Resume Guidelines

Following these guidelines will help you create an impressive resume:

1. Keep it concise. A good resume will be as short as possible, certainly no longer than two pages. Resumes often fail because of sheer information  overload. It is important to keep enough back details to elaborate on at the interview.
2. Your resume should be attractive and easy to read, with clear text, good spacing and reasonable margins. Avoid overcrowding.
3. Keep sentences short and punchy.
4. Focus on your achievements, skills and results.
5. Whenever possible, show results in numbers.
6. Use action words to describe each achievement.
7. Do not use personal pronouns (I/we).
8. Never include statements or achievements that cannot be proved.
9. The employer will ask, 'Does this person have the skills I am looking for?' If your resume does not demonstrate a certain level of competence in the employer's area of interest, there will be no invitation to interview.
10. Do not use abbreviations when there could be doubt as to meaning. Be clear and precise.
11. Be original, and avoid exaggerations and flowery terms - the world has seen enough of the expression 'results-oriented executive'!
12. Don't use unnecessarily long words or phrases that you may find difficult to explain if you are questioned about them. While it is important to be able to demonstrate a good vocabulary and the ability to articulate well, you should try to use language you would normally use and feel comfortable with.
13. There is no reason to clutter a resume with lots of trivial details. There should be only enough information to spark the reader's interest. Too much will load it down and will end up doing more harm than good.
14. When writing about employment dates, you only need to show the year you started or terminated a position. If you were promoted during the period of employment, those dates can be shown in brackets next to each job title.
15. Is your resume interesting? Is your message getting through? A boring resume is full of clichés, irrelevancies and general statements that really tell the reader very little.
16. Test your resume before launching it on the market. Ask your friends, business associates, former manager, and others to give you their impressions.