Before meeting a potential employer in person, all they have to “size you up” is your resume.  Just as you would want to look your best for an initial meeting, it makes sense to take care with how you present your qualifications on paper.  Follow the tips below so you can put your best foot forward on your resume.

Do…

• Use a simple font and a clean layout to emphasize your job skills.
• Use proper grammar and correct spelling.
• Have a clearly stated goal or job objective.
• Use high quality, white paper.
• Use month / year format to show dates of employment.
• Use bold type for job titles you have held, along with the name of the company for which you worked.
• Use bullet points to list each accomplishment, responsibility or duty that you performed on the job.  Paragraphs make it difficult for an employer to scan your qualifications and may let your resume get lost in the shuffle.
• Use powerful verbs to illustrate actions that you performed on the job.
• Keep your explanations of job duties that you performed as clear and concise as possible, while at the same time accurately representing your job duties and skill sets.
• Explain any gaps in employment such as maternity leave, travel or education.
• Proofread, proofread, proofread!

 

Don’t…

• Under any circumstances misspell words!
• Omit the month / year dates of employment.  Employers want to see the time line of your work history.
• Use paragraphs.  Paragraphs are hard to scan and can easily become overly wordy.
• Use vague or overblown descriptions of your job duties and skill sets.
• Use words that are too industry specific.  Use standard English, especially when looking to switch careers.
• Fail to explain gaps in employment.  You don’t want someone to assume the worst!
• Let your resume go over 2 pages.  If you have a work history with lots of different and / or short term jobs, group some of the like jobs together and emphasize the jobs /skills that are important for your job objective.
• List hobbies or associations on your resume unless they pertain to the job you are seeking.

Include references on your resume.  If you want to offer references along with your resume, just simply list them on a separate sheet of paper.