Resume Tips from a Recruiter
I am sure this will be the first of many resume blogs that I write. This week I have been working on some new resume templates and thought this was a perfect time to give some more generic resume tips (I will try to focus on resumes at least once a quarter). I do think that your resume has to almost be perfect for the job you are applying for to even just be considered for the role. With the amount of applications that are being submitted, one small formatting error, a spelling or grammar mistake can get you put right in to the "no" pile.
So here are a few tips that I hope will help you out when it comes to your resume:
2 pages is definitely the sweet spot for resume length – There are some industries that are more focused on 1 page resumes (Finance mostly), but if you have enough content for 2 pages then that is the perfect length. You only have a few seconds to really impress someone that is reading your resume and length is crucial to a recruiter that has 100 other resumes to go through.
Lose the Times New Roman font – this is such an old school font, it gets its name from a British newspaper in 1929!!!!! I would not use this font anywhere in an application package for a job. I am a big fan of 3 different, more modern looking fonts. Helvetica, Calibri, and Arial are fonts that I would stick to for a 2015 looking resume.
Objectives are simple and add little value to your resume – As I mentioned above you have just a few seconds to catch the Recruiters attention, if the first thing that they read is something like “To obtain a position, where I can utilize my skills and abilities and add value to an organization”… lame! Be interesting, I would start with a Profile or Professional Summary section, where you can customize your resume to the specific job you are applying for (will talk more about this in a later blog post).
Add interests to the bottom of your resume – You don’t work 100 hours a week (unless you are an Investment Banker). What do you like to do for fun? What do you do in your spare time? I cannot tell you how many times I have started an interview with talking about one of persons interests. It just makes small talk a lot easier on you as the candidate and same for the interviewer. Sometimes what you do in your spare time can be a great connection to someone and you are immediately building that rapport with them because of a potential common interest.
As I mentioned above, these are just some small tips that I think can really help your resume and get you to a place where you’re a great looking candidate… on paper. Stay tuned for later blog posts on resumes.
