How to Improve Your Resume and Get Better Results

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Your current resume

Step 1

** Format **

Before an employer does anything else, they'll look at the overall layout of your resume. In other words, the "look and feel" of it. And if this doesn't impress me, then I won't look further. So you must grab my attention here right off the bat!

This means making sure it looks professional. Is centered on the page properly. Looks like the true professional you are. Doesn't have unnecessary or inappropriate graphics or pictures to distract my attention from your info. Is on the right kind of paper. And is perfectly readable!
Step 2

** Paper choice and color **

Quite honestly, many employers I've spoken with don't really care what color your resume paper is so long as it's not inappropriate. In other words, they'll accept plain white paper. But if you're going to use colored paper, standard and widely acceptable colors include: Ivory or a light cream, grey or grey-bluish, or white or off-white.

But is a standard 20 pound paper acceptable? The higher the weight, the stiffer and stronger the paper is. 20 pound is standard copy and typing paper. Yes, there are many employers who don't have a problem with this. However, on many laser printers, they heat up pretty hot and will curl the paper if it's too light. With 20 pound paper, this often happens. And giving an employer a curled resume makes you look very bad!

So I suggest you use a minimum of 24 pound paper. A bit more expensive, but not outrageously so. Generally, about $1 or 2 more per ream (500 sheets). So it's easily affordable and won't curl at all. This is the weight of "resume paper" you'll see on the shelves. And 24 pound paper will not curl in laser printers!

At a maximum, I would suggest not going above 28 pound paper. It's a little stiffer than 24 pound. But to the average person, which an interviewer is, he or she would not really notice any difference at all. So it's perfectly acceptable, but might be a little more expensive. The reason I mention this weight is because when you're shopping for paper, they might not have 24 pound paper in stock. So as an alternative you can buy 28 pound.
Step 3

** Overall structure **

Once you've gotten past an employer's being impressed with your overall formatting, paper weight, and paper color, he or she is not going to turn attention to what's on the resume itself.

I've seen many resources, including books and websites by "experts" that have tons of sample resumes. But sometimes, I'll see a "winning" resume sample that has a huge problem! And it's definitely one employers will notice right away and will severely hurt your chances of success. What is it? Your contact info is in the wrong format and/or place!

I've seen examples where your name, address, phone, and e-mail are way at the bottom to look like letterhead. Yes, for company letterheads, this is an acceptable formatting. But not for resumes!!

So make sure all that info is right at the very top of the page so I'll see it. If not, then I will most likely pass on it because I won't know who's resume it is. I'm very busy and don't want to waste my time looking all up and down your resume if I don't have to. So if I don't see this info immediately, I'll simply move on to the next one. And you'll never even know I did this!

Another common mistake is to put your contact info on the far right of the page. Once again, perfectly acceptable for business stationary. But definitely not for resumes!! And why not?

Well think of it this way, we read from left to right. And so an employer is going to look left, middle, and then right. But he or she will expect your contact info to be visible at least somewhere on the left or middle.

Now this doesn't mean your contact info cannot extend all the way to the right. I'm saying that it must begin on the left or in the middle. So the important thing an employer is definitely going to focus on is where your contact info actually begins!
Step 4

Example of how things will look with different justifications

** Justification of text on your margins **

For those of you who don't know what "justification" means, let me briefly discuss it. Justification tells me how your text lines up. For example, everything could line up on the left side but not on the right. So it looks zig-zagged on the right, but straight up and down on the left. We call this left justified.

Your text could line up straight up and down on both the left and right sides. We call this full justified. Or your text could look centered on on the page in between the left and right sides. This is called centered. You could even have your text zig-zag on the left side but straight up and down on the right. We call this right justified.

So which one(s) should you use? Which should be avoided? This is very important and can definitely make a big difference to whether or not you are successful and called in for that all important interview!

Well the answer depends upon whether it's info or a heading? In other words, they're formatted quite differently. But one thing is definitely for sure and applies to both. Do not use right justified!! It simply looks funny to have things on the right with basically nothing on the left. So it makes you look very unprofessional!

Left justified, which is the normal default, is perfectly acceptable for both headings and info. However, if you want to standout more, I suggest you center your headings and left justify your info. This makes it easier on the eye and immediately differentiates between the two. In other words, I don't need to read the actual words. I'll be able to see the difference in formatting and know immediately one is a heading and the other is info.

But do not center your info! The zig-zagging of the lines will look very messy and drive employers nuts. And will definitely make you look very unprofessional and devastate your chances of success!

What about full justification? Well this one is a bit tricky. Why? Because it all depends upon the font you're using, how long your line and your margin are, and the width of individual letters and numbers (characters).

In other words, it may look very nice. But then again, it could look extremely bad! Take a look at the example I've provided. It will show you how the same info looks with each justification. At the bottom is full justify. Focus your attention on the spacing between the words of the first and second lines. You'll see a big difference here!
Step 5

** Font choice **

I've seen this mistake made by tons of job seekers. They'll use a bunch of fancy fonts. And why not, programs today have lots of them and they seem pretty nice looking on screen. Plus, they may add some "class" or "creativity" to your resume. And this will make you standout from your competition.

Exactly, you'll standout all right. But for most jobs, you'll standout in a very negative way! And that will not remotely impress an employer and get you an interview.

Just take a look at a standard business letter you get from a company. Does it have all those fancy fonts in there? Nope! And why not? Because they're not needed nor are they professional looking. This is exactly what an employer will say when they see your resume containing them. In other words, you'll be seen as unprofessional. And do you want this to be your initial impresion? Definitely not!!

So stick with the standard, yet seemingly boring fonts. For instance, Arial, Times Roman or Times New Roman. Both of these look very nice, are readible, and very professional looking. So they will send the impression you're a professional too!

And what about using colored fonts? For example, making your name blue or navy blue. Or making headings blue or dark red (maroon). Is this acceptable? Once again, for most jobs, absolutely not!!

Just take another look at a standard business letter. Do you see colored text there? No. However, it's possible the company name and address could be in a color. But that's business stationary. This is a personal resume. Color here is not appropriate and unprofessional! So for most jobs, avoid it!!
Step 6

** Isn't all this nit-picking and "little things?" **

Yes, you can definitely say this. But as I say in my job search book, these sorts of little things get noticed by employers and hurt job hunters!

Never forget that an employer is constantly guaging how professional you appear. And so you must, without a shadow of a doubt, always appear this way. One little slip up and it can cost you. Now under normal conditions, you might get away with another employer letting it slide.

But in today's environment, no way!! And even under normal conditions when the economy isn't so hurting, there are plenty of employers who will still pickup these things and cut you out. And you'll never even know that this was the reason. Why not? Because they won't tell you your resume had this problem or that problem. They'll give you a generic answer or none at all.

So no matter how good or bad the economy and labor market are, little things get noticed by employers! And if you ask any job hunter this question: "Do you really want to risk making these mistakes and not getting an interview?" They'll say no!!

How to Improve Your Resume and Get Better Results

Things You'll Need:

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