Resumes

Tips for Producing Professional Resumes and Cover Letters

Your resume should be the first introduction to a prospective employer and create a lasting impression, setting the tone for further evaluation and consideration. Your resume should be professional looking, easy to read and follow, error-free and relevant to the needs of the individual company. The purpose of a resume is to stimulate the reader’s interest and to generate a desire to learn more about you through a personal interview. It is simply a door opener. To make sure the door opens though, the resume and accompanying cover letter should answer the following questions:

Why should I interview you?
What makes you such a good candidate?
What are you particularly good at doing?

Your marketing tool to a great job is a resume that communicates your specific situation and is tailored to fit your needs in specific career goals.

How to create an effective resume:

Make the page easy to read: omit fancy fonts and use a font size of at least 10 points for readability. Two-page resumes are acceptable for those with a work history over ten years.

Choose resume paper carefully for companies requesting scanned resumes. Choose a medium, weight linen or bonded paper in the following colors: white, buff, light beige, or light gray. Choose matching envelopes if mailing resumes

Include an “Objective” if it is specific to your work-related target and will show how you can be an asset to the company.

Deliver your message in bulleted points highlight results of your work and indicate the impact of the action you took.

Include a brief Highlights of Qualifications section to introduce your strength and successes, which should be followed by an outline in the body of your resume.

For new graduates, keep education credential at the top of your resume.

Show quantifiable results/achievements, i.e. dollar amounts/percentages of revenue, productivity increases and budget figures resulting in cost savings, etc.

Use buzzwords related to your industry/field. Some companies scan resumes into a database. Resumes are selected by having the computer pull particular resumes based on key words or terms. Because of this, it is important to consider including terminology and jargon that is common to the industry.

Use Spell-Check and always have several people proofread your resume for clarity, readability (does it make sense), spelling, and grammar.

Update your resume often. Most first time jobs are not lifelong jobs. Get in the habit of saving versions of your resume, performance evaluations, job descriptions, added responsibilities, accomplishments and innovations you have implemented. These documents will be key resources in updating your resume for future positions.
NOTE: Work on this away from the office

E-mail has become the popular method of communication. Be sure to include your e-mail address when composing your resume. Also, read your e-mail on a daily basis.

Got Resume Resources? Check out these great resources for resume advice and samples to help tailor your resume for a great career opportunity.

About Jobs - www.gotthejob.com
1st Rate Resumes - www.1stRateResumes.com
Advantage Resumes - www.reswriter.com
Vita Group Resume Writing - www.avitagroupllc.com
A Great Resume Service - www.agreatresume.com
A Resume Wizard - www.aresumewizard.com
Best Class Resumes - www.bestclassresumes.com
Best Resumes of New York - www.e-bestresumes.com
Cando Career Coaching & Resume Writing - www.candocareer.com
Career Directions - www.resumeimpact.com
Career Resume Service - www.crsresume.com
Career Resumes - www.career-resumes.com
Distinctive Documents - www.distinctiveweb.com
e-resume.net - www.e-resume.net
Kimberly Monaghan - www.kimberymonaghan.com
Quest Career Services, LLC - www.questcareers.com
Resume Edge - www.resumeedge.com
The Resume Center - www.1greatresume.com
Technical-Resumes.com - www.technical-resumes.com

The Follow-up: Check out these resources for help in recommendation letters, cover letters, thank you letters and follow-up letters.

Cover Letter Examples - Resume cover letter examples for professionals in multiple industries. You will find sample cover letters for applying to job positions, cold job leads and responding to job ads. Samples are contributed by professional career consulting and writing professionals.

Cover Letter Writing - Provide helpful tips for preparing a winning cover letter that can help you properly introduce your interest in a job position. Use the cover letter writing tips along with our sites list of examples.

Thank you Letters - Information on preparing additional job and career letters. Job interview thank you letters are written to thank employers for the opportunity to interview and can be used to help promote your interest in the job position.

Follow up Letters - Letters that are written to employers after you have submitted your resume. Follow up letters can be a useful and tactful way to further promote your interest when it's been several weeks before you have had contact with a potential employer.

Letter of Recommendation - learn how to properly use and write a letter of recommendation. These letters can be a powerful addendum to job search documents.