Resume Tips and Free Samples Download

Are you suffering from resume-writer’s block? Does everyone else’s resume seem more professional and better worded than yours? The following are some guidelines to help you create a better resume:

1. Be neat and error free.

Catch all typo’s and grammar errors. Make sure someone proofreads your resume, preferably someone attentive to details. Even the smallest error could land your resume in the reject pile.

2. Write a powerful opening statement.

Form a solid, clear opening statement that will help you carry a focused message throughout the resume. The best opening statements summarize your skills and emphasize your strengths.

3. Focus on your benefit to employers.

Focus on highlighting accomplishments that will arouse the interest of employers who read your resume. Answer the question: “How can this candidate fulfill the role and make a positive impact?” Remember that the goal is to get the interview.

4. Make a good first impression.

On average, employers spend less than 30 seconds scanning each resume. Most employers are more concerned about career achievements than education. Place the most interesting and compelling facts about yourself at the beginning, such as a list of accomplishments in order of relevance.

5. Emphasize your skills.

Use a skills or capabilities section in your resume that is organized around the main talents you have to offer. Prioritize everything.

6. Use keywords.

Include specific keywords and phrases that describe your skills and experience, such as Product Launch, Income Statement, Balance Sheet, Sales, Account Management, C++, Visual Basic, Word Processing, MS Excel, Adobe Illustrator, Graphic Design, and Advertising.

7. Use industry jargon.

Use industry jargon and acronyms to reflect your familiarity with the employer’s business, but not to the point where it makes your resume hard to read or understand. Spell out acronyms in parentheses if they are not obvious, such as TQM (Total Quality Management).

8. Use action verbs.

Portray yourself as active, accomplished, intelligent, and capable of contributing. Examples: Managed, Launched, Created, Directed, Established, Organized, and Supervised.

9. Avoid personal pronouns.

Never use personal pronouns such as I or me in your resume. Instead of complete sentences, use short Action-Benefit statements, like: Coordinated and published a weekly newsletter that raised awareness for local community events.

10. Highlight key points.

Use bold, italics, and underlining to highlight the most relevant information on your resume. For ASCII text-only resumes, you may use capital letters, quotation marks, even asterisks, to emphasize important words or section titles.

11. Summarize information.

In your resume, use only the amount of space required to demonstrate your qualifications for the position clearly and succinctly.

12. List only recent information.

The general rule of thumb is to show your work experience only for the last 10 to 15 years, unless there is specific prior experience that is especially relevant to the position you are seeking.

13. Quantify or qualify experience.

Numbers are a powerful tool, and should be included in your Action-Benefit statements. Instead of writing “Responsible for increasing sales in my territory,” use “Increased sales in my territory 150% over 6 months. Managed 30 accounts increasing revenues from $1.5M to $2M annually.”

14. Be organized, logical, and concise.

In addition to reviewing your experience, employers also use the resume to sense whether you are organized, logical, and concise. Make sure your resume is balanced, neat, visually appealing, and flows consistently. Clearly separate sections and emphasize section titles. Leave sufficient blank space between sections for easy reading.

15. Just communicate.

Abandon the use of exorbitant, exquisite vocabulary. In other words, don’t try to impress employers with the depth of your vocabulary. Use words everyone can understand.

16. Omit salary information.

Never refer to salary in your resume. Save this information for the interview.

17. Avoid questionable subjects.

Never refer to personal information such as race, religion, marital status, age, political party, or even personal views. In all but a few instances, it would be illegal for the employer to consider such issues. Also, avoid the use of humor and clichés in most resumes.

18. Be honest.

Lying or exaggerating your abilities will always come back to haunt you. Since employers usually check into serious candidates, you will want every detail to check out.

19. Sell your strengths.

Do not under-emphasize your strengths and experience. Portray yourself in the best possible light. Skills that seem natural to you, others may never grasp.

20. Write your own resume.

Be personal, yet professional. Create a resume that reflects your best personal characteristics and positive traits.

21. Personal traits.

If you want to include personal traits in your resume, such as “Dependable, Highly-Organized, Self-Motivated, and Responsible,” rather than just listing these traits, try demonstrating these characteristics using examples from your experience. For example, instead of writing “Dependable,” write “Never missed an important deadline in five years as a project manager.”

22. Position yourself in the best possible light.

To de-emphasize glaring gaps in your work history, consider using a Functional resume, which focuses on your skills and accomplishments rather than a Chronological format, which emphasizes the progression of your experience.

23. Combine sections when possible.

Try to combine any short sections together to make your resume more compact. For example, if you only have one entry under training, consider placing it under your education instead and change the section title to “Education and Training.”

24. Use common section headings.

Use common section headings. Examples: Objective, Experience, Employment, Work History, Skills, Summary, Summary of Qualifications, Accomplishments, Achievements, Capabilities, Education, Professional Affiliations, Publications, Licenses and Certifications, and Honors.

25. Be positive.

Remove any negative comments or feelings conveyed in your resume, especially when it comes to previous employment experiences. Emphasize a positive, can-do attitude.

More Tips 

•  Career Summary
•  Stating Your Objective
•  Personal Information
•  Targeting a Specific Job
•  Training, Workshops and Seminars
•  Listing Your Skills
•  Demonstrating Your Experience
•  Describing Your Capabilities
•  Talent, Theater, and Design
•  Publication References
•  Honors and Awards
•  References Available
•  Volunteer Experience
•  Personal Qualifications

Download Free Resume Samples

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Resume Writing Advice – References Available

References Available

It is no longer a common practice to include a References section on your resume, even one that states “References Available Upon Request.” Most employers today will assume you can provide references if they are requested. Therefore, you do not have to include references on your resume.

If an employer is seriously considering you as a candidate, be sure to have a separate list of references ready to provide during the interview. Always ask permission of your references beforehand and discuss the kind of recommendation they will give.

Preparing a List of References

You should have a list of three to five references prepared, unless you are in a specialized field where a longer list may be required. Gather your list from any of the following contacts:

-         Former Managers

-         Previous Supervisors

-         Department Heads

-         Members of the Executive Team

-         Business Colleagues

-         Professional Contacts

-         Customers

-         Professors or Advisors

-         Mentors

-         Community Leaders

Insider Tip:  Be sure to add the contacts you would most prefer someone to contact at the top of your list.

Choosing the Right References

Ideally, you will look for contacts that:

-         Possess good communication skills

-         Know you fairly well

-         Will speak positively about you and your work

-         Will sell your experience, skills, knowledge, and ability

-         Can describe your performance and achievements

-         Can demonstrate your value to previous employers

-         Can describe your positive characteristics

Insider Tip:  Always include several more references than were requested in case the hiring manager has difficulty reaching any of your contacts.

Preparing Your References for Calls

You should always send a copy of your resume with a letter that lists the three to five key points that you would like your references to share with people who contact them. For example, you might ask one of your contacts to elaborate on your specific skills in a particular area, or another contact to discuss your unique characteristics or strengths, and yet another to describe your accomplishments or previous successes.

Insider Tip:  Help your contacts develop an example or story that reinforces your positive characteristics and provides a visual image of you in the role you are seeking.

Resume Writing Advice – Keywords and Other Information

Keywords and Other Information

Is there some crucial piece of information about you that an employer needs to know, but does not neatly fit into any category? Are there specific keywords or skill areas that you want to ensure appear on your resume? Take advantage of this section to include additional business-related strengths, keywords, preferences, or a description of your preferred work style. For example, you may need to include your preferred working location if you are applying to a company with national or worldwide offices, or work habits and attitudes that demonstrate important characteristics.

Better Results Using a Keyword Section

If you are creating a scannable or electronic resume, this would be an ideal place to develop a list of keywords. Keywords are important components of scannable and electronic resumes because prospective employers use a list of keywords and keyword phrases to search resume databases for potential employees. The more matches there are between the keywords you list in your resume and the list the employer is searching for, the better the chance your resume will be selected for further review.

When a computer performs this search, it checks your entire resume for matching words and phrases. You may not need a specific keyword section if you mention keywords and phrases throughout your resume. However, if you are unsure whether your resume covers all the skill keywords, then add a Keyword section. This section should include the additional skills you possess, and professional jargon or other terms that describe your experience.

Insider Tip:  Whenever possible, use synonyms of keywords throughout your resume to ensure you have the greatest chance of creating a match when your resume is searched. If you used an abbreviation for a specific term in one section, spell the term out in another (e.g., if you used the initials B.A. in the Education section of your resume, spell out Bachelor of Arts, in your Keyword section).

Developing a List of Your Career Keywords

Choosing the best keywords and phrases is subjective and largely dependent on your career and the type of position for which you are applying. Keywords should focus on technical and professional areas of expertise, industry-related jargon, and your work history. Also include the names of associations and organizations you belong to or degrees you have earned.

To define keywords that apply to your job target, look at job postings and employment ads for similar jobs, and list the skills, qualifications, technical or product knowledge, industry jargon, personal traits and experience described. Then, review your own relevant qualifications and add terms that describe your own skills and knowledge. Keywords can be single words, such as Excel, or short phrases, such as “Document Preparation.”

Insider Tip:  Always use specific keywords. For example, while it is beneficial to include the phrase “computer literate,” you will also want to list the specific software in which you are proficient.

Resume Writing Advice – Volunteer Experience

Volunteer Experience

If you do not have much on-the-job experience, volunteer activities can be a gold mine for a great resume. For seasoned professionals, listing volunteer work demonstrates valuable personal characteristics and a commitment to community. For recent graduates or people changing careers, volunteer work can form an important part of your qualifications. Whatever your volunteer work has been, you can turn it into valuable experience on your resume.

If you have performed volunteer work that is relevant to your job target, you should list volunteer experience in a resume in the same way you would list any paid work experience.

Advice for Seasoned Professionals

Volunteer work demonstrates initiative, commitment, perseverance, and other personal characteristics and skills that potential employers might find valuable.  If you are listing volunteer work to demonstrate personal characteristics or a commitment to community, briefly mention the professional or community organizations where you have volunteered, any offices or committee memberships you have held, and any honors or commendations you have received in relation to your work. This information is typically included at the end of your resume.

Advice for Recent Graduates of Career Changers

If you are a recent graduate or are changing careers and your volunteer work demonstrates valuable skills, abilities, and qualifications that are not communicated through your work experience, then list these skills and abilities in the appropriate Accomplishments, Capabilities, or Skills sections. Additionally, if you have worked with an organization for a long period of time, consider listing this volunteer experience as you would any other organization in an Experience or Employment History section. Remember, non-paid experience is equally as valuable as paid experience