Resumes are a way to get your foot in the door; here are a few tips to help ensure the rest of you gets through the door.
1. Spell check – It’s included in every word processor, use it, please.
2. Italics – Italics are for names, movies, books etc ; not for your job title or entire resume.
3. Bold – Proceed with caution. Bold can be a great way to draw attention but make sure you are drawing attention to the right information. Bold your job titles, not your key words and for heaven’s sake please do not bold your entire resume.
4. Hobbies – We don’t care, keep it job related. 
5. Past work history – Rule of thumb is ten years but if you don’t have that much history list the information that pertains to the job posting. If it’s a management position and you have management experience at McDonalds include it but if were just a burger flipper don’t include it.
6. Formatting – Use the wizard if you’ve never done a resume but it proof it when you are finished. If you have, be sure your formatting is professional and consistent. Large fonts, bright colors, and pink paper are for poster boards, not resumes.
7. Objectives – My personal preference on resumes, don’t include an objective. Your objective is to get a job, same as everyone else. Use that space to add information about your job experience.
8. Spell check – eh, who needs it; you went to school and can spel anyting u wont rite? Wrong, we all make mistakes; check and double check your resume.
9. Length – One page is great if you can do effectively, two pages is ideal, three pages is pushing it and better have excellent content. My resume is two pages and I have 6 years in the HR field. I saw a resume for an entry level IT candidate (under 5 five years) the other day, it was 6 pages – way too long.
10. Delivery – If the posting says online only, don’t fax and mail the resume or follow up with a call about dropping off your resume; that is form of recruiter stalking and its drives us batty. Follow directions.
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Great tips! I would add two more:
1. Don’t use any other font other than Arial, Times New Roman, or Georgia. This isn’t your Myspace page so keep it clean and professional.
2. Keep the jargon to a minimum. Aside from purely technical or industry specific terminology, keep the language simple and straightforward.
CCC – i like the adds – but would argue VERY much against times new roman…. in fact it has become my pet peeve. since it was the “standard” font for word from 2000-03 – everyone used it (being too lazy to try others, or because it is very readable, which is BTW your point I think and why it was standard) But, I would say, as a result, every resume I look at now, is times new roman and looks old….like that is the last time you dusted it off. I would agree with your other suggestions and now include Calibre – MS word 07’s new standard, or some other very readable font – but Please not TNR. Shannon
PS –nice post PseudoHR
I agree with Michael. Hobbies / interests should be in every resume to make it a bit more personal.
As for the font conversations does it really matter as long as it looks clean and simple? The only time when picking a font really matters is when you’re applying to a design / graphics job and have to explain why you picked your font. In every real life situation, looking negatively on a professional resume typed in Times New Roman and berating the person is just letting your ego get the best you.
2 things – 1. hobbies never, ever, ever go on a resume, and if they do, that resume should be immediately quarantined. Many peoples hobbies offer windows into potential protected class and whether or not it figures into the hiring decison, it can open the door to a law suit (since we can always sue!). Example Hobbies: wheel chair basketball, youth ministry, etc. Plus, we know that you’re trying to show a soft, personal side in your resume, but wasting my team with unnecessary to the job reading, will never ingratiate you to me.
2. show me the money. Your resume better answer one or more of the following questions:
How have you made money for your employers and how much?
How have you saved money for your employers and how much?
What process’s have you improved for your employer and what was the financial impact?
@Shannon Thanks for stopping by!
Let me say a word on behalf of hobbies.
I hate resumes that tell me nothing about the person. While coaching applicants over the years, I’ve suggested that they give a positive glimpse of themselves in a hobbies/interests section. Nothing weird or controversial, of course. That is the one part that is frequently cited as a positive factor by the decision makers. It makes the person less robotic.
P.S. I don’t like Times New Roman. It seems very unimaginative.
Most of these tips are good and some are subjective; however, there a three issues that I want to comment on:
Hobbies on a resume? Yes, they had better be job related. If a recruiter is basing the hiring decision on some non-work-related hobby; then, in my opinion, that is not a professional recruiter.
Advising a job seeker to put such personal stuff on the resume is giving bad advice that will cost the candidate interviews. I’m not saying they won’t get any interviews; but they will lose out on a lot more by including such personal stuff.
The time to get to know the candidate as a person is during the interview stage of the hiring process, not on the resume. If the recruiter is eliminating candidates while screening resumes because they are not “personal” enough then that recruiter is throwing away many excellent candidates.
As for the font issue. Use only Times New Roman and Arial. The reason you should use only these two is twofold:
First – never use more than two fonts on any document. Three of more looks sloppy as it is too busy – any professional document producer will tell you so.
Second – stick with Times New Roman for your serif font and Arial for your san-serif font as these two fonts are “standard.” While you might think they look old-fashioned or unimaginative these two fonts are installed on every PC out there since sometime before 2000. Don’t think that just because your PC came with some other font (i.e., the ones mentioned here in comments – Georgia, Garamond, Calibre) that everyone else has them too. They may have been removed by that company’s IT department. Times New Roman and Arial most likely have not been removed as they are recognized as “standard.”
If you start using other fonts on a resume that is sent electronically (is anyone still sending hard-copies anymore?) you run the risk of the recruiter on the other end not being able to read your resume with the line breaks and spacing that you intended as PCs will substitute a font not found with something that might have different Kerning (that’s the spacing between the letters). So, rather than your resume looking “new” and “imaginative” it could look sloppy or unreadable.
And lastly, Spell cheque is god, but ewe still kneed to have someone else proof-red you’re resume or over letter. Spell check only checks to sea if the world exists in the dictionary it does not lock to see if it is the correct word four what you air trying to say.
Hey buddy, another fantastic article, really enjoyed the read.
@CCC and @Shannon I personally like Garamond or Calibre for anything I do in Word. TNR does look a bit old but I would rather see it than have a job seeker try out new fonts and settle on Stencil or one of the “pretty” scripts. Ugh.
I definitely agree with your article adowling. As a professional writer, I have assisted others with their resumes. I never ever use TNR, i much prefer garamond. There usually isn’t a problem when I or my people send resumes out, because I always recommend they pdf resumes and letters before sending. Proofing is a must as well. One thing that drives me crazy is when a writer uses ariel or other san-serif as the body font, BIG HUGE NONO.
Hobbies, definitely not, but a personal section that highlights management training and abilities such as working well unsupervised, and being a notary are always good things to include.
thanks for the advice. – Lori
@Michael Thanks for stopping by. I can see how hobbies make a person real. I’ve seen too many that are just off the wall or inappropriate for a resume.
@Charles, you spell check piece is a wonderful example! I’ve seen so many like that, it makes my head hurt. TNR is not my favorite by any means but I’d rather see it any day than some of the “pretty” fonts. I’ve had to reformat resumes myself, I dont think I’ve hired a single person whose resume was reformatted so I could read it.
@Puf, Can always count on you to have pretty much the same opinion as I do
Excellent points as always!
@Shai I said TNR or Arial because they are common default fonts that are easy to read. Yes, they be bland but I can read them even if the candidate feels the need to use italics on the entire page.
@Lori – Thanks for stopping by Lori. I like the personal highlights section if its kept professional; training, certificates etc are great but adding personal information leading back to religious references for example, not so much.