When you are writing a resume you are in the mindset of showing yourself off and you want to make sure that your potential employers know all the impressive things about you that can get you the job. Unfortunately, adding all those impressive skills, experiences, and accomplishments could fill up your resume with too much information and make it uninteresting to your potential employers. So how do you know if you have too much information? Here are some ways to tell if you have too much information and help you fix your resume so it doesn’t have too much information.
Does your resume read like a letter? If your resume has commentary that adds interesting information making it read like a letter, then you have gone in the wrong direction with your resume and you need to edit so that your resume doesn’t have that extra commentary. If you feel the commentary is necessary, then add it to your cover letter.
Does your resume go longer than three pages? If your resume is longer than three pages, you may have too much information. For technical resumes or even some senior executive resumes, it may be more acceptable, but for the typical professional or executive 2 or even 3 pages is best. The reader doesn’t want to browse through your novel to get to the good stuff. Keep it clean, concise, relevant, and focused.
Does your resume give skills, experiences, or accomplishments that do not apply to the job? If they don’t apply to the job description, leave them out. There is no reason to have things on your resume that won’t help you get the job. So edit them out and get back to the things that are applicable and impressive for the job.
These tips will help you edit your resume so you have the right amount of impressive information to get you to the interview– and hopefully the job!
What Do You Do When You Disagree With Your Resume Writer?
Hiring a resume service can be a very helpful tool for many job seekers who are stuck and don’t know what to do or where to go with their resume.Sometimes, however, you may disagree with your resume writer or service. You may not feel that their vision coincides with your vision and tension may occur. Dealing with that tension and disagreement can be difficult, but here are some things to remember that should help you get through the process and end up with a great resume.
Have A Clear Idea In Your Own Head: If you don’t know what information you want to put in your resume, then how can you expect your resume service to know? You need to think about what you want to do, where you want to be, and what skills and experience you have had to get you to your next career.
Communication is Key: Talk to your resume writer. Make sure that you have given them adequate information and have clearly expressed your career goals and vision. Even the best writers cannot build a resume unique to your needs if you haven’t communicated where you want to be in your career. Give the writer as much information as you possibly can, then let them do their job and streamline the information to create a resume will appeal to employers.
Keep It Professional: It will only make the situation worse if you are angry and bitter. Keep yourself calm and it will not only make the communication easier, but it will also be more enjoyable.
Above All, Remember You Are Their Boss: You have hired them. You are paying them to help you, not the other way around. Don’t let them walk over you. If what they are doing is not what you want, then you have the right to talk to them and get it fixed. However, also know that you hired them because they are certified, skilled writing professionals. You are paying them to stay on top of industry trends and share their knowledge of what content and layout works best to communicate your expertise and career history. You just need to make sure that your resume truly represents who you are and where you want to be in your career.
Keep your relationship with your writer open and professional, and you will end up with a great resume that truly markets your value to employers.
People are diverse. People are multi-talented. Every person has a unique set of skills that makes them unique and interesting.Now, while all those skills are interesting or useful in the right time and place, you need to determine when it is appropriate to list certain skills on your resume and when it is not.
For the most part, you do not want to put down skills that you have gained from hobbies. If your employer asks about your hobbies during an interview, feel free to briefly discuss your interests, but do not put “riding a unicycle” on your resume. Most employers do not want to hear about your personal interests, they want to hear about the skills you have that will add value to their company. Unless your hobbies directly relate to the position you’re applying for, leave them off of your resume.
Before you start writing your resume, write down your skills and decide which ones will be useful in almost any job. Computer technology and team building skills are always good to put down on a resume. Aside from those, you will want to put down skills that are tailored to meet the needs of the company and position you are applying for. If you are applying to be a Research Assistant, and you have had experience with a library system, that would be a good skill to put on your resume because it is directly applicable to the situation.
There are many skills that can be used in a variety of situations. You need to figure out which of your skills are best suited to the jobs you’re applying for. This will keep your resume from looking unprofessional or cluttered and will help your potential employers see the value and expertise you will offer when hired.
One of the most important sections of your resume is your employment history. This is also one of the most interesting areas for potential employers. It will give them an idea of a few things: how long you have been working, if the work you have been doing is similar to what they do, and what you may have achieved in each position. A well-written employment history will give potential employers an idea of how you would fit in working for their company.
Employers are looking for quick, impressive information in a resume. Each entry in your work experience should look something like this:
Job Title/Dates of Employment (years)
Company Name, City State
Brief Narrative
Achievement
Achievement
Achievement
This is merely an example. There are many other formats out there to document your employment history, and they should all have the same basic information: dates of employment, the name of the company you worked for, where the company is located, job title, and your duties and achievements. You should include your most impressive on-the-job functions, as well as the ones that are the most like what you would be doing at the new company.
Including the right information in your employment history may be the key to landing an interview, and then, hopefully an offer.
It can seem overwhelming to distribute your resume and get your name out there, but it doesn’t have to be.If you can slow down, think things through, and be confident in your search and distribution, then it will be much easier. Here are some things you should remember and be aware of when choosing where and how to distribute your resume.
Send your resume to more than one place: You will have a better chance at actually getting a job if you have your eggs in more than one basket.
Don’t give your resume to places you wouldn’t commute to: This seems like common sense, but it is something you should keep in mind the whole time you are distributing your resume. If you are not willing to commute daily to a company, then don’t bother wasting your time or theirs by giving them your resume.
Follow up: After spending hours giving your resume to dozens of companies, you want to be able to know what is happening and if your hard work is paying off. But be careful not to become annoying. Follow up after a week or two and be very polite and to the point.
Don’t become discouraged: Know right now that it will take a lot of time for you to get called in for an interview or get the job. You cannot let the long amount of time discourage you from distributing and re-distributing. You need to keep going and you will eventually get the job that you are looking for.
A common problem that many people come across, particularly for those recently graduated and entering the work force, is that their work history is not long enough for them to make a full, complete, and impressive resume. But it is nothing to stress over. You can still have an impressive resume without a long or extensive work history.
The biggest key to having an impressive resume without a long work history is to not create fake jobs or fake references. This is the biggest mistake anyone can make. It will only cause you problems in your search and may cost you multiple job opportunities.
You may want to take a functional resume route. In other words, focus on the skills that you have that will apply to the job you are applying for. You should still include the work history that you have, but the focus of your resume should be on your impressive skills and abilities. The skills would be formatted to look like this in your resume: Auto Mechanic:
Responsible for tune ups, tire changes, and other basic level mechanical work
Worked as an oil change technician for 5 years
Shade tree mechanic for two years
Used Car Sales
Sold pre-owned vehicles on commission for 6 months
Examined vehicles for mechanical problems prior to purchase
Fixed major and minor issues on vehicles before resell
Not only is this a simple format, but it can fill up your resume, make it impressive and professional, and keep you out of future trouble with potential employers.
Your standard dream job description may require an average of three to five years of experience when you only have two years of experience.Do you just walk away and do not apply? No, apply anyways. You may be surprised and get at least a phone interview. Pay close attention to the keywords of the job description and ensure that you put them in your resume also. Do not inflate your experience in this field or call attention to your lack of three to five years of experience in a cover letter. There are other things a recruiter looks for aside from number of years of experience. Maybe the job calls for someone who can work tirelessly towards a specific goal for long-term rather than short-term gratification. Or perhaps your background in customer service will be a great add-on to the skill sets required in the position. Personal characteristics, related skill sets and ability to work hours that are different from just the 9 to 5 grind may also make you an attractive candidate. If the recruiter describes the type of person that would fit best into this position, listen carefully, then provide information on why you are that person. Training also counts towards making you the ideal job candidate when you do not have the requisite number of years of work experience. While some managers like to train their new employees from the ground up, realistically, it can be cost prohibitive and time consuming to do so. Arriving with some relevant training can also make starting a new job easier. A flexible, can-do attitude also counts in your favor. If you can be flexible with start dates, hours, where you work, what equipment you do your work on, all of these things can add up to make you the best candidate for the job, even when you do not have the preferred amount of experience.
After spending hours of distributing your resume, here it is.You got an interview. The one and only chance to prove that you are exactly what the company is looking for. Talk about stressful. Here are a few tips that should help you make the most of that first job interview.
The first thing you need to remember is to smile. Not only does it ease the interviewer, but they will take on the attitude you put forth, which will also help to ease your nerves.
Talk confidently. Yes, it is nerve wracking to go to a job interview, but don’t let your interviewer know that you are nervous. When you speak do not use fillers, such as “ummm,” or “hmmm.” Using fillers like those will make it seem like you do not know what you are talking about.
Be yourself. Yes you need to smile and be confident, but do not become someone you are not just for an interview. If you are hired you will be working side by side with these people and they need to know that the person they interview is going to be the same person they get when they hire you.
Practice these things before going into your interview. Think about what are some logical questions they might ask you at the interview and answer them out loud while looking in a mirror so you can make sure that you are smiling. If you think about what you want to say before you say it in the job interview, then you should be able to eliminate those unhelpful fillers.
While there are many other factors that go into securing your job, such as creating a professional and accurate resume before your interview, if you follow these tips they should help you make the most of your interview and, hopefully, help you land the job.
