Resume Creation

I see you have had a very impressive career path since high school…

So you’re creating your first resume. Or maybe you’re starting over. Either way, you’ve got a very daunting task ahead of you. Kind of like making deserts for a wedding, it helps to do a little prep-work before you pre-heat the oven. Also, sticking with the desert analogy, you want to start at least an hour before the wedding… if you’re a masochist. Giving yourself more time before showtime is always preferred – after all, a blushing bride will quickly turn into bridezilla if her wedding deserts aren’t just so… in the same way that a hiring manager will be angry they wasted their time on your mess of an unfinished resume.

Let’s line up our ingredients.

Recipe for a Resume

Take an hour and create an electronic document for each of the items in the Resume Preparation list. Afterward, explore carefully each section on the Resume Sections page. Once you’ve got your source documents and your resume sections selected, start by laying out your resume into a Word document. I find that I use tables to get my name lined up, contact info in the right place, etc. I think it’s easier than tabs and margins, but if you can use those things, all the better. I like tables because I can resize fonts without spilling anything – I HATE spilling things.

If this is your first resume, do yourself a favor and show it to your friends, your local career center, and maybe your parents before you send it to any employer. The reason is simple: human beings have an amazing capacity to screw up simple stuff. You need someone to catch your typos and grammar errors before you apply. They say you can’t fix stupid – but you CAN fix stupid mistakes before they become permanent ones… or embarrassing ones that haunt you forever on the web (see picture on right).

Licking The Spoon

Once you have all of your basic sections and information put in, and your document has been spell-, grammar-, and idiot-checked, you can leave your resume as-is and send it that way, or you can spend a bit more time to format it. The way you should decide this is how you are going to send off your resume: via e-mail, in person, or via a web-form like Monster.com or another job search site. E-mail and in-person require a bit more flair, and adding some design to your resume makes sense. Monster.com generally strips out all the formatting before sending your resume on, and so do many others, so it might not be so important here.

Saving Your Recipes

There are a ton of ways to make cake – and so it might be important to save each iteration of your resume that you create. The marketing major in me likes to know what resumes have worked better than others: so I create two different versions of my resume and send them out to two different places (headhunters, for example). I then track which one gets more responses and use that one. It’s an easy way to tailor your resume for a specific job market – which is even more useful if you’re switching careers or have two degrees.

When in doubt, ask the chef… (or mom)

If you’ve read through all the material on the site in the topic you’re concerned about, and you still have questions – please don’t hesitate to e-mail me using the “Contact Me” button on the menu bar.