Resume Development

• Be clear and concise

  Depending upon your experience, a resume is usually between 1-2 pages in length. Executive and academic resumes are generally longer. The resume should be very specific in terms of outlining your past jobs, when you held those positions and your specific job responsibilities.

• Clearly outline your skills and accomplishments

  It is equally important to highlight your specific skills and unique accomplishments. Emphasize accomplishments that were above and beyond the specific duties of your job. Include awards or special recognition you received or results that were achieved from your personal efforts.

• Use action verbs

  Action verbs such as delivered, provided, greeted, evaluated, developed, supported, coordinated, created, oversaw, collaborated, directed, administered, supervised, planned and organized convey ownership and responsibility. Link for lists of action verbs – alphabetically or by skill category (http://www.quintcareers.com/action_verbs.html)

• Use keywords

  Keywords are nouns and short phrases that are typically used to describe the qualifications, education, years of experience, software experience, licensure, affiliations, and certifications in specific job positions. Interviewers and recruiters frequently scan resumes to find the ones that have the keywords that indicate a fit for the position they are trying to fill. To discover the most common keywords used in a particular job use informational interviews, professional associations, publications, and job descriptions.

• Eliminate personal pronouns

  Do not use the words I, we, our, my or me. Write your resume in the third person voice, as if the resume was being written about you by someone else.

• Use bullet points

  Use bullet points for brevity on your accomplishment statements and allow for more white space on the resume. Bullet points are easier for recruiters and hiring managers to scan quickly for your background and qualifications.

• Go back in your work history as far as is relevant to your job search.

  Don't feel you have to include every job you have worked in. Make sure your job history reflects an accurate chronology and go back as far as you need to include relevant work experience.

Do not include the following in your resume:

• Personal information such as age, gender, children, marital status or other family information, health, political and religious affiliation. It is inappropriate for the employer to use this information to choose a new employee.
• Personal hobbies and special interests unless they have a direct bearing on the job.
• Photographs
• Desired work schedule.
• Salary information or reasons for leaving various positions.
• References. Those should be provided separately, either on the employment application or on a separate page specifically for references. Even the comment "References available on request" is not needed. It is assumed you will make reference contact information available if needed.

• Proofread your resume for spelling, punctuation and typing errors. Ask someone else to also proofread it to catch anything you may have missed.
• Use a common, simple type font for easy reading, such as Arial or Helvetica.
• Margins should be about 1½ inches on top of the page and at least 1 inch on the bottom and sides.
• It is better to use two pages than try to squeeze everything into one page.