New Year's Resolution: A Better Resume

We look at resumes every day. We’ve read thousands of them. If you’re thinking of sprucing up your resume for the new year, here are a few tips from our Recruiters:

Keep it to one page? Not necessarily. Don’t get me wrong, we don’t love reading a three-page resume, but if you need two pages to really tell the story of your career, use it. If a little reformatting and editing can keep it to one page, do so.

Technology Proficiencies. Only include technologies and software skills in which you are truly proficient and have worked in recently. You can also include an honest rating of your software skills.

Contact Info. This should include your Full Name, LinkedIn Profile, Phone Number and Email. Here’s the deal with addresses: We DO need to know what city and state you reside in for time zone purposes. Plus, not every employer is set up to employ in every state. We do NOT need your street address. Also, leave off any social media links unless they’re relevant to the role.

List References. If you’re actively interviewing and your references are aware they could be contacted, having them listed on your resume is helpful – but not required.

Employment Gaps. Less than 6 months, you don’t need to address it on the resume. If it’s been a year or two between positions, a simple explanation is fine. Family Care, Personal Sabbatical, World Travel, Pursuing Degree, etc.

Images/Headshots. We prefer clean resumes without a lot of imagery or graphics. Unless you’re a designer, simple and clean is best. Headshots are not necessary on a resume. Include your smiling face on your LinkedIn profile instead.

LinkedIn vs Resume. As redundant as it may be, keeping an updated LinkedIn profile AND resume is the standard. (LinkedIn profile tips coming in our next blog post).

To Tailor or Not To Tailor. It can be difficult to include all details of your work history on your resume. Sometimes tailoring your resume makes sense. With that said, you don’t want 10 versions of your resume out there, and you don’t have time to tailor it for every position. Here’s a suggestion: When you have the initial call with the recruiter, if you learn the employer is looking for specific experience you have that’s not listed on your resume, send an updated version. This doesn’t need to be extensive, only a bullet. Most importantly, be honest about your experience and skillset.

Cover Letter? As much as we’d love for these to go away, some companies are still asking for them. Have a well-written go-to if requested. Otherwise, a cover letter is not necessary.

TMI. How much information is too much information? Previous roles that are not longer relevant to your career can be removed, especially if they date back 15 years or so. Listing hobbies is not the best use of your resume. You want to use the space to focus on your professional experience, accomplishments and skills.

Objective or Summary? Don’t feel you HAVE to have one of these at the top of your resume. If it includes information that is not in the body of the resume, then include it. Otherwise, use that space to list measurable accomplishments and valuable experience.

Typos, Formatting, Inconsistencies. Rest assured typos happen to everyone - you even might find some in this post! Here’s a checklist for looking for errors:

Read each line aloud.
Look for spacing issues.
Are all bullets consistent in size and alignment?
Choose the use of either periods or no periods.
Make sure fonts are consistent.
Make sure use of dashes vs commas are consistent.
Check dates for accuracy and format consistency.
Check links and contact information.

Now, pick the most organized and detailed person in your life and ask them look over your resume. Once you’re confident it looks great, save it as a pdf. Name the document YOUR name, (not Resume2023). Save it in a place where you can easily access this most recent version.

Good luck! Happy New Year!