These Are Some Tips That Should Be Considered Before and When Writing a Résumé

Résumé writing tips

These are some tips that should be considered before and when writing a résumé

Keep your résumé to the standard two or three pages.
There’s really no need to tell anyone your life story.

Spend time on the layout, making it clear and readable.
If an employer finds it too difficult to read the information in your résumé, you miss out in an interview.

Write your name in big, bold letters on the top of your résumé.

Don’t write Résumé as the title because we know that it’s a résumé

Check your sentence structure, grammar and spelling.
Do not use slang! Ya ain’t gonna get the job if you can’t write proper!

Begin your career history with your most recent job … assuming that you’ve had one.

Begin your qualifications also with your most recent one. Include what, where and when details.

If a company you have worked for isn’t well known, include a sentence to explain to describe it.

Unless the company’s called Trucks R Us, a prospective employer will have no idea what they do.

Rework your résumé to fit each job and keep copies for future reference.
You won’t need to list those summers spent at McDonald's on your résumé when you’re applying for a graduate position!

Don’t plagiarize anyone’s work.
Beware of sentences such as ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was …’.

Make sure your email address looks professional.
You don’t want your prospective boss picturing you as ‘’.

Don’t give too much information – stick to essentials.
No-one wants to know about the gold star you got in kindergarten, but they do want to know about your previous promotion.

Save and send your résumé as a PDF attachment (if possible) so the format doesn’t change.
You’ve spent all this time on layout – why waste it?

Don’t forget to attach your own name when saving your résumé. Eg: résumé_john_mayer.doc
Just imagine how many documents simply titled ‘Résumé.doc’ the HR manager has to filter through.

Insert page numbers on your résumé.

Insert a footer with your name on the résumé, so if the pages of your résumé don’t get lost, when faxed.