RESUME 101
By: Lida Kianoury
Tags: College Admissions, Resume, College Application, Career Advice, Career Change

Photo by Romain V on Unsplash

So, you need a resume. Maybe you see a job that interests you, and you want to update what you already have in order to reflect some recent experience, or maybe you never made a resume and now, you need one.

So, where do you begin? And, how long should a resume be? Well, the answer to both of these questions is:

IT DEPENDS!

What you put in your resume will depend on your job history and the purpose of the resume. If you’re just starting out as a recent graduate, then your resume is going to be mostly a list of your extracurricular activities during school and any part-time jobs or internships that you had, along with any related research that you may have done.

If you already graduated from school, regardless if it is high school, college or graduate school, then your resume will look a bit different, as most likely, you will have some real world job experience to include in your resume.

I have seen a lot of differing opinions about how long a resume should or shouldn’t be… The reason I said that the answer to that question is that it depends, is because it depends on where you are in your career. If just beginning out, it would be unusual to have a multiple page resume, but certainly more understandable if you have a longer job history. That isn’t to say of course that you should strive for a 2 or 3 page resume! As close as you can get to 1 to 2 pages, the better. One is ideal. Two is fine. Any more and that information should more properly be covered in a Cover Letter. A cover letter has a purpose more important than simply stating: ‘Please find attached my resume for your job advertisement’. A cover letter should go into a bit more detail than the resume would, particularly if you are trying to highlight a particular achievement, skill, training, or other applicable experience.

Once you have figured out what you will be putting in your resume, the next step is to find a format that you like. You can go online and find about as many resume formats as you could possibly want. Try some of them out to see which one fits you the best. There isn’t really only one good template. It should be something that you like while also clearly listing your skills and experience. A template may be beautiful, but if it’s confusing in any way, find a simpler one that allows you to present yourself in a clear manner. Make sure that your font size is big enough to clearly read.Put in the dates of any job or internship, from the most recent to the oldest.

Don’t include irrelevant information on your resume, and by that, I mean, you don’t need to include your hobbies UNLESS one of your hobbies is relevant to the job. Leave that type of information for the potential interview that you are hoping to get. Lastly, make sure your name is on the resume! I know that this sounds silly, but I have seen resumes that left off the name of the applicant! You also do not need to include specific references. If you get yourself an interview and you end up being a top candidate, an organization will reach out to you and request references.

Now, I’d just like to go over some pitfalls that you should avoid when drafting your resume.

What pitfalls should you avoid:

1. Don’t look like a job-hopper.

Just to be clear on what a job-hopper looks like, it is someone whose resume appears to show that they have had many different jobs within a short period of time. This doesn’t mean that if you have one job, and then get a better offer for a promotion at another company, you shouldn’t take it. I’m not talking about that… I mean several similar, lateral jobs, but at different companies within a few years time. This may mean nothing about your work performance but it could infer that there was a reason that you left your different employers and ‘hopped’ to another employer, and then ‘hopped’ to another employer. Of course, if that describes you, then just make sure you have a solid explanation for why so many short term jobs at different organizations within a few years time if they are not a promotion.

2. Don’t exaggerate your skills.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t be creative in describing your job duties and skills. It just means that you shouldn’t EXAGGERATE what you do because if you do, it will be inferred that you know more about something than you really do, and it will probably become evident during an interview.

3. Don’t lie on your resume.

This needs no explanation!

4. Don’t have any typos in your resume!

Proofread multiple times BEFORE finalizing and pushing send.

And just to remind you of when a cover letter is helpful? Almost always! Unless an organization explicitly states that they ONLY want a resume, then, do submit a cover letter. You always want to ensure that you are listening to the organization’s instructions for applying for a position with their company.

And as always, if you would like advice on your resume, just send me an e-mail, and we can talk about that…

Questions? Send me an e-mail at LidaLTP@gmail.com