Resumes Are For Getting The Interview...Not the Job!

Hey All! So, as promised, I thought we would talk about resumes, cover letters and interview techniques this week. Mainly due to the fact that is what I am studying in my Business Writing class and because (if you are like me) some of us are looking for a job, new job or just something more flexible.

My favorite "new" ideas about writing resumes are below:

Quadrant Test
There are so many different ways to write a resume. Has anyone ever heard of the "Quadrant Test" of a resume? Basically you take your resume and draw a + through it. With this, you have 4 quadrants. Most of your important info should be in quadrant 1 (top left). I had actually never heard this before, but hey I study business, not the human psychology of "resume readers." Hiring managers are more likely to just scan the info in the top left corner of your resume and may never look at anything else (unless something catches their eye.)

If you want to learn more about the Quadrant Test, check out the Purdue OWL site to learn more.

Simple is Good
Don't make your resume too spiffy! No colored paper, no special crazy fonts, and keep it simple (but detailed).

Remember the movie "Legally Blonde" where she hands the professor a pink resume that smells good. Yeah, that doesn't work in the real world. So keep your resume white paper and fragrance free, please.

I'm sure we've all heard about keeping it 1 page. (Impossible for me!) But there may be areas of unnecessary congestion, where perhaps you are repeating yourself. Combine duties and use bullet points. Reader friendly is good.

I was able to take my 3 page resume and turn it into 2 pages just by cutting out gibberish I didn't realize was there. (By the way, read your resume every once in a while. I just add to mine, never looking at what has been there for 10+ years. MISTAKE!)

Love Some Stats!
This is from the Purdue Owl website on Resume Design.

• Employers will usually take, at most, only 35 seconds (if you're lucky) to look at this one-page representation of yourself before deciding whether to keep or discard it.

35 SECONDS! It took me an hour to fill out their application (especially online), write a special cover letter just for that company and put together a resume to impress. They are only going to look at it for 35 seconds!? Crazy, but unfortunately, that is the card we are dealt by employers today.

Especially with the poor economy and more competitive job market (due to lack of jobs), you must allow your resume to hopefully stand out enough to make the cut. You can do this, by having awesome job letters (cover letters).

We'll talk about those on the next blog.

If you need help with your resume, feel free to email it to me @ jardan_143@yahoo.com. I would be happy to proof read it and make suggestions.

Thanks for reading!