Write A Resume That Gets Read

Resume writing can be a difficult (and ongoing task) during your career.

On this page, I've included many links at the bottom of the page to help you get a great resume.

The goal of your resume is to get an interview.

If you’ve already read the cover letter section, you’ll be asking “I thought that was what the cover letter was for?”

Your cover letter should distinguish you from other candidates and cause the hiring manager to keep reading about you!

Your resume is what you’ll use to describe your experience and skills and why they are relevant to the job you're applying for. Together with your cover letter, these are the selling tools that advertise you to the hiring manager in order to the get an interview.

If you get an interview, your tools did the job. If you aren’t getting interviews, then you aren’t doing a good enough job of selling yourself.

Either that, or you are applying for the wrong jobs.

As a recruiter, I’ve read thousands of resumes (no exaggeration). Many of them are good (and you always remember the good ones) and many are absolutely horrible (you tend to remember those too).

The goal is obviously to have yours stand out from the others for good reasons only. A hiring manager might receive hundreds (yes, hundreds) for a particular job.

Newspaper ads might yield 500 or more responses alone!

If you are 100% sure that you can write a resume that gets interviews, please keep reading.

Otherwise, if you want to quickly get the resume you need to get the job you want, check out this page to learn how to make a resume that works.

Things To Exclude From Your Resume

Don’t mention salary history or salary requirements. Money is another issue that comes out during the interview process. Discussing salary history or requirements here can rule you out of jobs unnecessarily or could help to prejudice your worth in the eyes of the hiring manager.

Important Resume Tip

You should tailor it for specific jobs as required but having it always updated ensures that most of your work is done when an opportunity arises that you weren’t expecting.

Parting Shots

• read like a list of achievements not like a job description.
• focus on the employer’s needs, not yours.
• include bullet points using Problem/Situation, Action, Result.
• describe specific results using numbers and/or percentages where possible.
• not be sent to companies for jobs you are not qualified for.
• be focused on content relevant to the job you're applying for.

Still Want More Resume Help?