How to Write a Resume - Tips From a Professional Resume Writer

I've been writing and editing resumes professionally for close to eight years now, and I'm constantly perplexed by the amount of common sense mistakes that I find. It is my hope that by sharing my insight, you will be able to write the resume that best reflects you. The most important thing to take from this article is that a good resume is clear, concise, and fits on one page.

First, make sure your contact information is at the top of the resume, not the bottom, and include a telephone number where you can be reached during the typical workday. If your employer does not know that you are searching for a job, do not give your work number. In this case, a cellular telephone number is best. If this is not possible, then your home telephone number will have to suffice. By placing your contact information at the top of the resume, you enable a future employer to contact you easily, as opposed to having to search for the information.

Second, make sure you list your education. If you are a college graduate, it is not necessary to list where you went to high school or the date you graduated. Clearly state the degree you obtained and the year in which it was earned. It is not necessary to state your G.P.A.; however, if you obtained cum laude status, place that under where you list your degree. If you are a college graduate and completed coursework, a certificate, or a higher-level degree after completing college, list this as well. If you are not a college graduate, list your high school and year of graduation.

Third, make sure that the jobs you list on your resume are applicable to the position for which you are applying. Having worked as a summer camp counselor does not qualify you to manage a bank. Likewise, do not list every job you have had since you started working, because scooping ice cream does not qualify you to be a teacher. The job positions and descriptions are the most important pieces of the resume, because a quick read-through will tell a potential employer if you have the necessary capabilities to perform the job in question. Your job list should include the name of the company for which you worked, the dates of employment, the title of the position you held, and the responsibilities you had in that job. The list needs to be chronological, starting with your most recent job and going backwards. Are you still at your current job and looking for a change? List your company, position, and responsibilities, and in the date column simply write, "present."

Fourth, please inform your potential future employers of additional skills you have. Not just how fast you can type, or in what computer programs you are proficient (though, do both of these, they are important), but also if you have any talents that set you apart from another applicant. Are you bilingual? Did you plan the company's charity events at your last job? Has your work won any awards? All of these are important pieces of information to help an employer make a decision.

Lastly, when writing your resume, here is a helpful list of "Don'ts". Don't ever use phrases like "performed inane tasks," or "handled a multitude of little things." Even if you are a funny and sarcastic person, you run the risk of this seeming patronizing and condescending. Even if your tasks are inane, you don't want to let a future employer know how disgruntled you are. Employers need to know specifically what tasks you have performed. Gripes on a resume only make you look bad, and serve to hinder your job search. The key is to make the mundane tasks sound more important, with a careful tweaking of words. For example, if you work as a receptionist in a busy office, you don't want to write "answering phones" on your resume. Try "facilitated client contact," instead.

Don't let your job descriptions become paragraphs. Draft a list of the skills you use to perform your job, and choose the most important ones to place on your resume. A resume shouldn't read as a story, it should be a teaser, giving just enough information to a reader to leave them wanting more. Using a list format for your job description is preferred. If there is too much information, use a sentence format, but group the pertinent details together.

Don't ever lie on your resume. Companies check the little details more often than you might think. The lies will eventually come back to haunt you. There are plenty of cases, especially with higher-level positions, where one human resources department in a company calls another to tell them about the lies in which they caught you. If this happens, you are out of luck not just with the company to which you applied, but also with other companies in the same field. If you did not train with an expert in your field, don't say that you did. If you attended college, but did not graduate, don't say that you did. If you are not an expert in a computer program necessary for the job you want, don't say that you are. Honesty will go a long way in helping you not only land the job, but also keep it.

Finally, many writers encourage the use of objectives on resumes. It is the opinion of this writer that they are unnecessary. If you are applying for a job, then you are obviously seeking a position in that company. To state, "Objective: To find a rewarding position in the field of customer service," is toying with redundancy and simply takes up space, as you are applying to that company for their customer service position. Instead, why not put a fun fact about yourself? In one resume I worked on recently, the job seeker had helped develop a United States patent that is in use today. We stated that directly under his contact information. In another, the applicant had seen 48 of the 50 states, so we wrote that on the resume. It makes more sense to have something on your resume that is a conversation starter, versus telling a future employer something that they already know. Make yourself unique. Be creative, but be thoughtful. Remember, a resume needs to be clear, concise, and fit on one page.