that you performed in your position -- they want to know what those duties accomplished. Make sure that your resume is direct, using strong action verbs to present your experiences. 

The best way to pull this off is to keep numerical track of your progress when you do have a job. For example, consider the following two sentences. "As a writing tutor I was responsible for enhancing the content and flow of students' writing while correcting grammatical and syntactical errors." Sounds good, right? But what if you could say this: "As a writing tutor my students reported an average of a 34% increase over their typical essay score."

While the first sentence may sound professional, employers already know what a writing tutor does. What they don't know is how good at it you were, until you give them proof.

Don't sell yourself short

There is a time for humility; your resume isn't it. Your resume is the place to show what you are capable of. Make sure that you give every detail about the best things that you have done in your life. It is important to highlight key experiences that have driven you to the ability to perform the duties of the job that you are applying for.

Instead of just telling them what your past employers and activities have asked you to complete, show them what you took the initiative to complete on your own, providing specific examples of the ways that you performed above and beyond what might have been expected or what your peers performed. You have a very limited amount of space on a resume (one page only, please!) to show what you are made of, so make sure that every word counts, and that it counts towards advancing your own ability to perform the job in question.

Tailor your resume

Don't forget that every job and every employer are different. A resume that would be perfect to get a job as a restaurant manager is not going to be the best resume for a lawyer. Each resume should be tailored to have the most relevant experiences at the top of the resume so that the first thing a hiring manager is going to see on your resume are the experiences that show him or her that you are the right person for that specific job.

Similarly, many people like to begin their resume with a brief "goal" or "action" statement which gives the very specific and concise reason why this job is the one you want. It is a way to make the resume perfectly tailored to that particular employer and gives you the chance to give the very specific, tailored reason why they should hire you.