Yes, your resume is just a piece of paper. Although it might not seem fair that the job of your dreams is riding on the piece of paper, it's your first opportunity to impress the person with the power to hire you.
There are more rules to writing a resume. The more you know about applying these rules, the better your chance of writing a resume that will lead to phone calls, interviews and eventually a job that makes you very, very happy.
Sometimes perfectly good job candidates are eliminated because they chose the wrong keywords. Other times, important qualifications are overlooked because they're in the wrong place. Or it may be the little details of spelling and grammar that take a resume out of the running. Here are five common mistakes that can send your resume to the bottom of the stack, and leave you wondering why no one calls, no one writes and all your fine talents are going to waste.
Mistake One: Ignore technology
It used to be that there was one way to write a resume. You got some nice cream-colored paper and typed up all your education and experience. Maybe you added a tasteful graphic, a fancy headline font, or some bullet points for interest, and you sent your resume off with a cordial cover letter. Sometimes you can still do that and get good results, but now many large corporations scan resume to keep in a searchable database. This creates a whole new set of rules for resume writers. The best resumes are simple and easily deciphered by a scanner. Forget the cream-colored paper; stick to plain white paper. Forget the fancy fonts; use a simple san serif typeface throughout the resume. While it's alright to use action words like "developed, " "trained" and "spearheaded," be sure to chose specific searchable keywords to describe your education and experience, such as "bachelor's in computer science," and "five years network experience."
The Internet has added yet another dimension to resume writing. In her book Electronic Resumes and Online Networking, Rebecca Smith says "Traditional resumes focus on visual aesthetics and content set off by many action verbs. The goal is to capture attention. Online, a resume must grab a computer's attention by conforming to some electronic standards." These days many corporations actually prefer to receive resumes as e-mail. That's even more bare bones than a scanned resume: one font, one type size, just the facts.
Mistake Two: Say too much (or too little)
Your goal is to convey your qualifications for the job as clearly as possible. Details about why you left your last position, where you hope to be in 10 years or your passion for windsailing are best left out.
On the other hand, details about your specific accomplishments and skills should be included. Yana Parker, author of the Damn Good Resume Guide, advises resume writers to list accomplishments that demonstrate their skills. Were you an employee of the month? Did you save your department money? Did you win an award? Did you master the latest software? Do you have a 3.8 G.P.A. from Harvard? Make sure your resume mentions facts such as these.