How to Make a Resume Sound Professional
While most employers receive a slew of resumes when a job position is available, many of those are instantly disregarded due to common mistakes. Creating a strong resume takes time and effort, but is well worth it if that dedication is rewarded with an interview and a potential job. After you have drawn up a draft of your resume, it's time to review each component carefully and ensure that you sound professional with polished, articulate writing.
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Instructions
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Check your college transcripts or other official records you may have arranged for the employer to receive ahead of your resume to ensure your name appears in that exact way in the header of your resume. For example, if your transcripts include your middle initial, use your middle initial in the header.
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Use your school or professional email address in the header. Only use your personal email address if it sounds professional. If it's something like "snowdragon" or "partygirl," create a new email address specifically for job application purposes, and use your name in the address, e.g. "mary_brown@mail.net."
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Review and revise your objective for clarity. The objective should be as specific and succinct as possible; for example, rather than mentioning your "computer skills," rewrite to call attention to your "application programming skills" if that is what is most relevant to the job in question.
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Read over your "Education" section for consistent formatting and wording. You can either abbreviate or spell out your degree (i.e. MBA or Masters in Business Administration) so long as it is the same for each degree. Omit your high school diploma if you are a college graduate, as your employer will assume you have one.
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Check your "Experience" section for consistent formatting and wording. Read your list of duties and responsibilities that accompanies each job and omit any use of first person ("I"). Seek out the action verbs in your statements, such as "managed" or "trained," and start each description with those verbs. Each description should be brief; use incomplete sentences. For example, rather than "I was responsible for recruiting and training new team members," write "recruited and trained team members."
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Review your "Skills" section. If all of your skills fall within a specific category, such as computer skills, change the title to indicate so (i.e. "Computer Skills"). Use the bullet-point feature of your word processor for lists of skills, awards and memberships.
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Read through your entire resume for typos, then ask a trusted professional to review it as well. Grammatical errors will immediately make your resume seem unprofessional despite strong writing and formatting.
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Tips & Warnings
If you are a student, include both your school and permanent addresses and phone numbers in the header so that employers may contact you during vacations if necessary.
References
Resources
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