A resume should be well organized and clear. Avoid clutter –a condensed bulleted resume has a better chance of being read. Often times, hiring managers and recruiters do an initial scan of the resume before reading it entirely. To ensure the initial scan provides the reader with quality information, Island Recruiting is prepared to offer the following advice:
To begin, your resume should be categorized into six main categories;
- Contact Information
Name, Address, Telephone Number and E-mail Address - Objective
Focal point which identifies the position you are seeking and how it directly relates to your skills and experience. - Education
Highlight your most recent education first, including degree information and dates achieved. - Work Experience
Starting with your most recent work experience, always include the name of the organization, your position title and the date of your employment. Use action words to explain duties and responsibilities and keep paragraphs to 5-7 lines. - Additional Information
Any relevant information that doesn’t fit into other categories can be listed here. Examples include any special awards or accreditations, special interests, activities, computer knowledge, etc. - References
You should include “References available upon request”, as your references will change over time you want to provide the most recent contact information as well as ensure you have permission to use someone as a reference.
When you are comfortable with your resume, ask someone to proofread to check for clarity, spelling errors and typos. Share your resume with friends, the more people who view your resume the more comfortable you are with it, and the more likely that spelling and grammar errors will be found and corrected.
Remember that the design of your resume should be simple. Electronic submission can sometimes transform the design of your resume. To ensure a properly formatted resume for the reader;
- Choose one plain text and use it for the entire document;
- Avoid decorative fonts, symbols, underlines and italics;
- Using left justified is the preferred paragraph style;
- Do not use color
We look forward to hearing from you soon!