What Things Should Be Included in a Resume?

Video Transcript

"Did you know that it's OK possibly to have a two page resume? Hi I'm Shannon Terry and I'm a resume writer and interview skills coach with Resume Confidence here to talk to you about what should be on your resume. I'm going to go ahead and divide my advice to you into kind of three categories, always, sometimes and never. It's going to depend on your specific skills and experience and what you want to highlight on your resume to some degree. Always however have contact information so they can get in contact with you, your phone number, your e-mail address, that sort of thing, your name, right? Of course you're going to need your education, your highest level only is OK. If you have college experience you don't need to put your high school information on there. And any additional training that you've gone through should also be on your resume. Your job experience which is your work history, I know you know that. Your computer skills, any technical skills relevant in your field also very important. Lastly I want to make sure that you focus on your accomplishments. Anything that makes you standout and unique, make sure that that's on your resume. Now sometimes people will also include volunteer work, professional organizations that they're involved in, just depends again on your experience. I never want you to put references on your resume, that should be separate. I never want you to put the street address and phone number of your employers, again that belongs on your reference sheet. Photos, no photos, that can set people up for lawsuits. And I don't like objectives, I believe that objective is just stating what kind of work you're looking for and that's what the first paragraph of your cover letter is for. Also graphics of any kind, can be a sometimes column depending on your field. If you're a graphic artist, that may be appropriate, but for most of us we want to steer clear of anything like that. I'm Shannon Terry, a resume write and interview skills coach with Resume Confidence, helping you know what should be on your resume."