12 Resume “Do’s” When Writing Your Primary Career Document

By Martin Buckland - Executive Career Management Professional

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Photo credit: © tashatuvango

While more emphasis continues to be placed on your social media presence, a resume is still the #1 document in your career management portfolio. Resume styles and preferences however constantly evolve, so a resume you wrote even 5 years ago may not be the best tool to use today.

Here’s a quick way to verify the strength of your existing resume and applicability to a 2015 job search.

 

Review the 12 tips, or “do’s”, below. Pat yourself on the back if you scored 10 or higher. If you scored 9 or below, don’t send out another resume until you have strengthened it using these tips.

 

Do...

  1. Ensure your resume is scannable by ATS systems (also called Applicant Tracking Systems, they are the robots reading your resume before a human being).

  2. Use appropriate fonts and bullets (Good choices include: Arial, Calibri, Tahoma, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, or Cambria; AVOID using Times New Roman).

  3. Use font sizes between 10 point and 12 point for the body of the resume. (Make it easy to scan without being overly large or causing the resume to exceed a maximum of 3 pages.

  4.  Include your credentials after your name (ie. BA, PMP, P.Eng., CPA).

  5. Include your email address, LinkedIn, Twitter, Skype and Facebook URL’s in the contact section.

  6.  List your work history in reverse chronological order (not functional).

  7. Share accomplishment-based bullets to describe your work history (not job duties or responsibilities).

  8. Use industry specific keywords. (Don’t know the right keywords for your industry? Download my FREE e-book http://aneliteresume.com/do-you-know-your-keywords/).

  9. Edit carefully; you want a document 100% free of spelling and punctuation errors.

  10.  Craft the document using spelling and grammar specific to the country in which you are marketing yourself. (Tip: you may need to reset the default language setting in your word processing software.)

  11. Proofread carefully. There may be words spelled correctly but used inappropriately. (For example: their, they’re, there; or to, too, two; course vs coarse…you get the point.

  12.  Number your pages and include your name on all subsequent pages.

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About the Author:

Martin Buckland, President of Elite Resumes, is a leading resume writer, career coach and job search strategist with a global clientele. Martin currently holds the following certifications: Certified Professional Branding Strategist, Certified Professional Resume Writer, Certified Employment Interview Professional, Job and Career Transition Coach, Certified Job Search Trainer and Co-Pilot Executive Coach. Visit my website at http://aneliteresume.com/

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