Appearances Count
Resumes are many things but one thing they are not, is a report. It’s important to follow specific resume guidelines when producing your resume so employers will easily know that you have prepared a document to highlight your work experience, achievements, and credentials.
It’s always helpful to keep in mind that your resume must be both written
and produced to demonstrate that your qualifications match job
requirements. Zahir’s resume makes it
difficult for us to make that assessment as it follows a report or
spreadsheet format with boxes, columns, headers, and desktop publishing
features. The format doesn’t lend itself to highlighting his
qualifications and talents.
When planning your resume format, keep in mind that you want to guide
the reader’s eye to areas of importance. The heavy black lines on his
resume cause us to pause and stop. Section headings should clearly direct
us to areas of importance. Our eyes usually scan to the left so fill this
space with your action verbs and crucial information. He has repetitively
used the passive voice in this prime area and makes us hunt for the
details. He should substitute short and descriptive narrative that
details projects, organizations, and accomplishments so organizations
will easily know what he can do for them.
Page two is written and formatted entirely different than page one. It
is really important to choose a format that works for your credentials
and job objective and stick with it. Employers do not need to know
everything about you; choose the experiences, education, and credentials
that are most important and eliminate the rest. Resumes are marketing
tools, not autobiographies, so bear that in mind when selecting your
qualifications.
Your resume must be readable; use fonts no smaller than 11-point and
12-point. Names and section headings should not be larger than 12-point
and text no smaller than 11-point. Experiment with different,
professional fonts to see how your text lays out on the page. Three fonts
I like for content are Century Schoolbook, Book Antiqua, and Bookman Old
Style.
Zahir should use the litmus test for everything he wants to include: “Does this make me a more qualified candidate for the job?” Delete data that doesn’t and with less information, his credentials will shine.
