How to Make Your Résumé Shine

Your résumé is a work-in-progress. You will probably revise it dozens of times during your career.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Computers
• Printers
• résumé software
• résumé paper

1. Gauge the relevance of your résumé to your current career goals.

2. Add, then highlight, action words such as "promoted" and "increased."

3. Sprinkle your résumé liberally with industry buzzwords to demonstrate your insider know-how.

4. Tailor your previous job responsibilities - within reason - to best match the description of the position you want.

5. Use the active voice and bullet points to make information easier to digest. Steer clear of passive verbs.

6. Fit your résumé onto one page, no matter how extensive your experience.

7. Choose stationery with a little personality. Or, if you are interested in high-technology fields, send your résumé by e-mail.

8. Plan to send your résumé so that it arrives at an opportune time.

9. Leave lots of space on all four margins.

Tips & Warnings

• If sending your résumé via e-mail, use standard fonts and avoid bolding, underlining or italicizing text.
• Leave out information about your race, age or political, religious or sexual orientation.
• 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 Sponsored

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• Earn your degree from industry experts at University of Phoenix. Take the next step in your career.

[willowman1]

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[Mpftmead]

on 3/26/2009 Great tips!

[jhawk1021]

on 2/2/2009 I was laid off about 6 months ago. And it was definitely a tough time in my life. I hadn't been in the job market in many years - and now I found my self in a very competitive one.

I one piece of advice is to have your resume professionally done. It is what gets you in the door with hiring managers. There are a number of services out there. They range in prices from $40 to $150. I went with a service that charged $49 and was very happy - so you don't have to spend and arm and leg to get this done. I do believe it was worth it to me. I am employed now and quite relieved! I wish the best for all others job hunting out there.

The service I used was www.ResumeSolutionsPro.com.

Best of luck you you all!

[fantasyeagle]

on 1/22/2007 Thank you.

on 8/8/2006 If sending a rsum to a company's HR department (assuming you did not send it to the person doing the hiring), NEVER staple a two-page rsum. Staples send rsums directly to the trash. They don't have time to unstaple them before scanning.