Top 19 Effective Resume Writing Tips

Resume Writing Tips

In the following, there are 19 resume writing tips to help you to write a winning resume and get the interview. These tips will show you what should and shouldn’t do in resume writing. I also recommend you to read this first before you write your resume because it gives you ideas, save you time.

What You Should Do

1. Be Neat and Error Free

There should be no typo and grammar errors. Sometime only one mistake, you could miss the interview. Solution: you need to ask someone to review your resume. Here is a Resume Review Guide.

2. Make it Easy to Understand

Do not try to impress potential employers with the depth of your vocabulary. You should make it simple but effective, and use words that everyone can understand.

3. Be Concise and Organized

Make it short and clear with no unnecessary words. Arrange every section of your resume in clear and effective way. You can clearly separate sections by leaving sufficient blank space between sections. Make it easy to read, scan and understand.

4. Use Effective Objective Statement

Usually after reading your name, the employers will read objective statement. Having an effective objective statement can catch employer’s attention.

5. List only Recent Information.

Example you have over 20 year career experience. As the rule of thumb, you should list your work for the last 10 to 15 years. Remember, the resume is limited to one or two page.

6. Use Active Verbs and Power Word

Begin each description with a power word such as managed, developed, communicated, directed, established, organized etc. Make sure that the statements you list first quantify your achievements – don not be afraid to list sales figured, customer acquisition rates, budget and timeline successes which help put your responsibilities in a context of the business or field you are working in.

7. Use Common Word for Headings

You should use common word for heading section in your resume. Examples: Objective, Professional Profile, Summary, Experience, Work History, Skills, Education, Training and Workshops, Publications, Licenses and Certifications, Awards and Honors, Volunteer Experience, Interest, and References.

8. Combine Short Sections When Possible

A wining resume must be neat, fast to scan through and not longer than two pages. Try combining any short sections together to make your resume more compact.

Example: Education + Training sections = Education and Training

Note: not all sections can be combined with each other.

9. Choose the Right Format

There are two common resume formats: Chronological and Functional. Example: You are a recent graduate or have gaps in your work history. You should consider using a Functional resume which focuses only your skills and accomplishments but not experience progression like Chronological resume.

What You Should Avoid

10. Do not Get Personal

Any information that discloses your demographics should not be listed in your resume. Your age, race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, marital status, physical appearance, or your personal philosophies are not critical to your job performance, and therefore should never be listed on your resume.

11. Do not List Salary Information

This is a strict rule, and you must follow it. Your employer is concerned with what your desired salary is, not what you earned in your first job out of college. If you are asked to provide salary requirements, do so in your cover letter not your resume.

12. Do not List Your Personal Website

Do not include your personal website if it is entirely for personal purposes which contain your photo or other photos that may be viewed as inappropriate. You should leave it off your resume. Only include a link to your website if the pages are set up to showcase your professional portfolio, presentations, a copy of your resume, reference letters, photos taken for professional use, or your web development skills.

13. Avoid Personal Pronouns

You should never use personal pronouns such as I or me in your resume. Just start with action verbs to describe your experiences and achievements. Example: Analyzed customer requirements, specifications and developed matching functional systems and applications.

14. Avoid Abbreviations That May not be Clear

You should use “CMP (Certified Meeting Professional)” rather than “CMP” for unfamiliar abbreviations. Just make your resume clear, easy to read and scan. And don’t make your potential manager hard to understand.

15. Avoid Too Much Highlighting

Keep it balance in highlighting key points. Too much highlighting will make your resume difficult to read and scan. You should use bold or italics rather than underline because on the internet world, underline is mostly referred as a link.

16. Avoid Using Many Font Types and Colors

Some people may think that using many font types and colors will make his/her resume interesting and stand out from the competitions. Yes it is stand out, but in the wrong way. You should use only one font type with black color.

17. Avoid Using the Same Resume to Apply for Many Positions

Different positions are absolutely having different requirements. It is a wrong practice to use the same resume without updating for applying many different positions.

18. Avoid Using Very Small Fonts

Some people try to use very small fonts in order to get everything to fit on one page. It is a common challenge to create a resume that formats well on a single page. Do not use a small font in order to fit everything into your resume. Instead of changing the font size, review and revise your resume to make your statements more concise. The font size should not less than 10 points.

19. Do not List References in Resume

The most commonly used line on a resume for reference section is “References available upon request”. It is a common practice that we use this phrase instead of including references in the resume. A reference list is created on a separate page.

Related Useful Resume Resources

• Complete Resume Format, Form and Layout – Find out the complete resume form, format and layout with explanation on how to write each resume sections.
• Resume Writing Software Reviews – Find out what is top rating Resume Writing Software programs as well as what is the most favorite one for other people.

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