Give me all your resume tips

[Bernadine]

Please! I’m helping my friend with hers, and figured you all might have some advice. Specifically, is there a certain format she should use?

She has a few leads on jobs, so she doesn’t want to pay a pro at this time.

[ssmjlm]

What is the industry?

I don't like to see every performance award or time off award. Don't list every class you've taken unless it's required for the job.

[W.T.Faulkner]

Focus on results, not job responsibilities.

We got a 20 page resume today. Don’t do that.

[jinkies]

1. askamanager.com has some great resume examples and advice.

2. When I last re-vamped my resume (2019-ish), my former boss let me use hers as a template. She had been laid off and was provided professional resume help as part of her severance package, so I trusted her format.

The format was:

Company Name/ Dates of employment
Title
A few sentences describing the role generally
Bullet points with major achievements

So it would look like:

Teapots and Socks R Us, June 2020-July 2021
Chief Production Manager
Assisted with production of ceramic teapots and wool socks. Worked closely with production leads to manage quality control and improve processes. Assisted with developing molds, selecting designs, and overseeing production team to ensure productivity goals were achieved

• Increased wool sock productivity by 50% by incentivizing sheep to grow wool faster
• Improved turnaround time to fulfill teapot orders by 5 days on average
• Developed standardized messaging for all sales materials to ensure consistent communications, and manage customer expectations
  
  
  

Again, askamanager has great advice for how to identify and articulate major achievements. I work in marketing, so it wasn't as simple as "Increased sales by X%" but with a little thought I was able to come up with quantifiable accomplishments for every role.

[Bernadine]

Jun 21, 2022 14:50:49 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

What is the industry?

I don't like to see every performance award or time off award. Don't list every class you've taken unless it's required for the job.

Sales/office

[idahome]

Do not include an objective statement. We know your friend wants to get a job - there’s no need to put that on the resume.

Pull key words from job postings/industry info and use the same words on the resume.

Do not put “references available on request” or anything similar. Again, everyone knows your friend will provide references when asked. No need to take up valuable space.

Unless your friend just graduated do not include a GPA on the resume.

Also, please do not include a photo.