Resume Advice

[Kitten Diver]

Unlike you inbred hicks, I am a badass. My qualifications speak for themselves.

Guessing this is what you really meant:)

[boo7382]

Guessing this is what you really meant:)

He probably just works in a different industry

[Kitten Diver]

He probably just works in a different industry

I think it really does depend on the industry. When I was looking and few years ago I just put all my certs and knowledge right up front under education, seemed to work fine.

[Hawk]

I want to see two pages....a cover letter selling yourself and a second page giving me the details...details...minimize the fluff, I don't care.

use and expand on as many of the keywords in the posting as possible. Don't lie, but damn it, stretch the truth to the max, but have the facts/knowledge to back it.

and really, I don't give two shits that you are in yoga and play pick up basketball twice a week, but I'm impressed if you say you are a volunteer coach or involved in the community somehow.

[hepcat]

I'm tailoring up my resume right now...my first page looks great but I'm working on a second. I'm finding some favorable press on my college and high school, including links and a description of the schools. Is that appropriate and what else could I include, if I'm going ahead with a second page?

[Kettle]

second pages are for the less important stuff. coming out of school all I had on it was references. now it has an abbreviated education section on it that contains certifications i've earned on the job, as well as an other skills section. I'm approaching six and a half years experience though, and have quite a bit that I detail on the first page. When I customize this base res for a specific job, some of that is removed.

[Chimera]

I'm tailoring up my resume right now...my first page looks great but I'm working on a second. I'm finding some favorable press on my college and high school, including links and a description of the schools. Is that appropriate and what else could I include, if I'm going ahead with a second page?

I'd say no, it isn't appropriate.

If it is pertinent to the job and directly reflects the job posting, then use it. Otherwise, no.

[CLTPanther]

Yea, that's just you

[hepcat]

As someone who hires people I couldn't give a rats ass where you went to school unless that's the most recent thing on your resume.

I neither care nor believe what you put down for a GPA it tells me nothing about whether or not you can show up on time or can get along with your coworkers.

I want to see work. Hell for my money I would rather see your job at 7-11 than your school stuff.

But hey that's just me....

Since I just graduated in December, would you say it's a good or bad thing that I put info on my school? I also worked through school so there is info there.

[Happy Panther]

I've reviewed hundreds of resumes. here is my advice.

First of all don't spin more than a little. Nothing would piss we off more when someone would say "developed internal metrics to improve interdepartmental synergies" when all they did was create a budget report. I would tear people up for that crap.

On the other hand brainstorm anything you have ever done and don't be afraid to include it if it is pertinent. People forget stuff all the time.

Until you get your first job keep some school details on there. If you are just out of college/grad school I am interested in your GPA, classes and extracurriculars. and definitely jobs. Fraternity is cool too.

Keep it one page until you have 10 years experience

Mainly put yourself in the shoes of your potential boss and create a resume that will put facts and information in his/head.

Don't use cute graphics, unusual fonts or colors. Keep it professional and simple.

No need to put much personal stuff, just one or two hobbies. and not boring crap like cooking and hiking unless you are a badass cook or hiker.

Don't try to be funny

[Happy Panther]

As someone who hires people I couldn't give a rats ass where you went to school unless that's the most recent thing on your resume.

I neither care nor believe what you put down for a GPA it tells me nothing about whether or not you can show up on time or can get along with your coworkers.

I want to see work. Hell for my money I would rather see your job at 7-11 than your school stuff.

But hey that's just me....

This is brutal advice.

[Mvp2014]

As someone who hires people I couldn't give a rats ass where you went to school unless that's the most recent thing on your resume.

I neither care nor believe what you put down for a GPA it tells me nothing about whether or not you can show up on time or can get along with your coworkers.

I want to see work. Hell for my money I would rather see your job at 7-11 than your school stuff.

But hey that's just me....

right on

[The Saltman]

Good thread, would read again.

No, seriously.

[Chimera]

This is what I think of resumes...

In this slow job market, a job opening is going to get hundreds or thousands of resumes. Nobody is going through each of those resumes. That is why so many employers now use scannable resumes. They use a keyword search. The keywords are based on the job announcement. That is the reason why I continue to stress using language from the job announcement.

I stress this more than anything: the first two steps of the resume to job process involve getting your resume out of the way. Nobody wants to read the fluff. Out of the hundreds of resumes they receive, they will want to see what, 3-8 people for an interview?

They get the top 15 or so resumes based on the keyword search. After that, they may conduct an impromptu telephone interview. I've seen it done before. This is still the "throw away the trash" phase, so be ready at any time.

After you've made it through the first several steps, that is when you need to worry about the details.

Save all the details about your schools for the interview. Spin your resume as much as you can... but make sure you can back it up at the interview.