Resume Rules Re-do

   I found the article, “What Recruiters Look At During The 6 Seconds They Spend On Your Resume” to be very interesting, since I find myself spending a lot of my time coaching and advising my candidates on their resumes. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy this aspect of my work.  But it is time consuming!  And if a recruiter or hiring manager is only spending 6 seconds on your resume, you better make sure it is perfect.  I have worked with certain clients who will not even consider a candidate if there is even one error on their resume, even if they are the absolute perfect match for the job.  It’s that important!  If you can’t take the time and attention to detail to proofread your resume, then why would a company want to hire you?  Every recruiter will tell you something different, but below are a couple of additional reminders from my personal tip jar that most of my candidates find help.

• The 1 page resume rule is so passé.  1 – 3 pages are perfectly acceptable.  As a recruiter, I am trying to figure out if your background is a match for the position I’m working on.  If you only include 2 bullet points for each job, then how am I able to make an educated guess? Now… that being said, you do not want to write a novel!  So keep it at a max of 3 pages and you should be fine.

• Consistent punctuation throughout your resume is critical.  Period.  If you decide to put periods at the end of each bullet point, make sure that holds true for each and every one.  Don’t put a period at the end of one bullet, but then forget to put it at the end of the next one.

• Conjunction junction, what’s your function!   Grammar is a toughie, but uber important.  Utilize the spelling and thesaurus function in Word.  Common mistakes include run on sentences, incorrect use of commas, semi-colons, etc.

• Make sure you are intense!  If you are currently working, then the action verbs under your present job must be in present tense.  Every other job should be in past tense.

• Be consistent with font and FoNT size. 

• Formatting, shmormatting.  Don’t get crazy with all the fancy formatting.  It just jumbles up the resume and makes it hard to read.