I have a strange hobby. Some people build model airplanes, sculpt incredible statues or write amazing music. I also have something I enjoy creating: resumes.
I love working on resumes. Pulling tidbits of potential from someone and showing them on paper is a very rewarding experience!
I have never thought of this as being a frugal venture until my good friend Crystal mentioned I should blog about it. Her point was that getting a better or multiple jobs generally results in an increase in income- which is a helpful thing most of the time.
So here are my five biggest pieces of advice for those of you currently job searching when it comes to your resume:
1- Make sure your full name and contact information are easy to spot. My first job after college I had to draft letters to everyone who had been turned down for the job. One of those resumes had NO contact information- no e-mail, no telephone, no address. Even if she had been a desired employee, there was no way to contact her!
2- Have an objective statement but don’t be obnoxious. When I create resumes the first thing I have after the contact information is an objective statement. Your statement should just demonstrate the purpose of your resume. It’s not designed to be a long, flowery sentence full of adjectives about how amazing you are. Save the lengthy stuff for your cover letter.
3- When possible, personalize the resume. If you are heading to the mall to fill out multiple applications for sales positions, then having a generic sales resume is fine. If you are applying to a specific company for a specific position, make sure you state that in your objective and cover letter. Let them know you paid attention!
4- Look for key words in the job description. In this economy, HR managers are getting hundreds of resumes for single positions- most of which are not qualified. So generally they scan resumes looking for key words. If they specifically say in the classifieds that they want “cash handling skills” be sure the words “cash handling” are on your resume (assuming that you actually have cash handling experience- please don’t lie). This is especially important with computer skills and management experience.
5- Have honest people proofread your resume. I had a friend recently contact me to review his resume- I was the 6th person he had asked. He created his resume on a MAC and when I opened it in Word (which is what most offices will use) the font wouldn’t transfer- it was almost completely unreadable. No one had mentioned this to him- they all assumed he knew! Don’t be embarrassed to ask for help, especially if you have someone like me who considers resume building a great activity for free time! Your pride should not stand in the way of you getting a great job.
I could probably post 30 pieces of advice, but these 5 are the biggies! Hopefully these will be helpful to job seekers!