Crafting the perfect resume can be a daunting task, but it’s crucial for landing your dream job. As a career coach, I’ve helped countless clients polish their resumes to stand out in today’s competitive job market. In this comprehensive guide, I’ll walk you through essential resume tips, drawing inspiration from Laura DeCarlo’s excellent book ‘Resumes For Dummies’ and combining it with my own professional experience. Whether you’re a recent graduate, changing careers, or looking to climb the corporate ladder, these tips will help you create a resume that gets noticed.

PICK A FORMAT

Reverse Chronological 

The most traditional. Great for people with steady employment. Begin with most recent job working backwards. Use when: little to no gaps in work history. Most popular with recruiters.

Tips:

  • Focus on last four jobs or last 10-15 years of work.
  • OK just to list the years.
  • Multiple jobs at one company- list them once with the dates and then show job titles. 
  • Can group job titles at the same company if roles were similar.

Functional

Displays your skills and expertise first and your job history second. Here you focus on your skills and abilities. May be good for people in a career transition. Good for people with little job experience, new graduates, gaps in employment. Not the favorite of recruiters because it is difficult to see your career story.

Tips:

  • Pick areas of your expertise which draw from all your experiences (not just work)
  • Use headings to separate out the skill areas.

Hybrid

A combination of the reverse chronological and the functional.

Use when jobs you held longer ago are most applicable.

Tips:

Several ways you can go with this. One way is to list your expert areas first more briefly followed by a reverse chronological. You can also list skill areas more in-depth and provide an employment timeline at the end. You list your jobs by relevance for the position you desire.

HEADER AND CONTACT INFORMATION

  • 14- 26 point for your name
  • 10-12 point for the rest of your contact info
  • Include email address, URLs (blogs, LinkedIn), phone number, city and state of residence (unless you are wanting to relocate)
  • No street address

OBJECTIVE HEADER STATEMENT/ TITLE

  • This is to target the position you are going for. 
  • Instead of a lengthy statement, this is a job title like:
    • Operations Manager or Lean Six Sigma Operations Manager

The only thing to consider with this section is if you want to apply for other positions at the same company. If that’s the case, either use a more generic title, but keep it focused so you will be considered.

SUMMARY STATEMENT

This is a strong statement of who you are. 3-4 sentences. Anything that quantifies what you have accomplished, turned around, saved money, increased revenue, etc. If also doing a Performance Highlight section, don’t be redundant.

PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS- OPTIONAL

Fill this section with your best accomplishments, awards, publications. This is where you display your most amazing achievements. This is similar to a summary but more highlighting your achievements.

KEY SKILLS/ COMPETENCIES

This is a bulleted section with 2-3 columns. May want to write this section last. Put your most important skills toward the top. Be sure you can discuss in an interview the skills in this section.

Include Technical and Soft Skills: Technical skills usually require training- for example, project management, blood draws, programming skills, etc. Soft skills are interpersonal skills like Teamwork, Managing Others, Written Communication. For Technical Positions may want a section that outlines Technology Competencies including operating systems, languages, Software, etc.

WORK/PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

This section is your work history. Include your job title (which you can add to, but always include the actual title as well), employer name, location (city and state), and your dates of employment (years are ok if you’ve had some breaks). Go back 4 positions or 10-15 years whichever comes first. If an older job is pertinent to the job you are seeking, you can add a section: Additional Employment. Supply the same information but leave off the dates.

Optional: Begin with a position overview: one brief paragraph that presents the challenge or goal you were tasked with.  2- 3 brief sentences.

Do not just state your responsibilities. You can use that as a jumping off place. You want to show what you accomplished and achieved in each position.

Bulleted experience statements: this is the most time-consuming part of the resume process. The goal of these statements is to show prospective employers that you have the experience they are looking for! List as much as you can in this section. You will tailor it later.

These bullets should include measurable (if possible) accomplishments. All jobs have an objective. Take time to think of the objective your job served. For example: to increase revenue (sales, customers, retaining customers, marketing or advertising campaign, etc.), decrease costs (did you save through producing efficiencies, budgeting, lowering turnover, cutting expenses, increasing safety measures etc.), add new products, increase productivity, bring in new clients, create relationships/alliances, design a new product or procedure, meet a challenging deadline? In essence what did you do to improve things? What goals did you meet?

Some ideas to help you: think of what challenges or problems were going on in the organization, your department, and in your position. Think of how you handled it and how it turned out. 

Increased sales 12% in the first six months of employment by restructuring sales staff training, implementing personal coaching for each sales member and providing weekly motivational meetings.

EDUCATION, CERTIFICATIONS & LICENSES

You will list your education in the order of most to least relevant. List the Degree in Specialty- University Name, City, State, and honors obtained. Can also list a degree and then put (currently pursuing). If you are a new graduate, this section may come prior to the Experience section. 

Certifications

Only list the relevant ones. Use the same format as Education and Training.

Professional License(s)

For those in legal, accounting, real estate, teaching, etc. include this section. Otherwise leave it out.

LANGUAGES

List languages and proficiency levels. Can list in the “Key Skills” Section too.

Only list activities and affiliations that strengthen your resume. 

HONORS AND AWARDS: OPTIONAL

Relevant awards may be placed higher in the resume. Don’t list if not relevant. Can also incorporate into your Summary or Performance Highlight section. 

THINGS TO AVOID

  • Salary 
  • Dates that date you
  • Anything about being fired, demoted or anything else that is negative
  • Problems with the law
  • Illnesses or other tragedies
  • Disabilities that will not affect your ability to complete the job
  • Don’t say “references available upon request”
  • Photographs (although some people like to use these)
  • References to race, sex, national origin
  • Free generic resume templates
  • For targeted resume, keep to 2 pages except for C-level
  • Proofread- no typos or grammatical errors
  • Pleasing to the eye- lots of white space, bullets
  • Remove the skills you don’t like using

I highly recommend DeCarlo’s book for anyone looking to dive deeper into resume writing. Many of the insights I’m sharing today are influenced by her work, which I’ve found invaluable in my practice.