By Mariam Begiashvili
May 26, 2020
To start with, I must admit that I quite enjoy working on my Resume and I’m always looking for tips to improve mine. I decided to share my knowledge of a couple of basic rules that are common in the US. Here is the list of some Do’s and Don’ts while creating your Resume:
Do’s:
- Make it one or two pages maximum. When Hiring managers review hundreds of Resumes for each position, they will not go through a lot of pages just because there is no time to do that. Every HR appreciates brevity and if they want to learn more, they will call you for an interview.
- Your job description should be action+outcome based. It’s recommended to include measurable quantitative and qualitative outcomes, e.g. how many people you have trained, how did you improve people’s lives through your actions. Example: “Led around 5 online volunteers and as a team we have developed a new website for the company”.
- Use the language found on your future employer’s website or within the Job Ad. Often employers do keyword searches, so you need to make sure that those keywords are found in your Resume.
- Include a brief profile summary on top of the Resume page, summarize your experience and skillset. This serves as a good introduction for the HR.
Don’ts:
- Remove your photo. Don’t get me wrong but you aren’t applying for the Top Model show. The way you look shouldn’t matter to your employer.
- Remove your age. To avoid bias, conscious or unconscious, it is advisable not to include your date of birth.
- Remove your marital status. Till this point I never understood why your personal information, whether you are married or not would go in your Resume. The marital status should not make any difference unless the job description specifically requires you to clarify.
- Do not make any grammar mistakes or typos. That leaves a very bad impression even if one word is misspelled.
Hope this helps a little!