What to and What NOT to include in your Resume

When starting off the job hunt, make sure that you have a resume that is full of information about you, but sweet and to the point. A resume is your first impression with a potential employer and you do not want it to be your last. Studies show that recruiters look at resumes for about 6 seconds before the move to the next. Included are many ways to make yourself standout to a potential company and what you should and should not include in your resume.

A standard resume includes:

• Personal information
• List your contact information that is relevant, always include your full name (first and last) on each page. Phone number with extensions that you can easily be reached at. Email, that you check frequently. Your address with the full zip code extensions.
• Objective
• Do you make it personal or professional? Professional seems to be the way to go, keep it short and sweet, but tell them what you will bring to them and why they need to have you on their staff, but do not repeat anything that you said in your cover letter or that can be found further down in your resume.
• Education
• This includes your high school that you graduated from and the year, college graduation and date, as well as any further education and dates. You do not need to include your GPA, unless you are just out of school, or have limited working experience. The experience that you have working eventually outweighs the numbers of your GPA.
• Work and Related Experiences
• Let them know what you have done, but instead of including a job description of what you did, tell them how you made a difference. An HR manager knows what a job entails, they do not care about that, instead they want to know what makes you special, and how you will impact their company. Also, include internships if you have limited working experience but as your job experience increases weed out the internships unless they are extremely important like you had one at the white house or google.
• Awards and Honors
• Its great if you have won a ton of awards, but only include the ones that show characteristics that would help the company, or would speak well of your character.
• Activities/ Hobbies
• Let them know what you do, sure with them your passions, but make sure that it is short and sweet.
• Skills
• Tailor this to the company that you are sending your resume to. Sell yourself by including skills that you know would be important and useful to the company.
• References (3-5)
• Have 3-5 references with their contact information.
• Other Considerations
• Whatever else you think that you should tell them that you were not able to cover above.

Keep your resume short, sweet and to the point. Well creating it to tell a story. Know the company that you are sending it to, research them using many different facets and include keywords, especially those if you find repeated throughout their different pages. Include your social media sites, but make sure that they are cleaned up. A company if they are interested in you will google you and pull you up through social media. You do not want to risk losing your dream job because your social sites are sub par. Use minimal color and changes of fonts, but do use bullet points to help tell your story and to direct them down the page. Most resumes are around one page and try to keep it around that length but it is not the end of the world if it is longer. Lastly, make sure you include a cover letter with your resume. Good luck on creating your resume and landing your dream jobs!

Signing out

~ Liz

Resources:

Blank, Avery. “6 Easy Ways To Shorten Your Resume And Make It Stand Out.” Forbes, Forbes, 18 Apr. 2017, 8:20Am, www.forbes.com/sites/averyblank/2017/04/18/6-easy-ways-to-shorten-your-resume-and-make-it-stand-out/#789bbd8d46a3.

Creative Commons License . “Key Elements of a Resume.” Washington.edu, University of Washington, 2017, www.washington.edu/doit/key-elements-resume.

Grant, Alexis. “9 Tips to Make Your Resume Stand Out.” Money.usnews, USnews and World Report, 22 Feb. 2011, 3:05pm, money.usnews.com/money/careers/slideshows/9-tips-to-make-your-resume-stand-out.
@joshsanburn, Josh Sanburn. “How to Make Your Resume Last Longer Than 6 Seconds.”Time, Time, 13 Apr. 2012, business.time.com/2012/04/13/how-to-make-your-resume-last-longer-than-6-seconds/.

Smith, Jacquelyn. “12 Ways To Make Your Resume Stand Out.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 2 Apr. 2014, www.businessinsider.com/12-ways-to-make-your-resume-stand-out-2014-4.

Stahl, Ashley. “What To Include On Your Resume (And What You Can Ditch).” Forbes, Forbes, 1 Feb. 2016, 1:28pm, www.forbes.com/sites/averyblank/2017/04/18/6-easy-ways-to-shorten-your-resume-and-make-it-stand-out/#789bbd8d46a3.