How to Prepare a Basic Résumé

By eHow Careers & Work Editor

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There are as many kinds of résumés as there are jobs. Use a style that matches your personality and career objectives.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

Envelopes
Postage Stamps
Computers
Printers
résumé software
Laser Printers
résumé paper

Step1

Choose one or two fonts at most, and avoid underlined, boldfaced and italic text. Many companies use automated recruiting systems that have difficulty with special formatting.

Step2

Opt for the active voice rather than the passive voice (say 'met the goal' rather than 'the goal was met').

Step3

Provide contact information such as your home address, phone number and e-mail address at the top of your résumé.

Step4

Include an objectives statement, in which you use clear, simple language to indicate what kind of job you're looking for. This should appear below your contact information.

Step5

List your most recent and relevant experience first. Include time frames, company names and job titles, followed by major responsibilities.

Step6

In a second section, outline your education, awards, accomplishments and anything else you wish prospective employers to know about you.

Step7

Hire a proofreader or have someone you trust proofread your résumé. Mistakes in spelling, grammar or syntax can land it in the circular file.

Step8

Limit your résumé to one page unless it is scientific or highly technical. Less is definitely more when it comes to résumés.

Step9

Write a cover letter to submit with your résumé (see 'How to Write an Effective Cover Letter').

Tips & Warnings

Refrain from using "I" in your résumé.
Leave out personal information, particularly as it relates to your age, race, religious background and sexual orientation.
Avoid obscure fonts, clip art and other unnecessary visuals.
Choose résumé paper with a little personality. If you are interested in a high-technology field, send your résumé via e-mail.
Print your résumé on a high-quality laser printer or new ink jet printer for crisp letters. Avoid using dot matrix and old ink-jet printers that can smear and blur.

Who Can Help:

Comments

smiln32 said

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on 2/13/2007 Be sure to tailor your resume to the specific job you are seeking.

http://www.professional-resume-example.com/target-job.html

Anonymous said

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on 8/8/2006 Keep your resume on file saved to disk, so that in the future should you need to update it, you can.
Many times in our lives we change our status. This is when the disk you saved will come in handy.

Anonymous said

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on 11/22/2005 Employers/Human Resources filter through the resumes they received by objective (Material Handler). Then they filter those stacked resumes by present Residential (Attendance). Then they will read the selected resumes based on their work experience, education, etc.

The average amount of replies received through faxing, is about 1000 resumes, of which only 50 will be read, and 15 will be considered.

Anonymous said

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on 11/22/2005 When selecting an objective on a resume, never give a list of ideas of what you hope to do for that employer. Just give the job title. I.e., Administrative assistant, Material Handler, Delivery Driver, etc.

Anonymous said

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on 11/22/2005 If you can't think of a good objective statement, it's okay to leave it off. I work in recruiting, and an objective statement (no matter how well-written) has never gotten someone a call over another person. A badly written or overly-general statement (i.e., "To obtain a position and do well.") can reflect poorly on you.

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