[GUIDE] How to write a compelling resume!

[looklook123123]

Hey everyone. In order to combat a lot of PMs I have received upon helping someone with their resume on here and then my thread which fell down offering help, I am going to post an image of my resume design, and fill it in with the "what you should put here" throughout the template. My resume was developed by a professional, and edited to work how I wanted it to. I received call-backs/interviews for the past 5 jobs I applied for and had options to choose where I wished to work for anyone who might question the credibility of what I am providing before you.

Please note my resume is for the business background, and if you PM me I will fix my template to best suit you depending what stage of life you're in and what you want to achieve.


[Only registered and activated users can see links]

Tips:
1. Fit as much as you can on one page, but never exceed one page! An employer is probably looking through dozens/hundreds of resumes depending on the country. Do you think they want to be flipping through a 2 or 3 page resume? It's a sure way to get your resume thrown out more times than not.

2. Be creative enough to make an impression! The blue bars separating my sections take up a couple of lines that could be used for text, but visually my resume will stand out among others helping my chances of my resume being read in entirety.

3. Tailor your objective to the specific job you are applying to. Even if it were to be in 2 parts of the same company, make sure it's different!

4. Always start with your most recent schooling and jobs first, then list any underneath them that may be applicable for the position you are applying for.

5. Your skills should be placed in a logical order and should be necessary for the position you are applying for. Anything else is just miscellaneous and throwing off your resume as it looks like it was just a copy/paste from a different application.

6. References. I don't list any on mine personally. However you can always write "References upon request" at the very bottom of the resume if you have room and feel it is necessary to include.

7. My resume is for the USA. I know other countries have there own formats for resumes so use this as much as you can if you're outside the USA.

Hopefully this helps you all out on your career / job hunt!
I can also answer any individual questions you may have and critique your resume. I can also help you prepare a resume for a specific job you are going after if you would like. I am just a message away!

Upon how well this is liked/disliked, I have no problem making another thread for actual interviews as well. :) Yay/nay?

Open this spoiler to get the URL to download the template. Thank you Bettser for the suggestion.
[Only registered and activated users can see links]

[Maison]

I WILL REP WHEN I GET THE CHANCE!! And omg thanks I really needed this!!

[Bettser]

Mods, if this doesn't belong here, please locate it to the appropriate forum header.

Hey everyone. In order to combat a lot of PMs I have received upon helping someone with their resume on here and then my thread which fell down offering help, I am going to post an image of my resume design, and fill it in with the "what you should put here" throughout the template. My resume was developed by a professional, and edited to work how I wanted it to. I received call-backs/interviews for the past 5 jobs I applied for and had options to choose where I wished to work for anyone who might question the credibility of what I am providing before you.

Please note my resume is for the business background, and if you PM me I will fix my template to best suit you depending what stage of life you're in and what you want to achieve.


[Only registered and activated users can see links]

Tips:
1. Fit as much as you can on one page, but never exceed one page! An employer is probably looking through dozens/hundreds of resumes depending on the country. Do you think they want to be flipping through a 2 or 3 page resume? It's a sure way to get your resume thrown out more times than not.

2. Be creative enough to make an impression! The blue bars separating my sections take up a couple of lines that could be used for text, but visually my resume will stand out among others helping my chances of my resume being read in entirety.

3. Tailor your objective to the specific job you are applying to. Even if it were to be in 2 parts of the same company, make sure it's different!

4. Always start with your most recent schooling and jobs first, then list any underneath them that may be applicable for the position you are applying for.

5. Your skills should be placed in a logical order and should be necessary for the position you are applying for. Anything else is just miscellaneous and throwing off your resume as it looks like it was just a copy/paste from a different application.

6. References. I don't list any on mine personally. However you can always write "References upon request" at the very bottom of the resume if you have room and feel it is necessary to include.

7. My resume is for the USA. I know other countries have there own formats for resumes so use this as much as you can if you're outside the USA.

Hopefully this helps you all out on your career / job hunt!
I can also answer any individual questions you may have and critique your resume. I can also help you prepare a resume for a specific job you are going after if you would like. I am just a message away!

Upon how well this is liked/disliked, I have no problem making another thread for actual interviews as well. :) Yay/nay?



Should upload a format document of one for people to use ;)

[Mama Bear]

I always include a section for awards and other certifications (like first aid certificate). Showing off my academic excellence awards I got during university helped make me more competitive than someone with the same degree but lacking the accolades.

[cinnamon]

Idk if it's appropriate to tag commentary on a guide, but he's right about the need to tailor your resume for your field. For example, I always put my skill set before my education and work history. Actually in my field while a degree is usually preferred, having gone to a fancy school doesn't always matter, so I put that section last.

All your tips are SO RIGHT. Nice advice. :)

[looklook123123]

Bettser All set. It's on the bottom of my post. Hopefully that's all you meant? Hope it helps!

bacchus Regarding the certifications, I personally put those in my "Skills" tab but I have seen the point where people have a ton of different certifications and replace the Skills tab with all their certifications. By all means feel free to do that and to move headers around! I put my awards from university directly under the college/university institution I attend there as opposed to classes I took just because someone hiring will (or should) know approximately what useful classes you have taken to get your degree. :)
I made note of your comment on the google doc page where people can download the resume. Thank you for the feedback!

cinnamon Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. :) Hopefully you can use it at least as a good refresher if nothing else!

Thank you everyone for the positive feedback so far! I just want everyone to succeed in their endeavors outside of ck as well because you're all an amazing group of people!

[I_royalty_I]

Does it really make a big difference with regards to the order and titles that each section is given?
I'm finishing my degree in comp sci, cybersecurity to be more specific, in a few months and will need to update my resume shortly. I didn't know there was a specific way to do it depending on what sort of job youre after.

[looklook123123]

Does it really make a big difference with regards to the order and titles that each section is given?
I'm finishing my degree in comp sci, cybersecurity to be more specific, in a few months and will need to update my resume shortly. I didn't know there was a specific way to do it depending on what sort of job youre after.
If you haven't had a job in your field really I would put skills befor work experience since your field is really technical :)
If you have significant work experience use the order it's in currently and under the jobs list what specifically you did.
You may want to put both skills and jobs above your schooling even.

Basically, you should put the most relevant of things towards the top of your resume but have something decent in the middle to keep the employer interested enough to read the entire resume.

[cinnamon]

Does it really make a big difference with regards to the order and titles that each section is given?
I'm finishing my degree in comp sci, cybersecurity to be more specific, in a few months and will need to update my resume shortly. I didn't know there was a specific way to do it depending on what sort of job youre after.


If you haven't had a job in your field really I would put skills befor work experience since your field is really technical :)
If you have significant work experience use the order it's in currently and under the jobs list what specifically you did.
You may want to put both skills and jobs above your schooling even.

Basically, you should put the most relevant of things towards the top of your resume but have something decent in the middle to keep the employer interested enough to read the entire resume.

Depending on the size of the company you're applying for and if they have an HR department that funnels the candidates that fit the bill to the actual department that would be interviewing you, they may spend all of 3-4 seconds looking at your resume before it makes the cut or gets trashed. Super big companies import the raw data from your resume so it can auto-weed out people who don't meet certain requirements or sort them by a particular search phrase. This is why you'll see some resume sites forewarn you about using crazy fonts or imagery--in the event they're scanned in or text is pulled from a .pdf, nothing else will be grabbed.

Definitely tweak your resume for each individual job you apply for. If a job posting stressed they want people who are knowledgeable about a specific sub-set of your field, make sure that if you have that skill it's showcased prominently in your resume. Try to order things by the order of importance that seems to be implied in the job posting.

I worked briefly doing graphic design for a national restaurant chain and the corporate HR department did a lot of the preliminary weeding out via resumes. This pissed off the design team because HR peeps aren't really qualified to critique design portfolios nor do they know anything about our skill set. They're just looking between the job description and a resume and playing a matching game at times. Smaller (and better) companies are not like this. It's good to keep in mind that people who have no in-depth knowledge of your field may be in charge of determining your initial worth.

[Sci_Girl]

Excellent guide, +rep. looklook123123

A few questions.

1.) I completed my degree via two Universities. Spent 2 years at the first then transferred out because they did not have too many classes as the degree program was just newly introduced. I got my scholarship at that school. The second more acclaimed University is where I finished my degree and have my degree listed as coming from that school. Should I list my scholarship as coming from the first University or the second? Also, what if people do not have a pile of scholarships or anything really noteworthy? I did not fair well with the ones I applied for because others were clearly much much smarter than I. So what can people write down if they do not have a load of scholarships? Should we write down some of our classes or relevant lab courses to at least have something in that section? I have a BSc Degree. For me personally all places I apply to have to do with labs, research facilities and affiliates, Healthcare and things of that nature so they are big on the academics and being able to do the relevant lab work.

2.) How far back should the work experience go? 5 years? Many of us may have seasonal work during school, so just a quick stint for the summer or a few months at Christmas to make money then go back to school. Should those be listed even if it is a shorter amount of time?

3.) Can you make a guide on the even more dreaded and more difficult, it seems, cover letter?

[looklook123123]

Excellent guide, +rep. looklook123123

A few questions.

1.) I completed my degree via two Universities. Spent 2 years at the first then transferred out because they did not have too many classes as the degree program was just newly introduced. I got my scholarship at that school. The second more acclaimed University is where I finished my degree and have my degree listed as coming from that school. Should I list my scholarship as coming from the first University or the second? Also, what if people do not have a pile of scholarships or anything really noteworthy? I did not fair well with the ones I applied for because others were clearly much much smarter than I. So what can people write down if they do not have a load of scholarships? Should we write down some of our classes or relevant lab courses to at least have something in that section? I have a BSc Degree. For me personally all places I apply to have to do with labs, research facilities and affiliates, Healthcare and things of that nature so they are big on the academics and being able to do the relevant lab work.

2.) How far back should the work experience go? 5 years? Many of us may have seasonal work during school, so just a quick stint for the summer or a few months at Christmas to make money then go back to school. Should those be listed even if it is a shorter amount of time?

3.) Can you make a guide on the even more dreaded and more difficult, it seems, cover letter?

I am glad that you found this helpful :)

1. If your scholarship was received at the first university, list it there. If it transitioned and carried over to your second university where you graduated from, also list it there. You could even leave it out of the first one if it applied to both if you feel you'll need that extra line somewhere else on your resume! You can definitely write underneath classes/labs that pertain exactly to what you're applying for if you have trouble finding other things to put in. Just make sure you give a sentence or two explaining why the classes/labs you are writing in are extremely significant over all of the others you may have had to take.

2. It would ultimately depend on how long you were at the job. If you were say a teacher at an elementary school for 5 years, then switched elementary schools for 10 an additional 10 years, you may want to list both. I would say have no more than 3 positions listed under work. If you have small side jobs that don't offer much relevancy, feel free to not include them. If asked in an interview, why the 6 month gap between jobs, just say you had done whatever you did, but didn't find it as important as the positions you've mentioned.

3. I can and certainly will do that! I will be able to do that later this week!

Any other questions just let me know :)

[Maison]

I literally came back for this omfg

[looklook123123]

I literally came back for this omfg

Saw you posting everywhere just now lol. If you want help message me on skype I'll see it tomorrow at some point my friend

[Maison]

Saw you posting everywhere just now lol. If you want help message me on skype I'll see it tomorrow at some point my friend


I was going to message you on skype but I don't use it anymore lol but we shall see!!

[looklook123123]

I was going to message you on skype but I don't use it anymore lol but we shall see!!

I've notice! :( well message me here or on skype if you didn't delete your account. You know my schedule LOL basically all day with work and school. Tax season is wrapping up soon. :) they're offering me a positon not sure if I told you!!

[Maison]

I've notice! :( well message me here or on skype if you didn't delete your account. You know my schedule LOL basically all day with work and school. Tax season is wrapping up soon. :) they're offering me a positon not sure if I told you!!


OMFG WHAT!!! THATS AWESOME NEWS!! CONGRATULATIONS!! I'll log in one day and message you!!

[looklook123123]

OMFG WHAT!!! THATS AWESOME NEWS!! CONGRATULATIONS!! I'll log in one day and message you!!

Thanks bro! Yeah Ill start this fall if all goes according to their plan :) and sounds good! Off to bed now haha

[looklook123123]

Per seeing the person wsking about a resume help, going to bump this and my cover letter thread.

[looklook123123]

Bumping for awareness since people are graduating and need jobs!

[looklook123123]

Long time, no bump

[pentakost]

looklook123123 you're a life saver
question: what's your opinion on adding a portrait photo? Not like an Instagram selfie but a decent portrait, smiling, looking inviting.

[looklook123123]

looklook123123 you're a life saver
question: what's your opinion on adding a portrait photo? Not like an Instagram selfie but a decent portrait, smiling, looking inviting.

Sorry I have not been on here for quite some time - short answer is no don't do that.

[Cinnamoroll]

Unless you are applying for a job where appearance matters (aka any kind of acting/modelling etc), no. Never upload a photo on a resume.

[PabstBlueRibbon]

looklook123123 you're a life saver
question: what's your opinion on adding a portrait photo? Not like an Instagram selfie but a decent portrait, smiling, looking inviting.

Unless it is a job that actually requires you to be seen. Like mentioned, a model or acting. NEVER include pictures of yourself. If any job that doesn't explicitly have to pick based on looks asks for photos then they are trying to be discriminatory. And that is treading closely on active discrimination to filter out potential candiates. Are they hiring you (or not) based on your skillset or because of how you look?

For example, once upon a time I worked for a chain petstore. During the interview they said I had to take my earrings out to be considered, because that wasn't the look they wanted to present. My earrings were a simple clip loop (because I don't like dangly earrings and a single seed-pearl stud in one ear). It was the stud they wanted gone because to them that was "too much".
[Background, this chain originated in Arizona, which is pure-on Mormon town, they have particular religious ideas about excessive jewelry, or tattoos, or hairstyles. So even though where my location was, was very, very far from both a 90% Mormon population and also this was 2010+ so really. They were still dragging along the Mormon-look, hair had to be only braided, single braid, no non-natural hair colors for women, or haircuts that didn't fully cover ears for men. So what did I do? I absolutely took the stud out, got my job. And put the bastard back in as soon as probation was over and they needed actual reasons to fire anyone. Let me have to roll up to unemployment and tell them they fired me over a tiny 5mm stud... lol.

They decided to stop being so assholish about this around 2015 finally and join modern society where people have tattoos and dye their hair.


If they had been reviewing resumes with pictures, trust me, they would have been weeding people out for their look left and right.

[Druid]

Yeah I was FOH hiring manager for a restaurant for a while & would semi-consistently get resumes with photos (maybe 10% of them..?) and it was always an instant "this person is for sure an actor" lol. I'd just kind of ignore it and look at the rest of the resume - it wasn't a dealbreaker because sure aspiring actors can be good servers, and sure one could argue that appearance matters for service, but there was definitely an element of being taken aback by it / kind of feeling like they were trying to use their appearance to get the job? Like gut response "do you think this is Moxie's"

In any more businessy industry I'd definitely be much more taken aback by it - headshots are only for when your appearance is actually relevant to the job

[Silas]

With COVID layoffs, I've been plunged back into the job market and this has been so helpful! You are literally a lifesaver, thank you!