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Resumé Writing from Scratch -- How to Get Started
When you are sitting down to write your resumé, facing a blank page can be very scary. This is particularly true if you are still in shock after being laid off, especially if you have been employed there for years and no longer have an old resumé to work from. Alternatively, you may be applying for your first job ever. You may think that you don't have enough to say about yourself to fill a page, or you may be feeling overwhelmed by having to fit all your skills and experience onto a single sheet of paper. But you have to start somewhere, so it often helps to ask yourself a few questions about your experience and goals.
Before you even begin writing a resumé, define the exact reasons why you need one. While this may sound simple, the obvious answer of "I want/need a new job" is not sufficient. First, consider your career objective. Focus your goals on specifics of industry, position title, and future professional achievements. Once you are clear on the type of job you are seeking, it will be much easier to compose a resumé that highlights your expertise in the area of your interest.
Once you have your career objective developed, do some research on what resumé format is most commonly used by job seekers in your field. Search the Internet or check out the books in your local library to get a better idea of what well-written professional resumés look like. Once you find a format that best suits your field and your career objective, use the same layout to get started.
When listing your personal information at the top of your resumé, include your address, home and/or mobile phone number, and your email address. A helpful hint about listing your email address -- make sure that it contains your name, as this helps you appear more professional. Cutesy names like "smoochie" or "hounddog" can create the impression that you're not serious about your work and are apt to be a long-term source of problems. If you don't have a suitable e-mail account (for instance, the one your ISP provides has a name composed of random letters and numbers or you picked something you now regret as your user name), you can create a free e-mail account through Yahoo! Mail or Google's Gmail. Many job hunters find that creating an e-mail account solely for job-hunting helps them to avoid losing important e-mails from potential employers among spam and casual e-mails.
Before composing the section that deals with your work experience, list all your jobs on a separate sheet of paper, in chronological order, starting with the most recent job you had (or your current job, if you're still employed). List up to five previous jobs you have held, but make sure that your resumé does not exceed two pages in length. Make sure your jobs are listed sequentially; don't omit less impressive jobs in order to include a better job you held before it, since this will create gaps in your professional history that arouse questions about your stability. However, second jobs (part-time work held concurrently with a full-time job) can be omitted, particularly if they were taken solely to pay the bills and did nothing to advance your long-term career goals.
Once you have your most recent jobs settled upon, you need to write a brief summary of your responsibilities and achievements. Use action verbs in preference to nouns and adjectives in order to create the impression that you are a go-getter rather than someone who waits to be assigned work. For instance, instead of using "was manager of a division of 300 employees," write "managed division..."
When listing your education, start with your college attendance and move to your most recent accomplishments. Unless you are still in high school or newly graduated, do not include high school diplomas. If you never attended college, make sure to include any training or continuing-education courses, even if they were taken as training at your previous jobs. All training you've received will help showcase your qualifications. Make sure to list, in bullet point form, all of the skills that confirm that you are the best candidate for the job you are seeking.
Generally you will want to omit references from your resumé in order to protect your references from being worn down by casual inquiries, but let your potential employer know that you can provide them if necessary. You can do so in the cover letter or by including a line at the bottom of your resume that states, "Professional references available upon request." However, some experts argue that this is not necessary, since it is simply understood that a responsible job-seeker will have references lined up and available.
When you have your resumé put together, ask a friend or a family member to review it and give you feedback. Because we often see what we meant instead of what is actually on the page when rereading our own words, having someone else look it over can help identify and correct correct any typos or wording that is unclear or confusing. A well-written, error-free resumé will help you put your best foot forward and get the job that exceeds your career goals.
