Monday, September 7, 2015

Have Someone Review Your Resume

A few jobs back, I had to review a lot of resumes and came across one that was filled with typos, grammatical errors, and an odd claim that was something like, "I have great atention to detael".  This was a lot of fun to read and share with co-workers, but, no, we didn't interview this person.

Your resume is probably in better shape than this, but I still recommend passing it in front of a few people who can critique it and help make it better.  I suggest people who'll be honest and thoughtful.  On the one hand, you don't want a sadist who rips everything to shreds, but on the other hand you don't want someone who'll just say, "great stuff, no problems here!" when there are things that need improving.

You might want to think of a few former colleagues, or people in your field.  It can also help if it's someone who's reviewed resumes before, because they may be able to pinpoint things that don't matter in a resume ("I'm really glad that you were in the Junior Scientist club in high school, but to be honest..."), and suggest things that need more explanation.

In a recent resume review, one of my friends pointed out that I was using quotation marks around technical terms ("RESTful" web services), which was unnecessary and, I will admit, irritating.  That one piece of advice made my resume much more professional.

Good luck with the editing.  You'll get by with a little help from your friends.

1 comment:

  1. My favorite cut and paste error in a resume was someone who bragged "Was involved in the development of a hate crime." I'm sure the words "awareness day" or "prevention task force" had once tagged along behind, but by the time it got to me, it said "Was involved in the development of a hate crime." Which, sadly, doesn't even include an action verb.

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