Never cause the reader to hesitate on any wording or distracting visual elements.

Intent

To get a job – you don’t need to state that in the resume.

Content

Every word should contribute to selling your skills.

Appearance

Your resume should not be a visual cacophony. Keep it simple.

The Whole Package

Today’s resume is presented and read electronically. As you compose your resume pay attention to the top half of the first page. It is here that you hook the reader with an opening statement of the skills that you intend to present. This is followed immediately by your most recent position that further elaborates on the skills that you presented in the initial paragraph. This most recent position can extend beyond the first half of the first page, but should leave room to introduce the previous position. Followed by all other positions, education, awards, publications, organizations, and whatever else contributes to the over all content of the resume. Occasionally education is such a key element of the job requirement that it could be presented after the initial statement and before the most recent position.

Do’s and Do Not’s

Use a single font for the entire resume (Times Roman is the easiest to read).

Use simple bullets (don’t get fancy with check marks or arrows).

Use tabs to position elements that you want to separate from other text, but set the tab for that element in the tab bar, do not tab tab… space, space, space… to visually position the element. This will cause inconsistent results on different word processing packages.

Use the built in formatting of your word processing package but don’t try to use all of them. I would suggest using Heading 1 for your name, Heading 2 for the section titles, Heading 3 for each position. Use bullets, not numbered list (the reader will hesitate wondering at the priority of the items). All paragraphs should use the Text body format of your word processor. Note: the defaults for some elements may be a different font family – you can use select all and change all fonts to Times Roman after you have completed building your resume.

Proof read your resume – no, really, don’t rely on your word processor to catch everything, after all there are too many ways to present two different things. Read it backwards, have someone else read it for content, spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

Edit and proof your resume with the Nonprinting Characters displayed. There should not be a single extra space, tab, new line, hidden element, or revision text in the document. Neatness counts.

Basic Rule (again because it is important)

Never cause the reader to hesitate on any wording or distracting visual elements.

I would also strongly recommend that you get at least a free membership on LinkedIn. The hiring manager (or director or C level) that you want to network with is most likely on LinkedIn. Work on building your network on LinkedIn by inviting all of your present and past managers, work associates, relatives, and anybody else you know. The more links that you have, the more people you have access to on LinkedIn. You can invite me to link (I will accept any invitation) at  http://www.linkedin.com/in/chetvolpe.

While all the job boards, classified ads, internet postings, resume distributions, and contact with agency recruiters (like me) are an essential part of the job search (after all, you don’t want to miss anything), networking person to person is the single best way to get the interview that will lead to an offer. You need to make these connection via networking events in your area, talking to people that you find on sites like LinkedIn, talking to strangers while in line at the store, tweeting, blogging, research at the local library, and searches on the internet.

One site that facilitates this type of connection is SimplyHired. When you do a skill search in your local area, some of the results may show a LinkedIn icon next to the result item. This will show you a list of people at the company advertising the position. This gives you a place to start – a target list of people to connect with that work at the company. Even if none of these are in a position to make a hiring decision, a peer contact will be able to recommend you to a manager for the position. Many companies have internal referral bonuses to encourage employees to recommend people they know for open positions (this is the single biggest source for new employees in most companies that I have experienced).

Next on the list would be making contact with several agency recruiters in your area. Establishing a relationship with the ones that you feel comfortable with will insure that you are on their radar when the right job is available. I suggest that you do the following with this group at least every other week:

• call to check in and see what is new
• update them on your activities
• share any interviews that you have had
  (this is key as companies that are actively interviewing for positions are good leads for a recruiter – this is a give that will put you on top of their list)
• provide information on companies that just did not respond to you on a job application
• keep the dialog open.

You will find recruiters that will resist this level of contact – if so, move on to others that are willing to work with you.

One additional strategy that you may want to work on – check out any place online that recruiters have access to free services to post jobs or search resumes. Two examples are FeeTrader.com and any group on LinkedIn that provides job postings. I will add more specific sites in this category as time permits (your input always welcome).

Good luck and I invite you to provide any feedback or questions via email (chet.volpe at gmail dot com) to phone (303-578-9288).

Thanks,
–
Chet Volpe – Senior Recruiter – A-1 Careers
303-578-9288 (voice or text)
Link to me on LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/in/chetvolpe
Follow me on Twitter http://twitter.com/chetvolpe
12202 Airport Way, Suite 180
Broomfield, CO 80021
Office 303-998-0000

© Chester B. Volpe 2009, 2010