Resume Basics: Writing a Resume

When writing a resume, it is imperative that job seekers bear in mind that the sole purpose of the resume is to secure interviews.  Understanding the resume’s mission, candidates must then confront the task of writing a resume that capitalizes on and balances their strengths and accomplishments against their career objectives.  This undertaking determines not only the content of a resume but also its style or format.

The two most widely accepted styles of resumes are the reverse chronological and the functional.  As its name suggests, the reverse chronological consists of a listing of jobs, with the most current position appearing first and the earliest position, last.  The content of a resume of this nature demands that applicants describe the responsibilities and achievements associated with each position.  When writing a resume in the functional format, the presentation is different.  Alternately known as a skills-based resume, the functional style presents the employer with general skill sets or areas of proficiency.  These are then followed, in most cases, by a listing of the candidates’ employment histories.  In both styles, the resume content should include education or professional training, associations with industry organizations, computer skills, and special abilities, such as fluency in another language.  Within these blog pages, Objective: Resumes provides further information concerning the comparative advantages of these two styles of resume writing.

After determining the optimum format for their particular circumstances, applicants would do well to understand the other key guidelines of writing a resume.  Chief among them are resume keywords.  In flavoring career synopses liberally and accurately with resume keywords, candidates will ensure that their resume content will appeal to potential employers asking, “Why should I hire this person?”  In addition to verbs denoting action and inferring a proactive work ethic (i.e.; “contributed,” “designed,” “coordinated”), resume keywords can appear as terms specific to the target industry, division, or department.  If appropriate, the content of a resume should contain both forms of resume keywords.

In writing a resume, candidates must also consider the length of the resume content.  The old “rule” of one page is not, in actuality, a rule; neither is it necessarily advantageous.  A candidate possessing a brief employment history, such as a recent college graduate or an individual with one or two years of practical experience, can benefit from writing a resume of a single page.  However, job seekers with more detailed employment histories, facing stiffer competition, need to highlight and market their skills to their fullest potential.  In cases such as these, resume writing should be expanded to two pages (or, in some cases, more).  Candidates whose backgrounds are highly technical or scientific in nature, or whose work has been published extensively, often have resumes of three pages or longer.

Appearance of the document is also important.  For ease of reading, the resume content should be presented in bullet form, not paragraphs.  Although a plethora of fonts exists for resume writing, job candidates should avoid elaborate or unusual fonts; resumes should reflect applicant’s acumen and professionalism.  Arial and Times Roman are attractive, “clean,” and widely used fonts.

Adhering to these principles will simplify the resume writing process and deliver an end product considerably more likely to open doors to interviews and ultimately, career advancement.