Basic Resume Principles

The electronic processing of information has affected the way you need to prepare your resume. Your resume needs to be able to be read by computers as well as humans. Many employers are now using optical scanners to enter resumes into computer databases and then electronically search for candidates using identified criteria. Don't assume that your target employers are too small or don't have the budget to use computer scanners. All resumes should follow the same basic principles to be of interest to and optimally read by humans as well as computers. Everything that makes sense for computer scanners to easily "read" resumes makes sense for human readers, too. The simpler, the better. Once a computer has selected your resume, based on the identified criteria, humans take over and make the final decisions about interviewing.

  1. Before developing your resume, begin with a thorough self-assessment. What do you want to do? What skills and abilities do you need and do you possess? How can you demonstrate what you know and can do? Review the exercises on pages 6 through 8.
  2. Place your name, in all capital letters and bold, and address on different lines at the top of the resume. Include your telephone number, e-mail address, and home page address. If your resume is two pages, your name should be the first line on the second page.
  3. Length depends upon your experience and qualifications. Generally, resumes do not exceed two pages. For most recent college graduates, a one-page resume is all that is necessary and expected.
  4. Your resume should be on 81&Mac218;2" x 11" paper, printed on one side. Use a computer with a high quality printer, do not use dot matrix, and only black ink. You may reproduce your resume using a high-quality photocopier.
  5. Present your resume on quality bond paper of at least 20-pound weight. Knowing your audience is your best guide to the selection of paper and color. Generally, employers prefer resumes on white, off-white, ivory, light tan, or light gray paper. White is best for computer scanners. If you prefer to use colored paper, select a lightly tinted color that will make clear copies. Your resume and cover letter should be presented on the same kind of paper. When mailing your cover letter and resume use an envelope large enough so that they are not folded.
  6. Be honest. Emphasize your strengths, experience, and capabilities. Provide accurate dates and list only months and years, or just years. Record your degrees and/or certifications with months and years of graduation.
  7. Identify your skills by using nouns. Use industry jargon and buzzwords. Example: CAD (computer aided design). Maximize your use of keywords, words that define the requisites of a particular job. Consult help wanted ads and written job descriptions for ideas of words to use. Ask people in your target industry to review your resume to make sure you haven't missed anything.
  8. Put the most important information first working keywords into the body of the resume.
  9. Use "action" verbs (see page 21) to communicate accomplishments and results. Use present tense in referring to activities in which you are currently engaged. Describe previous activities in the past tense.
  10. Make your resume easy to look at and follow. It should read more like an outline than narrative. Do not use first person pronouns. The "I" is implied as the subject when you are writing about yourself. Use incomplete sentences or phrases and maintain a consistent format.
  11. Use plenty of white space. Computers like white space and so does the human eye. The computer uses it to recognize that one topic has ended and another has begun. One-inch margins (top, bottom, left, and right) are optimal for scanning. Some recent word processing programs have the default margins set higher. Change the margins to one-inch to take advantage of the best use of space.
  12. Use one font size of 10 to 12 points. Some say point sizes up to 14 are acceptable but, to the human reader, anything over 12 may appear as if you are just taking-up space. Use one popular, non-decorative typeface throughout. A few excellent fonts include Times, Arial, Palatino, and Helvetica. Don't vary the font or point size within the resume.
  13. Avoid using italic, script, and underlined text. The letters sometimes touch and computers may have difficulty recognizing the individual characters and will be unable to read the information. Avoid graphics and shading. Scanning equipment is generally set to read only text, not graphics.
  14. CAPITAL LETTERS are acceptable, however, use them sparingly for effect and attention grabbing for the human reader, it doesn't matter to computers. Boldface may be acceptable and should be used sparingly as well, however, be aware that it may be a problem for some scanners.
  15. You may use bullets but make sure they are solid, not hollow, symbols and that at least one blank space, up to two blank spaces, are inserted between the bullet and the text. Using more than two blank spaces defeats the purpose of the bullet by placing the text too far from it. You may have to adjust the automatic spacing for bullets with some word processing programs.
  16. Don't use parentheses or brackets. Computer scanners may interpret the symbols as letters, or other punctuation, and will not be able to "understand" the text within them. Use horizontal and vertical lines sparingly, if at all. If you do use lines, put at least a quarter-inch of white space around them.
  17. Omit irrelevant and personal information such as height, weight, age, sex, health, and marital status.
  18. Do not use staples or fold your resume. Pages may stick together after a staple is removed. Creases from folds may lead to inaccurate scanning or difficulty in feeding the resume into the scanner. Employers may even throw away resumes that have been neatly folded to fit into standard #10 business size envelopes.
  19. Draft and redraft your resume until it will capture an employer's interest and show that you have the qualifications to do the job and are a good candidate for an interview.
  20. Always proofread your resume for visual quality, content, and typographical, and spelling errors. Have several other people proofread your resume as well.
  21. Plan ahead. Do not anticipate writing your best resume overnight. Remember, your resume is an essential tool in your job search. Make it the best possible.

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Career Handbook: The Job Search: Section 2
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