Is Your Resume Costing You a Dream Job?

Resume speaks first before you personally show up for an interview...

Thanks God because those who've seen/read my resume they invited me for a personal appearance "only" no interviews coz the data in my resume pictures out my personality... They no longer interviewed me rather they accepted me and offered me the job... ;)

Really smart and reasonable tips.

I get so many bad resumes- read these tips guys!

wow...I broke most of the rules and landed my dream job. My resume was 4 pages long (come on, I've been in the business 25+ years and 1 page won't cover it), my objective was clear, concise and over 5 words, I included why I left my last job because the job was eliminated...and wrote a 2 pg cover letter. I GOT the interview because I was able to show how I fit the criteria for the position and what I would bring to the organization. I haven't offered a 1 page resume for any job in more than 20 years and have, with 2 exceptions, always gotten an interview (and a job offer.)

Unorthodox approach, yes...but it can work if your resume is done right. As for the advice to cancel the interview if you don't have resume copies...well, I think that is just stupid. Yes, I won't like it if a candidate doesn't have a resume with him/her but I will like it less if they want to reschedule the appt for such a lame reason. People can explain why they don't have copies (and at my last interview, I met with 13 different people - all of whom had a copy already - even though I had copies with me). The point is to get face to face with the decision makers. Reschedule for serious illness or death...otherwise show up and punt!

Times are tough, it pays to take a risk and present a well crafted resume that doesn't fit in these traditional rules. You have roughly 10 seconds of scan time to make an impression to the reader; the trick is to present a document that keeps their attention and converts to an invitation.

And, btw, after being a hiring director for many years, folks who don't have a lot of work experience should list outside and/or college and/or volunteer experience IF it can relate to the job objective.

Don't put rhymes in your resume? Wow, what a great recommendation! The advice list in this piece is extraordinarily superficial. A best rule for resume basics is to not go by what a single advice-giver says, since there's a lot of subjectivity involved. Google " resume writing tips" and read a number of entries - especially ones written by HR professionals, part of whose job is to evaluate resumes. See what most of these professionals seem to be agreeing on. That should form the basis for your strategy.

Some of these are good but some are just wrong. the one page limit is a leftover from the days of paper resumes. These days 90% or more of all resumes you will send are in electronic form. Plus if you have been in the industry for more than a couple years it will be difficult to list all the key points in one page. worry less about your GPA and more about being sure your experience listing covers as many of the job requirements listed as possible. Objectives are a waste of space. The objective of ANY resume is to get a job. Instead of an objective, try a "Summarry of Qualifications" listing key items about you that match the job listing as much as possible.

Most important, after all the advice, the resume has to be something YOU are comfortable with and can distribute with confidence but dont be afraid to modify it and try new things if you dont seem to be getting any responses at all. Sometimes just changing a few key phrases can make a difference.

I disagree with two points. Your resume can be two pages long (but no more) and needs to be for experienced & accomplished professionals. Second, do NOT cancel your interview because you forgot copies of your resume. It's much worse to cancel the interview than forget a copy of your resume. Most of the time I never needed to supply copies during the interview. You can always ask to make copies when you arrive EARLY to your interview.

If you have 20+ years experience, you need a CV, not a resume. Also, chances are you are not applying for an entry-level position, which is what the article's resume tips are geared towards.

What an incredibly shallow post! Perhaps the writer should leave the resume issue to professionals within the business. Did you google this and come up with the comments?

PS...this must be you're first job rookie

I consider some of these tips, such as handing over a one page resume, to be a bit ridiculous.
I was required to take a resume building class at a top university, as most students are, and this article contradicts nearly every aspect of that class. For example, I was always taught to list education details first (excluding high school) and experience information second.
If this is truly how a resume should be organized, why isn't it universally taught this way?
There are too many conflicting methods of resume writing, and I believe the idea of what constitutes the perfect resume varies with each person, company, and career.
Having stated this, I will not be rearranging my resume to fit the mold of this absurd article.

I think that the key is to be professional but, find a way for your resume to stick out amongst your competitors.

Style Caster, Where have you been? Are you serious? Or are you just running out of topic to write? I pity not just you but everyone who pretends that they are the MASTERS as far as writing resumes. What happened to "Must write education, experience, and contribution to your previous employer"? One page Resume? hahahahaha, go get another job Style

The information in this article is not worth too much. Just as someone else posted, I too broke many of the rules and now have a great position.

Information in your resume should reflect you and your skills - no matter how many pages it takes... especially if you've been in an industry for 20+ years.

This advice is so amateur is makes me so angry. I can't believe this is on the front page of Yahoo!

I would like to know, what qualifies you to give advice like this? Is it simply that you have a job, and, of course, job seekers don't, so they should all heed your glorious knowledge?? Give me a break.

I hope by now it's obvious by the responses you've gotten you have no business writing an article like this.

This advice is pretty obvious info and pretty dated for todays competitive market. You should instead be looking at a career oriented web site for advice. Most people with over 10 yrs experience will have roughly 1 and a half pages if not 2 whole ones. Today, you shouldn't even put your objective, b/c it's not really about what you want. Instead, put your career summary (what you have to offer the employer) and mention your objective there.

I disagree with the part about showing up at an interview without a copy of your resume. I have never taken a copy of my resume on an interview and have not had any problems with my interviews or obtaining jobs.

Love how this article is jam-packed with grammatical mistakes.

Can anyone write for shine...it seems so...stylecaster, you may have a great resume, but i'm not sure you're the right one for this job...opiniononly seems pretty well qualified in my humble opinion. tell us more opiniononly (seriously...i'm not trying to being sarcastic)

Sorry, but I disagree with a LOT of what is stated here. First the comment about 1 page is wrong. I understand that concept of concise but you have to also understand the concept of white space on paper. Sure you can shrink text and widen borders but if it is cluttered then it gets tossed. Next ... that tired concept of objectives. PLEASE!!! They don't care what your objectives are UNLESS it is a way for you to help THEM. Your job is to make them money, faster, better then thier competitors. Not to do something to find more challenge or whatever trite comment you use.
Next ... expeirence is meaningless UNLESS you have RESULTS. I can work somewhere for 10 years and only tread water. Unless I saved them money, made things faster, more accurate or surpassed sales goals WHO CARES. You need to post you accomplishments right at the top. Did you get awards? Post that.

As for the rest, yeah that I can agree with

As a recruiter for many years, the fallacy that every resume needs to be ONLY one page long is archaic and many times completely wrong. This is the time to shine but also not to put in a bunch of fluff.
If one has only been in the workforce for 10-15 years or less, then one page is fine. But if one has worked their way up the food chain, then absolutely take the time to present your successes and challenges into two or maybe three pages. Trying to cram everything on one page is silly. Don't believe the one-page resume hype!