Resume Writing Tips
Essential Resume Writing Tips
Does the thought of writing a resume overwhelm you? If so, you are in the same boat as thousands of other people.
Even the best writers may cringe at the thought of creating a resume, since its format is different than the type of writing you would do for a story or even a school essay. If it sounds too simplistic, you won’t impress your employer. Yet, resumes with complex terminology might seem like you are ‘over-doing’ it, and may be a turn off with your potential employer. So how can you go about creating a resume that sounds natural yet sophisticated? Read on as this article will provide you with three essential resume writing tips. These resume writing tips will discuss: how to best describe your skills and work experience, the power of using numbers throughout your resume and how to keep your resume concise.
Resume Writing Tip #1
The first set of resume writing tips will center around how you should describe your skills and work experience. To do this you should use action verbs. What are action verbs? They are keywords that more elegantly specify what you accomplished. Examples of action verbs could be ‘analyzed,’ ‘rehabilitated,’ or ‘demonstrated.’ To determine which action verb you should use for your particular skills or work history, it is best you have a resource that lists them. Quintcareers.com is one site that lists hundreds of action verbs alphabetically. You could find more sites like it by using the search term ‘action verb for resumes’ in your favorite search engine.
Resume Writing Tip #2
The second set of resume writing tips will explain the power of numbers in your resume. How can numbers help you? Well, numbers clearly show what you have accomplished. For example instead of saying, “Managed software team,” say “Managed a software team of 20 people.” By adding the number, you give the employer a better picture of exactly what you can handle when it comes to management. Another way you can use numbers is by specifying how big a budget you dealt with, or how much extra money your efforts brought to your company. In fact, even giving numbers on how many work-related assignments you’ve done is impressive, assuming the number is high. If the number is not high, you will want to omit it and try to think of another ‘number’ that represents you occupationally.
Resume Writing Tip #3
The third set of resume writing tips will offer advice on how to keep your resume concise. The best way to go about this is to only list work experience that directly relates to the job you are applying for. This means only include jobs you’ve taken in the last three to five years; anything more could make your resume too long. Also, try to limit your bulleted points within each section to around five. You’ll always need more than one to keep consistency, but too many will not impress your employer. Overall, resumes that get read will be one to two pages long.
Resume Writing Summary
So now you have three sets of resume writing tips that can help you with your resume writing endeavors. If you need more resume writing tips, you can use your search engine, visit job boards or even use article directories such as Associated Content or Articles Base. The more resume writing tips you can find, the less overwhelmed you will be when it comes time to create your resume.
