Want a better resume? Chop for a change!

June 6th, 2008

I came across a really interesting article on a major job-hunting website yesterday. It talked about the importance of crafting a resume that’s concise and precise. No one has the time or patience to wade through 5 pages of wall-to-wall words!

Part of what was nice about this article was that it mirrors everything we here at Ready Resume have been saying for the past few years. Nothing quite as satisfying as being right, is there?

But in addition to that, it just reminded me of how important the concise-and-precise message is. So what can you do to make your resume concise?

Chop, chop, chop!

Cut out the dead wood from your resume and make it lighter, tighter and easier to read. Think of it as crafting the Gary Coleman of resumes - short and sweet! Believe me, I know it ain’t easy; remember, only last year I was ‘test applying’ for jobs just to see what it’s like to be in the marketplace. And I’ve just finished whittling a customer’s resume down from 4 very full pages to a fit-n-trim 2 pages.

Where to apply the hatchet

One place it’s easy to accidentally ‘bulk up’ your resume is your Work Experience section. But don’t despair - trimming the excess flab from your job entries isn’t hard. Here are a few pointers to help you cut out that loitering lumber lurking in your resume!

> Highlight recent positions and positions with specific achievements. If it was an unremarkable or irrelevant job, don’t laundry-list everything you ever did there to give it ‘bulk’. Write a simple 2 line paragraph summarising it and move on.

> If it happened more than 10-15 years ago, consider skipping it.

> Divide your work history: ‘Recent Experience’ and ‘Other Experience’. Jobs that are recent or relevant can be detailed and placed under the first header. Then, strip the detail off the older jobs (leaving only position, dates, company and a very brief summary) and place them under ‘Other Experience’. It will still show the breadth of your experience without taking up as much space.

> If you performed similar tasks in more than one job, don’t repeat them. Mention them once only.

Add extra sparkle to your resume

And one more thing that gives your resume sparkle: numbers. Specifics about staff numbers, turnover, budgets, etc. I just finished helping a customer rewrite his resume, and I cannot tell you how wonderful it was to see specifics about his achievements: doubling profits to $100K a month, supervising up to 7 staff, reducing office running costs by 15%. The numbers don’t just jump off the page, they give a credibility to the resume that little else can.

So go on - get chopping. And happy job hunting!

> Kristin

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