Back to Basics
Employers must quickly scan resumes as an applicant search can net hundreds of resumes. An easy way to sort through the pile is to discard any resume with typos, grammatical errors, or poorly-written content. You would think that every professional would know the importance of creating an error-free document but, applicants under pressure may take shortcuts and inadvertently, knock themselves out of the running. It’s not just the content that’s important; applicants must produce a format that assists the reader by carefully guiding them to key points of interest.
Christy Wood has excellent credentials and 19 years of progressive
experience. But, she needs to focus on these two major areas if she wants
to entice employers to evaluate her credentials.
For starters, watch out for typos, such as the missing hyphen in
Sarbanes-Oxley. And while we’re at it, why not spell out the name and
then place the acronym SOX in parenthesis. With this format, you can
correctly use the acronym throughout the resume.
Christy can edit her resume and pack more authority by replacing
passive voice verbs with action verbs. For example, eliminate
“responsible for” and begin with active voice verbs, such as: executed,
spearheaded, contributed, administered, restructured, redesigned,
implemented, or produced. Remember, you are writing in the first person
and it is not grammatically correct to use the present participle
(documenting and evaluating) rather than verbs in either the present or
past tense. And while we are on this topic, current experiences are
written in the present tense and all past experiences in the past tense.
For grammatical guidelines, consult a grammar book, such as The Gregg
Reference Manual and to eliminate redundancies, try Rodale’s Synonym
Finder.
Resume formats don’t need to be elaborate. Check your “page setup” and
ensure that your margins are set at one-inch all around. Christy’s are
.9” at top, .8” at bottom, and 1.25” on right and left. Just these
changes can help a resume fit on the required one to two pages. Fonts
should be 11-point and 12-point for an easy read; Christy’s range from
10-point to 18-point. Try two different fonts; one for name, contact
information, and all section headings and another for all other text.
Highlight key areas with bold and uppercase, such as organization names
and job titles.
Avoid mixing up additional information. Place all credentials together, such as certifications, education and training, skills, professional affiliations, and community activities. Your resume isn’t an autobiography so evaluate all data you plan to include. For instance, ask yourself “Does this make me a more qualified candidate?” If not, don’t include it.
