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[Phobophile]

Here's my resume. Format's been essentially unchanged for 5 years and I've had no problems whatsoever with recruiters and employers looking at it. Looks boring but it's terse and concise and clean.

 

[Rad-]

Here's my resume. Format's been essentially unchanged for 5 years and I've had no problems whatsoever with recruiters and employers looking at it. Looks boring but it's terse and concise and clean.

I think you are too detailed with your descriptions. You could easily scratch some of the less important stuff off there. The problem here is that when an employer scans it, he might "miss" some imporant stuff because there's just so much text there.

 

[FreeMufasa]

I think you are too detailed with your descriptions. You could easily scratch some of the less important stuff off there. The problem here is that when an employer scans it, he might "miss" some imporant stuff because there's just so much text there.

Yeah. Definately needs more space on it.

 

[HiddenSentry]

This was my resume coming out of college with little practical experience (Not that long ago!)

Has some white space, but I'm sure someone can find some way to critique it. That's the whole point of a resume, right?

 

[bengraven]

Reading some of these resumes reminds me why my resume isn't that impressive.

I suppose a recruiter looks at my resume, sees that I'm 32 and sees my small achievements and throws it to the side.

Explains why I'm not getting many hits on Monster.

 

[terminallyChill]

Reading some of these resumes reminds me why my resume isn't that impressive.

I suppose a recruiter looks at my resume, sees that I'm 32 and sees my small achievements and throws it to the side.

Explains why I'm not getting many hits on Monster.

You can fill up space by including a photo of yourself!

 

[bengraven]

You can fill up space by including a photo of yourself!

Yeah, right, have you SEEN me? Wait, yes, you have.

 

[mcrae]

Yeah, right, have you SEEN me? Wait, yes, you have.

if you wanna go the picture route, just make sure its well lit, taken with a good camera, in nice dress shirt, after a good haircut... professionalism>handsomeness. though i dunno why you would add a pic at all lol

 

[Nander]

I'm right now applying for different positions and would love some feedback on my resume. I'm primarily using this for finance related work in Sweden and the UK. Both help checking that my English is correct and some pointers on the overall layout and the info I have provided would be appreciated.

EDIT: Censored all company names.

 

[mcrae]

I'm right now applying for different positions and would love some feedback on my resume. I'm primarily using this for finance related work in Sweden and the UK. Both help checking that my English is correct and some pointers on the overall layout and the info I have provided would be appreciated.

http://i.imgur.com/bci0D.jpg[/IM]

EDIT: Censored all company names.[/QUOTE]

from what i've gathered:
-no one cares where you went to highschool
-no one cares what courses you've taken in university
-dont use the term 'responsible for' - it sounds like it was just in the job description, not that it was necessarily a responsibility you lived up to. change "responsible for compiling daily reports" to "Compiled daily reports" (this is a suggestion, im sure you can find a better phrasing, but i think the mantra of 'dont use 'responsible for' ' is a good one)
-hours of work not necessary
- "Created multiple time saving VBA macros to streamline work through the office resulting in a savings of xx hours per week per employee"

in general you want to convey the feeling of what you accomplished, rather than what was expected of you. even if you're just rephrasing what was expected of you. you want to sell yourself as an asset to previous employers, so that you will be looked at as a potential asset to future employers, instead of someone who simply would satisfactorily fill a slot.

 

[Biff]

copied the fuck out of the spots resume and am tentatively going with this. gotta see what the ladies in the co op class think though :/

http://i.imgur.com/e7nx2.jpg

fucked around in illustrator to make it, the fonts and shades aren't 100% what thespots are but pretty damn close, here it is, i didnt really know what i was doing so some stuff may be misaligned.[/QUOTE]

Dude... You're applying to an Engineering position with that? You can't be serious.

I'm a Mechanical Engineer. I would have thrown that out instantaneously. Looks like you:
a) made it on a Mac
b) have no idea what Engineering is about

Your resume should be boring, 1000x so for Engineering. An Engineer in his mid-40s who's been doing management/engineering for 20 years is going to be screening these resumes. They are going to see yours and throw it out.

Phobophile's is a much better format but has WAY too many points. [B]WAY[/B] too many. I know you probably spent hours making your artsy resume but that is a sunk cost now. Use his format with 3-4 points per job MAX. Whitespace is a good thing, he doesn't have any of it.

Nander's is solid because he got that format from Mergers & Inquisitions. It's the go-to format for finance, but not so much for Engineering.

Source: Engineer, MBA, ~30 interviews throughout my young career from ~40 applications total. I'm better at this shit than video games. True fact.

 

[Biff]

Figure I'll do Nander's in a separate post.

I'm right now applying for different positions and would love some feedback on my resume. I'm primarily using this for finance related work in Sweden and the UK. Both help checking that my English is correct and some pointers on the overall layout and the info I have provided would be appreciated.

http://i.imgur.com/bci0D.jpg

EDIT: Censored all company names.[/QUOTE]

1. Why are you using gmail? Use your official university address.
2. Your second Compliance date needs "September 2011 - Present". The way it is now looks sloppy.
3. Upper Secondary school date hyphen is incorrect. Should be a long hypen ("em dash") not a short one.
4. In general, you need impact points for all your bullets. I see you "entered into negotiations" at your job. That's nice. What was the effect? Did you get a price 20% lower than their initial offer? Give some numbers whereever possible.

Overall it's good though. Needs the above changes and another coat of polish with your career counsellor or a professor or someone in Sweden who understands culture conventions for hiring processes better than I do.

 

[mcrae]

Dude... You're applying to an Engineering position with that? You can't be serious.

I'm a Mechanical Engineer. I would have thrown that out instantaneously. Looks like you:
a) made it on a Mac
b) have no idea what Engineering is about

Your resume should be boring, 1000x so for Engineering. An Engineer in his mid-40s who's been doing management/engineering for 20 years is going to be screening these resumes. They are going to see yours and throw it out.

Phobophile's is a much better format but has WAY too many points. WAY too many. I know you probably spent hours making your artsy resume but that is a sunk cost now. Use his format with 3-4 points per job MAX. Whitespace is a good thing, he doesn't have any of it.

Nander's is solid because he got that format from Mergers & Inquisitions. It's the go-to format for finance, but not so much for Engineering.

Source: Engineer, MBA, ~30 interviews throughout my young career from ~40 applications total. I'm better at this shit than video games. True fact.

hmm, i do see the point that it looks like i have no idea what engineering is about, lol.

 

[BobLoblaw]

While I understand the whole "1 page" thing (especially if you're fresh out of college), there's no way I, as a professional, can fit all of my relevant experience, education, and qualifications on one page, so I use two. And I've never once had a problem getting an interview either.

 

[Air]

Came in hoping for everybody to say 1 page and I am pleased.

Don't go over one page, no one is going to read a biography when many places get dozens of potential workers, and have other things to do. Sharpen it up like a knife and keep it lean.

 

[Biff]

While I understand the whole "1 page" thing (especially if you're fresh out of college), there's no way I, as a professional, can fit all of my relevant experience, education, and qualifications on one page, so I use two. And I've never once had a problem getting an interview either.

Then you understand the "1 page" thing perfectly

It's mainly meant for fresh out of college grads, applying through campus recruiters, etc. If you're in management or have 10 years of experience then I would highly doubt the person looking at your resume is expecting a 1 pager.

 

[Nander]

Thank you for your comments!

McRae's comments:
-no one cares where you went to highschool
It's not so much where I went to high school but the fact that I chose the "Natural science programme", which is by far the most demanding with lots of Math and Physics. I figured that showed some kind of "drive" or something.
-no one cares what courses you've taken in university
Are you sure? Seeing as I'm not finished with college yet, isn't it relevant which subjects I have already studied an what courses I still have left to do?
-dont use the term 'responsible for' - it sounds like it was just in the job description, not that it was necessarily a responsibility you lived up to. change "responsible for compiling daily reports" to "Compiled daily reports" (this is a suggestion, im sure you can find a better phrasing, but i think the mantra of 'dont use 'responsible for' ' is a good one)
Noted, will change to something better.
-hours of work not necessary
Are you sure, again? Because I think it shows that I actually work a fair amount of time while at the same time being able to do well in school.
- "Created multiple time saving VBA macros to streamline work through the office resulting in a savings of xx hours per week per employee"
Agreed that this sounds great, but it can be difficult to quantify these kinds of things...

ChefRamsay's comments:
1. Why are you using gmail? Use your official university address.
My university address is: 22XXX(at)student.hhs.se. I actually think that my gmail address sounds more professional, seeing as it actually contains my full name.
2. Your second Compliance date needs "September 2011 - Present". The way it is now looks sloppy.
Thanks. Updated.
3. Upper Secondary school date hyphen is incorrect. Should be a long hypen ("em dash") not a short one.
Thanks again. This is exactly why someone else should read what you write, it's so easy to miss these small things.
4. In general, you need impact points for all your bullets. I see you "entered into negotiations" at your job. That's nice. What was the effect? Did you get a price 20% lower than their initial offer? Give some numbers whereever possible.
Agreed, but as I wrote above it can be hard to quantify things. If I remember correctly that negotiation was mostly about order volumes, and we managed to change the order volumes to better correspond with the volumes our end customers bought. Should I add something about that?

 

[Caspel]

One page, no more.

This belief is the wrong way of going about it. The more on your resume for an office job, the better. The one page doesn't work that well for a competitive environment. I've had several employers recommend I add a third page.

 

[mcrae]

Thank you for your comments!

- maybe its worth saying what you did in highschool in that case, probably a better question for someone from your country. though it was 3 years ago so is less relevant now, and more whitespace would definitely help so it wouldn't be a bad thing to take out
- employers know what they're getting out of a student in 1/2/3/4rth year university, which is why specific classes arent needed. putting your gpa can help if its good though.
- the hours do show that, but again, if you're gonna take some stuff out to make it more readable, thats what i would take out. and I dont know about sweden/the school you're in, but around here 12h/week is probably lower than average for people who work and go to school.
- definitely hard to quantify, so generalize, and be optimistic about it! if it gets you an interview, great, you'll get a chance to talk about it and explain more exactly where/how you saved time, and what lead you to writing whatever figure you end up writing, on the resume

again, i'm just a student as well and am repeating things i've been told. how i'd write the negotiations point: "helped renegotiate with a major supplier to bring the volume of monthly orders more in line with our outgoing sales, resulting in ______"

 

[Nander]

- maybe its worth saying what you did in highschool in that case, probably a better question for someone from your country. though it was 3 years ago so is less relevant now, and more whitespace would definitely help so it wouldn't be a bad thing to take out

Hmm, yeah, maybe that would be good for UK employers. Swedish ones know exactly what the different programmes include.

- the hours do show that, but again, if you're gonna take some stuff out to make it more readable, thats what i would take out. and I dont know about sweden/the school you're in, but around here 12h/week is probably lower than average for people who work and go to school.

I kinda agree, 12h/w isn't that much. But since I have to work during office hours it's pretty much what I can do, I already miss enough lectures and classes as is. I have friends who work in grocery stores etc. who work much longer hours though. I think I might just change it to "Full-time during the summer, part-time during the semesters".

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

EDIT: I love this thread. I just reduced my 3 page resume to 1 page applying tips and templates provided here. Thanks, GAF!

 

[krameriffic]

This belief is the wrong way of going about it. The more on your resume for an office job, the better. The one page doesn't work that well for a competitive environment. I've had several employers recommend I add a third page.

It depends more on your level of education and experience. If you have a Ph.D. one page is not enough. If you've been in industry for 10 years, one page is probably not enough. Unless you are the most distinguished and experienced fresh Bachelors degree holder in the world, one page is probably plenty.

Some nice points in this thread. Got me to update some things on my resume.

 

[Joe Shlabotnik]

By the way, that dude with the rainbow infographics résumé on the first page spelled "expenditure" incorrectly.

And while I'm here, anyone looking for a copy editor or copywriter?

 

[CJUNDERGROUND]

copied the fuck out of the spots resume and am tentatively going with this. gotta see what the ladies in the co op class think though :/



fucked around in illustrator to make it, the fonts and shades aren't 100% what thespots are but pretty damn close, here it is, i didnt really know what i was doing so some stuff may be misaligned.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/58302776/resume - Copy copy.pdf

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/58302776/resume - Copy copy.ai

Very nice work! Thanks for this.

 

[Escape Goat]

Throw in some smiley faces. Managers love smiley faces.


and one page!

 

[elrechazado]

This belief is the wrong way of going about it. The more on your resume for an office job, the better. The one page doesn't work that well for a competitive environment. I've had several employers recommend I add a third page.

Sorry, this is terrible advice. Particularly when you see what people are putting on these extra pages.

 

[paskowitz]

Keep It Simple Stupid! Rule #1

- 1 page
- 3 bullet points for each job is ideal
- List the 3 most important previous jobs (as they apply to the job you are applying for)


- BTW people can only remember three things about a person... it is true. (It does not matter if you are an engineer or an accountant, simple wins every time.)
- Your resume gets dropped or moved on in the first 5-10 seconds a HR person reads it. Keep this in mind.
- If you really want to impress the employer mail them (as in physical mail) a copy on nice paper in a nice envelope. Call ahead and find out the name of the person who will read your resume and address the envelope to them.

- If you have a lot of stuff consider a cover letter (which is another world)
- Make a website with all your extra qualifications and include that on the resume. (This works for any job)
- Include a picture of yourself look like a boss. (This works in business. But if you look confident, it does not matter what job you are applying for)

 

[Caspel]

Sorry, this is terrible advice. Particularly when you see what people are putting on these extra pages.

Sorry, but it is excellent advice for those in the gaming industry. I have spoke to many companies about their hiring process and they prefer more than one page. The one page theory is archaic. I've had two VPs this week tell me that they prefer a full-length examination of a person's experience rather than a brief snippet. Earlier this month, I spoke to two separate recruiters (one at Comcast, one at Warner Brothers) on their hiring process and they went into detail that two-to-three page resumes are preferred when filling their positions at the office.

Maybe it's an LA thing, but it's how it is in the gaming industry as of right now.

 

[bengraven]

I'm seriously getting a deadline for a job and despite constantly editing (and probably making it worse), I'm not getting any resume hits:


Ben Graven
1300 That One Place / Somewhere in Florida, 3XXXX | ###-###-#### | blahblah@blah.com


Highly motivated customer service specialist seeking an opportunity for professional growth in your organization.

~Employment Highlights~
2008-2010
JOB 1 - City, FL
Tier 1 Tech Support
● Tier 1 technician resolving issues on telecommunications equipment via telephone or by remote access, occasionally working on customer-related issues such as account or call quality disputes

2006-2007
JOB 2 - City, MN

Floor manager/Customer Service Representative
● Consistently Top Five in inbound sales
● Worked in customer retention - retained 75% of irate customers
● Floor manager in charge of monitoring employee efficiency and taking supervisor calls

~Selected Skills and Abilities~
Experience with: Sales, Telecommunications, Office, Excel/Word/Works, Powerpoint, DRAC/ERAC, RealVNC, Outlook, Windows 95, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 98, Windows 7

Familiarity with: System Administration, Adobe Acrobat, Windows 2003 Server, WindowsNT Server, Windows 2000 Server, .NET

~References~

● Reference 1: ###-###-#### - former manager
● Ref 2: ###-###-#### - former trainer
● Ref 3 – ###-###-#### - team lead

 

[Zoe]

Split the tech support one into two bullets. Is that really all you can list after being there for two years though?

 

[njr]

I made my resume through InDesign, has my name in a huge font size, and I'm able to section it out how I want. It's pretty good for that kind of stuff, and I was able to export it to a PDF for clickable links to my email, website, and eventually my github account.

 

[bengraven]

Split the tech support one into two bullets. Is that really all you can list after being there for two years though?

I actually cut a lot of the fairly repetitive parts to try and make it fit one page. After rejiggering some font sizes, I'll take your advice and add more.


I need a great objective though. I keep re-writing and re-writing it; a friend in corporate HR says that every one I write is the kind of thing that doesn't grab employers' attentions.

I just want to say "Please, I've been unemployed for over a year and I have a wife and son to support. Hire me, because if you don't I'll be applying at the local convenience store in two weeks".

 

[Zoe]

I actually cut a lot of the fairly repetitive parts to try and make it fit one page. After rejiggering some font sizes, I'll take your advice and add more.

Is what you put above the entirety of your resume? Because that shouldn't be taking up a full page.

Also, if you're posting that resume on job sites, do not put your references on there. That's putting other people's information out there, and references should be an "available upon request" kind of thing anyway.

 

[bengraven]

Is what you put above the entirety of your resume? Because that shouldn't be taking up a full page.

Also, if you're posting that resume on job sites, do not put your references on there. That's putting other people's information out there, and references should be an "available upon request" kind of thing anyway.

Interesting. I was using the references to gauge whether I was actually getting calls or not. So far, my main reference has never been called, despite over 200 resume attempts.

 

[Joe Shlabotnik]

You don't need to put references (and shouldn't) because no one is going to call your references before contacting you first. References are "we liked this guy's interview and might hire him, let's make sure he's not a sociopath. Or that he's at least our kind of sociopath."

 

[Zoe]

The place I'm working at now had an (ancient) application system that automatically emailed your references. Wasn't too happy about that considering you're supposed to give your references a head's up that something might be coming...

 

[mcrae]

bengraven what did you do before 2006?

also remove the ~

also do you actually have the words 'JOB 1' and 'JOB 2' ?

 

[Windu]

I'm seriously getting a deadline for a job and despite constantly editing (and probably making it worse), I'm not getting any resume hits:


Floor manager/Customer Service Representative
● Consistently Top Five in inbound sales
● Worked in customer retention - retained 75% of irate customers
● Floor manager in charge of monitoring employee efficiency and taking supervisor calls

always start with an "action" word. So something like "monitored employee efficiency etc..

 

[mcrae]

bengraven what did you do before 2006?

also remove the ~

also do you actually have the words 'JOB 1' and 'JOB 2' ?


for what its worth here is the final resume i used to send to co-op employers. there is between 200-300 students eligible to apply for each position, only 4-10 students get an interview per position, and with this i've been getting a 50% interview rate (even though i said i started my program in winter 2011, whoops, lol)

(clickable for big)

 

[bengraven]

bengraven what did you do before 2006?

also remove the ~

also do you actually have the words 'JOB 1' and 'JOB 2' ?

I worked as a line cook for Burger King for four years. Not something I really want to put on a more professional resume.

And no, I edited quite a bit out. In my actual resume I listed the job names.

 

[krameriffic]

always start with an "action" word. So something like "monitored employee efficiency etc..

Whenever I read resume and interview tips and they have stuff like this, I just want to punch babies. I hate how mechanical and inhuman the entire process is portrayed.

All I can think of is some mixture of Fight Club and Office Space and how I hate the entire system of professional communication.

 

[vaelic]

2 pages. MAX

 

[thespot84]

bengraven what did you do before 2006?

also remove the ~

also do you actually have the words 'JOB 1' and 'JOB 2' ?


for what its worth here is the final resume i used to send to co-op employers. there is between 200-300 students eligible to apply for each position, only 4-10 students get an interview per position, and with this i've been getting a 50% interview rate (even though i said i started my program in winter 2011, whoops, lol)

(clickable for big)

what font did you change in the template, out of curiousity?

 

[mcrae]

what font did you change in the template, out of curiousity?

main name is Segui UI
address/city is Myriad Pro
vertical subtitles are myriad pro
skills/jobs are Arial

i ended up creating it myself using a screenshot of yours as a background layer, cause i was too impatient to wait for the template. no real reason for font choice other than 'looks pretty'. gotta say thanks again.

 

[Jason's Ultimatum]

How did you guys post your resume as pic, and how do you add the black bars? I want to post my resume in this thread so you guys can critique it.

 

[bob page]

This belief is the wrong way of going about it. The more on your resume for an office job, the better. The one page doesn't work that well for a competitive environment. I've had several employers recommend I add a third page.

Not really true. I know tons of people who work in HR and they have told me plenty of times that they won't read past the first page. It really depends on the type of company you're applying to, but for Fortune 500 places that get thousands of apps on a continual basis, all you're doing is inconveniencing them.

Here's mine. I've gotten a ton of compliments on it in the past (hasn't been updated it since going fulltime, though):

 

[Liberty4all]

Hi guys,

I have worked as an Employment Counsellor/Job Coach for the last 5 years. Basically eating, breathing and sleeping resumes.


A few things to consider:

1. Resumes in North America and Europe are done differently. I found that my clients from the UK tended to have much longer CV's.

2. Add in your LinkedIn Profile at the top of your resume under your email. Employers check LinkedIn. Remember all resumes are emailed nowadays so a hyperlink to LinkedIn will almost always be clicked, and employers will then check your LinkedIn Recommendations (references!). In North America LinkedIn is a very valuable tool when applying to any corporate job. Build a LinkedIn profile and maintain it much the same way you would build an old school paper career portfolio. Employers WILL check your linkedin profile if you have it on your resume. It sends a message you are savvy "up with the times", knowledgeable about social media, a networking animal, as well as putting more recruiter/HR eye time on your experience, skills, and recommendations (references).

3. There are 3 types of resumes: Chronological, Functional and Mixed.

A chronological resume lists positions in Chronologically (makes sense right). The downside to this type of resume is that it

a. Shows how little experience you have (especially if you have a string of jobs in a short period of time, or very few jobs period)
b. It may not show the transferable skills that you have because your jobs are in very different industries.

Sample Chronological:

On the positive side Chronological is a great format to use if you have good steady jobs (3 - 4) which have been about 2 - 3 years each. Chronological resumes also really emphasise the companies you have worked at (which can be a big bonus if they are all well known blue chip organizations).



For students or new graduates I almost always recommend a Functional resume. A functional resume allows you to highlight your skills and abilities while downplaying lack of experience/minimal dates worked:

Sample Functional:

These are just basic examples.


A Mixed format resume gives you the best of both worlds and is also the best format to use for a mid range Career (3 + years of experience in one industry). 2 pages long the first page is Functional with a Summary of Skills, the second page is a straight Chronological history of your work history:

Mixed/Combination Format:

In the above example this is an entry level person so they kept it to one page.


Keep in mind that resume formats are completely different if you are going into something like IT or health Services.

IT resumes tend to focus more on expertise in terms of programming (programs) knowledge:

Other points to keep in mind.

Recruiters don't have time to wade through a mass of information. This is why it is crucial to break your resume into sections. Minimum of 3 bullet points per section, usually 4 to 5 will suffice.

If you are applying for a specific industry, nobody cares about the experience you have in another industry (ie. if you are applying for a marketing position, nobody cares you worked at McDonalds flipping fries).

One of the biggest problems graduates have is a lack of experience. This is why a Functional resume can get you started and make you look much better than you really are. It is also why nowadays it is crucial that if you are in college or university you make sure you are in a program that has some sort of practicum/work placement/internship component .... employers nowadays care more about experience than where you went to school (they want both really) .... BA's are a dime a dozen, work experience (paid or not) though is king.

 

[Giard]

I'm in Quebec, and I everyone I know has 2 pages on their CV.
I guess in the USA it's 1 page max though...

Currently working on mine, so this thread'll be helpful.

 

[Liberty4all]

I'm in Quebec, and I everyone I know has 2 pages on their CV.
I guess in the USA it's 1 page max though...

Currently working on mine, so this thread'll be helpful.

It depends on the industry and how far along in your career you are as to how many pages. 2 is the absolute longest though unless you are an executive.

At mid level career 2 pages is ok (in Canada at least). Most Americans do keep it limited to one page which is why a good cover letter is also crucial to highlight what the resume missed.

 

[AOA]

I'm in Quebec, and I everyone I know has 2 pages on their CV.
I guess in the USA it's 1 page max though...

Currently working on mine, so this thread'll be helpful.

In Quebec the standard is still 1 page.