Resources - Candidates

Tips on Preparing an Effective Resume

by André Chitayat, Senior Associate, Techaid Inc.

Your resume is your brochure, describing the quality of work that you offer. Here are some helpful hints for creating a resume that is clear, concise and effective:

Content

  • Use a “Summary” of your skills and experience and not an “Objective” in describing yourself. An Objective often comes out as generic or, if specific, ends up limiting your chances with different job opportunities.

  • Give a brief description of each company in smaller italicized letters to clarify the type of company for which you worked.

  • Use active verbs to describe your responsibilities, not passive. Example: Use “Wired and assembled”, not “Wiring and assembly”.

  • Unless you are just graduating, present your experience first as that is what you are selling most and what distinguishes you among others that have the same educational qualifications.

  • If a job is unrelated to your career or your personal objectives, then diminish its importance by minimizing the details of the job.

  • Separate your degrees, diplomas and certificates from your professional training by “Education” and “Professional Training”. This distinguishes your base education and your courses taken during your career.

  • Make your resume technology friendly. Use keywords that employers are likely to use in a candidate search. Include details of applications or equipment used on the job, ex. AutoCad 14, Allen Bradley, etc. to assist resume search engines.

Presentation

  • Like an effective advertisement in a magazine or newspaper, eliminate all unnecessary words, lines, icons. Increase the white space to make what your qualifications stand out. Use bold font instead of underlining.

  • Always put into bold what you are selling, such as your job title, diploma etc. not company names or schools. You may also use a larger font for your job titles and diplomas.

  • If you need to save space, use wrap-around text instead of point format.

  • Always put the dates on the right side of the page as the Job Title takes precedence. If you want to bring attention to a particular date, like 2006 to present, then put it into bold.

  • Don’t worry about the length, as a technical resume can often stretch to 3, or 4, pages.

  • Put your coordinates and personal information at the end of the resume so that they don’t crowd the top of the first page. Reserve the top of the first page for your name and Summary.