Develop
World Class Resume Content Energize
Your Resume with Action Words Craft
a Winning Resume Sample
Resume
Personal Information Your
name, address, phone number (including area code), and e-mail address (if applicable)
should be displayed at the very top of the resume. This information should be
easily accessible and readable. Avoid excessively small fonts for address and
phone numbers. You want to make is as easy as possible for a prospective employer
to contact you. If your resume has multiple pages
(discouraged), then your name should be displayed at the top of each page to avoid
mix-ups.
Free Info on our recommended Medical Transcription Program leading to an exciting home based medical transcription career
Objective A
career objective is not always necessary. If you choose to include an objective
make sure it is focused and adds value to the resume. Since the objective will
generally come at the beginning of the resume you want to make sure that it is
serving a significant purpose. Remember that if a resume doesn't grab attention
quickly, it will be cast aside like yesterday's news. Therefore, you should always
position your most important information at the top of the page. If a weak objective
is occupying the most valuable piece of real estate on your resume there is a
real chance that the balance of your resume will never be reviewed. An
objective can add value if it is targeted, concise, and relevant to the position
or industry you are pursuing. Sometimes, however, it is best to simply articulate
you objective in a well written cover letter. Work Experience
As a general rule, you should include all relevant
work experience. To keep the resume manageable, however, you should consider limiting
the employment history to your most recent three or four jobs or the most recent
ten years of employment. Reaching twenty five years into your past is not likely
to produce information that is relevant to the employment decision and will typically
serve only to complicate your resume. To the extent
possible, your experience should be tailored to the position for which you are
applying. This implies that you will take the time to highlight those elements
of your experience that are most relevant and applicable to the position at hand.
A little honest creativity will generally pay off handsomely. You want to frame
your experience in the best possible light. Most
employers are accustomed to seeing experience listed chronologically. However
there is nothing wrong with creating a functional resume which lists the most
relevant experience first. Either way, it is important to include dates of employment.
Employers will expect to see employment dates. Omitting dates of employment will
raise a red flag in the mind of the employer and call into question your motives.
There is generally no need to include detailed
contact or salary information for current or previous employers in your resume.
You want to focus attention on your qualifications and basic experience. Leave
the detail for the employment application.
Free Info on our recommended Medical Transcription Program leading to an exciting home based medical transcription career
Education
and Training Formal education or training will
usually improve your prospects - all other things being equal. If you have an
undergraduate or graduate degree from an accredited University, this fact should
be prominently stated. If your GPA was noteworthy or you have other academic accomplishments
these should be included. However, it is not necessary to bring undo attention
to a less than stellar GPA. Any relevant certifications
or training should also be fully documented and prominently showcased on your
resume. Again, dates should be included. Education
and training can either be inserted before, or directly after the section on work
experience. If you have recently graduated with a degree or a certificate from
a training program, you may want to call attention to this fact by positioning
the education section near the top of the resume. If,
on the other hand, your education and training is meager, distant, or not particularly
relevant, you may want to highlight your experience first and then follow with
education and training. When documenting your
education you should include the name of the degree or certificate granting institution
or organization, the city and state where it is located, the date completed, and
the degree or designation earned. Be careful when
listing dates on older educational experiences. While it is illegal for employers
to engage in age discrimination, it does occur. You should not feel compelled
to provide explicit age-indicating information in your resume. Skills
As with education and training, the section
on skills can be made more or less prominent through positioning on the resume.
If you possess specialized skills that would be considered valuable to the position
for which you are applying, you should advance this section to the top of the
resume to make it more conscpicuous. References You
should not include character references in the body of your resume. If you feel
inclined to refer to them, you should consider including a statement at the bottom
of your resume such as "References available on request." You
should certainly be prepared to provide references to prospective employers if
they ask for them. However, this information should generally not be provided
until the employment process has progressed significantly. Checking references
will typically be one of the final steps in the employment process. Giving out
privileged reference information indiscriminately is not a good idea. Creating
a Scannable Resume Many employers are rapidly
adopting new technology that makes it easier for them to sort through the large
volume of resumes they receive. By scanning resumes into a system and then allowing
an intelligent software program to perform a high level screening of these resumes,
human resource personnel are able to focus more of their attention on those candidates
that possess the desired qualifications. The software
can be programmed to look for the key attributes that are considered essential
to success in the position. The software will then filter out all candidates that
don't meet this predetermined set of minimum educational or experience requirements.
To increase the probability of making it through
this initial screening process consider the following points: 1.
The resume should be clean and free from excessive formatting. Avoid graphics,
shading, italics or underlining - all of which can be misinterpreted by the computer.
Use bolded or capitalized letters to call attention to text. 2.
The resume font should be at least 10 points in size; an 11 or 12 point font is
preferable. 3. Fonts should be simple and crisp
- Times New Roman, Arial, Helvetica, Palatino, and Verdana are all safe bets.
4. Don not staple or fold the resume. If it must
be mailed, it should be sent unfolded in a large envelope. 5.
Carefully evaluate the job requirements and then make sure that the keywords in
your resume link specifically to these requirements. If you are responding to
an ad, try to incorporate some of the key attritutes listed in the ad into your
resume.
Free Info on our recommended Medical Transcription Program leading to an exciting home based medical transcription career
|