Your Resume:  Humans vs. Computers

When I give webinars on writing resumes, one of the topics I cover is how to make your resume visually appealing.  I often get this question:

Why would I want to spend so much time and money making my resume pretty if it’s just going to confuse the computers?

My answer is that yes, the computers are important, and that you ALSO need to have a resume that’s designed to be read by human beings.  We all know that you are most likely to find your job through networking or the “hidden job market.” When you send materials to someone in your network or to a decision-maker in the hidden job market, you want to include a professional-looking resume.  And when it’s time for an interview, it’s also advisable to have a nicely formatted resume to hand across the table.

For those of you who are hoping to get those interviews by applying online, the question still remains: How can I write a resume that makes it past the computers?  In other words:  How can I raise my odds above 2%?

Keep reading.

There are two issues with submitting online resumes.  One is the format of the resume; the second is the keywords it contains.

Formatting for Robots:

ATS (Applicant Tracking System) software is not the smartest software in the world.  It gets confused by bullets, non-traditional headings, graphs, tables, and text boxes.  So you need to have a version of your resume that is stripped down and organized just for the computers. We call this your “text-based” resume.

Your text-based resume should follow these guidelines:

1. Create it in (or copy it into) a text editor such as Notepad, SimpleText or TextEdit.
2. Use easily understandable headings like “Summary of Qualifications,” “Professional Experience” and “Education.”
3. Don’t get fancy or creative with your headings, and don’t put two categories together in one section.  Do NOT, for instance, use the heading “Education & Certifications” or “Skills & Interests.”
4. Use dashes or asterisks instead of bullets.
5. List your address in standard “tombstone” style, one line on top of the next.
6. Put spaces between sections.

Here’s what your text-based resume might look like (beautiful, isn’t it?):

Robots Beat Robots

Now, you’ve done your best to create a resume the computers will understand.  But how will you know if it really worked?

The best way to find out what a computer understands and what it doesn’t is to use a computer program that tells you.  Thankfully, there is a service where you can put your resume into a box on your computer screen, and the program will tell you what information is recognized and not recognized by the ATS software.

Here’s where you can find out about it:

How will you know what keywords to use in your resume?

Just because the computers can read your resume doesn’t mean you will have the right keywords to make it past their screening systems. Perhaps counter-intuitively, the keywords that truly make a difference with computer scanners are the ones you have on your resume that not everyone else includes.  Preptel’s service (called “Resumeter™”) will tell you what those unique words are so that you can add them to your resume.  All you have to do is paste a job description onto the page, and you will get a list of the keywords you MUST include in your resume for it to be viable.

Example:  One of my clients was applying for a job with INTUIT.  When I put his resume and job description into the Resumeter™, the resume was rated as “Weak.” I discovered that he needed to have certain keywords in his resume, including the phrase “QuickBooks, Quicken.”  We added a line about how eager he was to market QuickBooks, Quicken and other INTUIT software through compelling graphic design.  His Resumeter™ grade changed from “Weak” to “Strong.”

Without using Preptel, this client wouldn’t have stood a chance.  As you know, the online job search market is highly competitive and statistics are not encouraging.  You can change your odds of making it past the ATS systems with just a few clicks and adjustments.

Please do yourself a favor and try out this service, Preptel’s Resumeter™, for 7 days for free.  It is normally $25/month after that but with the link provided here it is only $19.99/month.

I have no doubt that you have great experience that qualifies you for many positions. If the computer can’t understand and rank it properly, it won’t help you a bit. Please check out Preptel and let me know what difference it makes!

Everyone is saying to post your resume to Google…  so how do you do it?

I received this question from one of my subscribers, and will answer it soon.  But first, are you an online job seeker?  If so, I have some important recommendations for you.  Seriously…  keep reading!

Here are my top 4 recommendations:

1. Have a 100% complete profile on LinkedIn.  If you need help, contact The Essay Expert.
2. Fill out all the information on your Facebook profile completely, and post only professionally appropriate photos.
3. Maintain a Twitter account with your first and last name as your Twitter handle (eg. @BrendaBernstein).
4. Post your resume on line and link to it from all the above accounts.

Who recommends this four-pronged strategy? At least one highly successful recruiter, Shally Steckerl of Arbita, Inc. EVP, who presented to a group of career professionals at the Career Directors International annual conference in Savannah, Georgia on October 21, 2011. I was there and I was convinced.

Issues to Consider When Posting an Online Resume

Before posting your resume on line, consider privacy issues. You probably do not want to post your home address details to the entire world. City and state will suffice. You may or may want to make your phone number available to the public. (In my opinion, a public phone number is a relatively low risk and will allow recruiters to contact you.)

For an email address, consider creating a designated email for your job search and use that one on your resume. You will then cut down on any spam and you’ll be able to keep all your job-search related emails in one place, with a low risk of having them get lost amongst other messages.

How do you post your resume on line?  The answer is coming very soon…

There are many ways, and I will suggest just a few here:

1. Post it on Google docs. Here’s an article from SimplyBlog that does a great job of explaining how to do that! How to Post Your Resume with Google Docs You might need to change your Google Docs view to the old version of Google Docs if you can’t figure out some of these instructions, or you might be able to translate the instructions to the new version. I went ahead and published my resume to Google Docs. See Brenda Bernstein’s Resume!
2. Post it on indeed.com. Indeed is a highly recommended job posting site, free to both you and employers who post jobs there. If you post your resume, you will be given a URL for your resume page. The cool thing about indeed.com is that you will get a resume Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS’s) can read! You can then save it as a pdf and use it to apply to other jobs that use ATS software.
3. Create a website. The Essay Expert can help you with this. You can have a page with your resume and link to it from your other social media profiles.  BTW, everyone reading this article, if you haven’t done so already, should go ahead and purchase the domain name for your first and last name or some version of it!  Be ready with the domain so when you want to create your website you can do it.
4. Attach it to your LinkedIn profile.  First download the application Box.net and then you will be able to upload your resume.  The resume will then be available to people who visit your LinkedIn profile.

Following the above recommendations will set you up to be successful with your online job search.  Stay tuned for more tips and tricks for online job searches coming up in the next few weeks!

Were these tips helpful?  What other questions do you have?  Please comment below!

Ever get a document back from an editor that has tons of red or blue lines (maybe even some green ones), and have no idea how to get rid of them all, or view the document the way it’s supposed to look?  This article is for you!

[Thanks to Larry Sochrin, MBA Admissions Consultant at The Essay Expert, for contributing instructions for Mac users.]

Don't Submit a Document that Looks Like This!

Why I Love Track Changes

Microsoft Word has a very useful feature called “Track Changes” that keeps track of changes that an editor makes to a document, and allows subsequent readers to see what changes were made.  When the “Track Changes” feature is turned on, anyone who opens the document can see every change made to the original document, whether to fonts, page formats, margins, and text.

Track Changes also has a “Comments” feature that allows explanations and suggestions to be entered in the margins of your document.

The value of Track Changes to me as an editor is that my clients can see what I’ve changed, and I can see the changes they make.  I do not then have to go through their resume word by word to see what alterations have occurred.  It’s also easy to accept or reject changes, without having to change individual fonts or colors.  Gone are the days of manually inserting a strikethrough to indicate a deletion!

The Dangers of Track Changes

Track Changes can be troublesome too. You don’t want to send a document with lots of red lines and bubbles all over it to an employer or a school (many people have embarrassing stories of doing this)! The recipient then sees all the suggestions, changes, and possibly the original language and mistakes that needed changing.

As part of proofreading and preparing the final draft of a resume, cover letter, or essay, take the following steps to ensure that you do not inadvertently send a marked up copy to an employer:

Directions for MS Word 2007/2010

Review Tab

1)  Check to see if there are any comments or tracked changes in the document:

• Go to the “Review” tab and click on the window that says “Final Showing Markup.”  Go to the “Show Markup” menu and make sure there are check marks in all the boxes (otherwise you might not see the comments or formatting changes when you look at “Final Showing Markup”)
• NOTE:  If the window says “Final” and you do not see any redlines, this does not mean they are gone!  Make sure you are viewing the markups before determining that your document is clean.

2)  If you do not see any changes or comments and you do not make any other changes to the document, you’re good to go.

3)  However, if you do see comments and tracked changes, you can do one of two things:

1. Change “Final: Show Markup” to “Final” and save the final document as a PDF. This solution works if the place you’re submitting your resume accepts .pdf files.
2. Accept all the tracked changes and delete all edits and comments (unless you only want to accept some of them, in which case see step 4).  NOTE:  You need to delete edits SEPARATELY from comments!

• Under the “Review” tab, go to “Accept” icon and accept all changes.

• Under the “Review” tab, go to the icon that says “Delete” (next to the “New Comment” icon, and click “Delete All Comments in Document.”

4)  If you want to accept some changes and delete others, you can accept or reject changes and comments one at a time by right clicking on them individually. You will get a drop-down menu with choices of what to do.

5)  Repeat Step 1.

Directions for MS Word 2008 for Mac

1)  Check to see if there are any comments or tracked changes in the document:

Go to the “View” menu and Select “Toolbars,” and within it select “Reviewing.”  Go to the “Show” drop-down menu and make sure there are check marks next to the first three items shown  (otherwise you might not see the comments or formatting changes when you look at “Final Showing Markup.”)

2)  If you do not see any changes or comments and you do not make any other changes to the document, you’re good to go.

3)  However, if you do see comments and tracked changes, you can do one of two things:

1. Change “Final: Show Markup” to “Final” and save the final document as a PDF. This solution works if the place you’re submitting your resume accepts .pdf files.

2. Accept all the tracked changes and delete all edits and comments (unless you only want to accept some of them, in which case see step 4).  NOTE:  You need to delete edits SEPARATELY from comments!

Go to the drop-down menu with the green checkmark, and select “Accept All Changes in Document.”

Go to the drop-down menu with the red X, and select “Delete All Comments in Document.”

4)  If you want to accept some changes and delete others, you can accept or reject changes and comments one at a time by clicking on the icons with the left arrow or right arrow to move to the previous or next change and then click on the drop-down menus with the green checkmark or red X to  accept or reject each individually.

5)  Repeat Step 1.

Directions for MS Word 2003

1)  Check to see if there are any comments or tracked changes in the document.

• Go to the “View” Menu and click on the “Markup” option. This feature can be switched on or off.  On the Reviewing toolbar, click Show, and then make sure that a check mark appears next to each of the following items. If a check mark does not appear next to an item, click the item to select it.

1. Comments
2. Ink Annotations (Word 2003 only)
3. Insertions and Deletions
4. Formatting
5. Reviewers (Point to Reviewers and make sure that All Reviewers is selected.)

• When on, you will see all the comments and changes. When off, you will see the document in its final form. Note:  the default setting may be set to off. Therefore, never assume your final Word document does not contain any hidden comments or changes!!!

2)  Get rid of all the redlines and comments (you must delete edits and comments separately).  Do this on one of two ways:

1. Turn off the View Markup option and convert the final form of the document into a PDF.  You can use a program such as Primo PDF (http://www.primopdf.com/).
2. In the View menu, point to Toolbars, and then click Reviewing.

• On the Reviewing toolbar, click Next to advance from one revision or comment to the next. Click Accept Change or Reject Change/Delete Comment for each revision or comment. Repeat until all the revisions in the document have been accepted or rejected and all the comments have been deleted.

OR

• To accept all the changes, click the arrow next to Accept Change, and then click Accept All Changes in Document. If you know that you want to reject all the changes, click the arrow next to Reject Change/Delete Comment, and then click Reject All Changes in Document.

• THEN, to remove ALL comments, click the arrow next to Reject Change/Delete Comment, and then click Delete All Comments in Document.

• If you want to accept SOME changes and delete others, you can accept or reject changes and comments one at a time by right clicking on them individually. You will get a drop-down menu with choices of what to do.

3)  Repeat Step 1.

Important notes for all versions of Word:

1. If you accept all changes before reviewing the document and there is a comment in the middle of your document like “(dates?)” then that change will be accepted and become a part of your document! Make sure you respond to all questions and make any revisions needed inside your document before accepting all changes.
2. *ALWAYS* proofread your final document at least 3 times!  As much as The Essay Expert and other editors attempt to ensure that your documents are perfect, final approval is ultimately your responsibility.
3. If you don’t want all your future edits to show up as marked on your document, turn Track Changes off by clicking on it.  It’s a toggled function.  Click it on, click it off.
4. Finally, when you receive an edited document, whenever possible accept or reject the changes before making your own edits!  This practice will make it much easier to look at the NEW edits you have made to the document.

Have Track Changes questions?  Embarrassing Track Changes stories?  Please share in the Comments below!

Many people on LinkedIn make the mistake of copying their resume summary statements into their LinkedIn Summary section.  There are three major problems with this strategy:

Problem #1: Trite Phrases

Often your resume summary is laden with overused phrases like “Results-oriented team player with a proven track record…” or “Dynamic, motivated self-starter with extensive experience…”

If your resume summary looks anything like the above examples, please rewrite it and hire a professional resume writer if necessary!  This type of language belongs neither on your resume nor in your LinkedIn profile.

Problem #2: LinkedIn Summary Real Estate

You have 2000 characters at your disposal for a LinkedIn Summary, vs. three to four lines maximum for your resume summary.  Why would you choose not to use all that real estate to say something – really say something – about yourself?

Problem #3: Keywords

Your LinkedIn Summary is an essential place for you to insert keywords if you want to be found on LinkedIn.  By inserting a 3-line summary, you lose out on your chance to build keywords into your profile.

Resume Summary Example – For Resumes Only

Here’s an example of a very strong resume summary statement that does NOT belong in a LinkedIn Summary (note I DO like this statement as a resume summary statement – in fact I wrote it!):

LeeAnn Dance — Producer  – Writer — Editor

Award-winning television producer and groundbreaking investigative reporter —  experience covering issues ranging from pre-election to international news, with special emphasis on East Africa.  Creator and writer of highly acclaimed documentaries and promotional videos for non-profit organizations. Eight years as producer for CNN.

LinkedIn Summary Example – Great Model!

What would a LinkedIn Summary look like for LeaAnn?  Here is the statement we wrote for her:

• Award-winning investigative and documentary television producer

Video production and broadcast journalism have been my passions for over 20 years, ever since receiving my MS in Journalism from Columbia University. I have produced everything from groundbreaking news stories for CNN to promotional videos for non-profit organizations, and I am currently hosting a blog radio show for parents relaunching their careers.

My journalism background gave me the ability to distill a large amount of material and hone in on what’s true and important. I can pinpoint the real message that needs to be conveyed, creating a human story that moves and inspires an audience.

• Promotional Videos for Non-Profit Organizations

As a freelance video producer, I specialize in creating high caliber, professional and creative promotional videos for non-profit and educational organizations. I understand the budgetary constraints of non-profit organizations and will work within a range of budgets and scope of work.

Funders respond to high quality video presentations that effectively convey your organization’s message. I will take your message, target it, and transform it into a concise and meaningful array of pictures, words, and sounds. You will then have the power of an impactful video to present your organization’s activities at fundraising events and through the web.

• Back in Force

In addition to being a video producer, I was a stay-at-home mom for 13 years, and I am committed to providing resources to women who are returning to the workforce. The Back in Force blog chronicles my journey and shares information about the return-to-work process.

Blog topics include emotional roadblocks to relaunching, preparing your resume, updating your wardrobe, and preparing your family for re-entry.

Check out my weekly blog talk radio show on relaunching your career, with guests including authors, career counselors, therapists, and employers. (www.blogtalkradio.com/backinforce)

What works about this LinkedIn Summary Example?

1. Conveys LeeAnn’s story and her passion (the resume summary does not).
2. Contains multiple keywords that will get LeeAnn found on LinkedIn.
3. Covers the different facets of what LeeAnn has to offer.
4. Draws the eye to sub-headings so that readers can easily see what LeeAnn is about.  The text is broken into bite-sized pieces, not so blocky that no one will read it.
5. Has a call to action.

Note that the resume summary does NONE of these five things, even though it is perfectly great as a resume summary.

Can you write a LinkedIn Summary Statement for yourself that accomplishes at least four out of the five functions listed above?  If yes, great — go for it!  If you need help, consider contacting The Essay Expert for a free 15- minute consultation.  We will be happy to write you a LinkedIn Summary that will help you get found on LinkedIn and have the impact you want on the people who read your profile.

I was interviewed about resumes and LinkedIn topics on March 22, 2011 by LeeAnn Dance. Her project, Back In Force Productions, is a blog and radio show for stay-at-home parents reentering the workforce.

For your listening pleasure!

The interview is full of great tips not just for “relaunchers” but also for any job seeker. Find out about how long your resume should be; whether to include dates; and what the current trends are for the Objective statement (or not). And learn some absolute musts for your LinkedIn profile.

This is my first experience embedding a BTR player into a blog post. Check it out!

What’s the “right” way to write a resume or conduct a job search?

People ask me questions all the time about how many pages a resume should be; whether to include an Objective statement; what the value is of a web portfolio; etc. The fact is, there is no clear cut answer to many of these questions, and the answers change year by year, even day by day. They certainly can change depending on who you are, what industry you’re in, and what your experience level is.

Ask the Experts

Given that resume writing and job search strategies are constantly changing, I feel fortunate that there is a coalition of experts who spend a lot of time thinking about these issues, and even more fortunate that they share their wisdom each year.

On December 30, 2010, a consortium of 156 career experts from the U.S., Canada and the U.K. met to brainstorm about career and employment issues. They published their findings on March 14, 2011 in Findings of 2010 Global Career Brainstorming Day: Trends for the Now, the New & the Next in Careers. As my readers, you are privy to the valuable findings of this group of Career Thought Leaders.

The latest trends in resume writing and job search strategies include:

1. Your Google results are the new resume. Build a strong online presence so you look good when those results come up. And monitor your Google results routinely in case of anything fishy!
2. Keep it short. Three-page resumes are discouraged, regardless of your experience level. Use “extras” or addenda if necessary for publications, technology qualifications, consulting experience, etc.
3. Culture fit is more important than your skill set. Companies hire people, not resumes.
4. Web portfolios are not as useful as you might think in most industries.
5. Brand yourself! Keep your brand consistent throughout your job search documents.
6. DO use a Core Competencies or Key Strengths section.
7. DO put a testimonial or two on your resume.
8. DO use tasteful graphic touches, including borders, text boxes or graphs when appropriate.
9. Show the company what YOU can do for THEM. Write resume bullets that clearly show the problem you solved and how you solved it.
10. If possible, write your intended job title instead of “Summary of Qualifications” above your summary. This structure makes your objective clear, and allows you to write a summary of your offerings instead of an objective.
11. DO send paper resumes! They will make you stand out from the crowd.
12. DO send a cover letter. Do not expect that it will be read. However, in some cases it is read first, so assume it will be read.
13. E-cover letters (in the body of an email) can be short and sweet.
14. Have a bio available in addition to a resume as an alternative introduction to a resume.
15. Format your resume in Microsoft Word .doc format. Have a plain text resume available as well.
16. Use Twitres (www.twitres.com) to display your resume on Twitter. Use Box.net to display your resume on LinkedIn (Box.net is my personal tip)
17. Networking is still the absolute best way to get a job. Job boards just are not an effective tool for job search, although you should use them as part of your strategy. Only 13.2% of external hires in Fortune 500 companies came from job boards, whereas 26.7% came from referrals and 22.3% came from employer career sites. Overall, somewhere between 65-95% of all new hires come as a result of networking. That’s a pretty staggering statistic!
18. Social networking an essential job search strategy, and LinkedIn tops the chart. 80% of recruiters use social media to recruit candidates. You absolutely MUST have a strong presence on LinkedIn, “the #1 online networking platform for job seekers” according to the report.
19. Clear skeletons out of your closet if you can. With so many candidates vying for each open position, any red flags mean your application is put in the “no”pile. Employers will go back 20-30 years to make sure your record is clean.
20. Become savvy with virtual technology. You might be required to attend a virtual interview, or you might choose to create a web-based resume or portfolio to get some extra notice. Need help to manage it all? Many job seekers are hiring virtual assistants just to keep up with it all!

If you want to read more detail about these top 20 points, please go to the full article, Findings of 2010 Global Career Brainstorming Day: Trends for the Now, the New & the Next in Careers.

Were you surprised by any of the findings? What did you learn? Please share in the comments below.

This article was originally posted at New Grad Life.

A common misconception about resumes is that they are meant to describe what you did in your past jobs. In actuality, the most effective resumes are written from a FUTURE perspective. In other words, your resume will work if you think about what a potential employer would want to know about how you WILL perform. What experience do you have that will make you a contribution to their firm or organization?

Photo by Ed Brambley, CC-BY-SA 2.0

If you are writing a resume from the perspective of the FUTURE, here’s what will happen:

1. Measurable Results. You will write detailed bullets that demonstrate your capability to achieve measurable results. That means: include numbers as often as possible. Don’t just say you tutored students; say how many and by how much their grades improved. Don’t say you were successful; tell us exactly what results you achieved. Don’t just say “increased;” tell us by what percentage. Your readers will imply that you can produce similar results for them.

2. Finding Relevance. You will think about the purpose and priority of each item on your resume. Does it matter that you worked as a bartender if you are now applying for marketing positions? Maybe, if you you were a student working 20 hours/week and still maintained a 3.8 GPA, or if you were the highest-tipped bartender at the establishment. Additionally, bartending demonstrates your ability to multitask and interact with a wide variety of people. But it does not need to take up three lines on your resume, just because it’s what you did; you can make it a short bullet under your “Education” section to show you were doing it while in school full time.

3. Deleting Irrelevant Items. You will delete anything that is irrelevant or of minimal importance to your future. These things include stuff you did in high school. High school activities are no longer relevant – you had 4 years of college to become who you are now, and if you did less in college than you did in high school, looking into the future, the logical conclusion is that you will do less and less as time goes on.

Let us help you look your best on your resume and in all your writing. The Essay Expert provides writing help with LinkedIn profiles, resumes, cover letters, and other writing projects.

The Essay Expert is pleased to announce that we are now featured as a Career Doctor on ilostmyjob.com.  Brenda Bernstein’s e-book, LinkedIn Power Tune-Up, is also featured today in the “What’s New” column of the site.  Check it out today and let us know what you think!

Is your Education section taking up too much space on your resume?  Are you finding it hard to fit in all the information you think is important?

Here are some of your resume Education section questions answered – maybe even questions you didn’t know you had!  These tips will help you pack in lots of information without taking up half the space on your resume.

1. Should the Education section come first or last?

If you are a new graduate from college or graduate school, or if you are applying to graduate school, your Education section genrally goes FIRST on your resume (after your header). Why? Because it’s what you’ve done most recently, and/or it is most relevant. (If you are unsure as to what is most relevant in your particular situation, ask an expert for advice.)

If you have been in the working world for 2 years or more, your Experience section will more likely come first, and Education might be last or close to last on your resume.

2.     What should the basic format be?

1. List your educational institutions in reverse chronological order, just as you do with your employment history.
2. The most important part of each school section is the name of the school you attended. Put it in bold and/or Small Caps, followed by the city and state. Use the same format you use for your employers.
3. Next put the degree you received. If you are anticipating a degree, write “Candidate for B.A,” “B.S. expected,” or “M.A. anticipated.” Fill in the appropriate degree of course.

Here’s an example (click image for full size):

You might like a centered format if your Education section is toward the end of the resume.  For example (click image for full size): 

3. Do I need a separate line for my GPA and for each of my honors?

If you need to save space, there is no need to put your GPA and honors all on separate lines. You can combine these onto one line, and you can even put them on the same line as your major. How you combine things will depend on how much room you have on other lines. Here are some possibilities:

1. BA in Political Science, cum laude, 2006 (GPA: 3.41)
2. Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, concentration in Psychology, May 2005
   Major GPA: 3.73; Cumulative GPA: 3.683

4. How should I list Honors and Activities?

You do not need an entirely separate section for either Honors or Activities. Only create these separate sections if you need to fill space! Instead, put them under the appropriate school.

Do you have a lot of honors and/or activities? If you need space, you can group them together. For instance, you can have a bullet that says “Honors:” and name your honors, separated by semicolons. Then have a bullet that says “Activities:” and list your activities, separated by semicolons. Not sure how to handle the dates of all these things? Try putting them in parentheses after the honor or activity, and before the semicolon.

Examples:

1. Honors: Undergraduate Honors Thesis Research Grant (Honors Program award); Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society; Golden Key International Honour Society
2. Honors: Dean’s List (2006-2009); Baylor University Alumni Scholarship (2005-2009); Greek Women’s Leadership Award (2009); Midwest Conference Academic All Conference Team (2008 and 2009)
3. Activities: Latino/a Student Association, Secretary (2006-2007), Delegate/Community Service Committee (2005-2007); Mexican Student Organization, Social Chair (2005-2006); South American Student Association, Member (2004-2007)
4. Activities: Varsity Women’s Basketball Team, Four Year Letter Winner; Pi Beta Phi Fraternity, Board Director (2006-2007) and Member (2004-2007); University Chapel Choir, Member (2004-2007)

5. Do I need a separate section for Study Abroad?

No! Study abroad is part of your undergraduate education. It can be a bullet, or if you want to emphasize it because of your international interest or language ability, you can bold it. Do not put a space between your undergraduate degree section and the study abroad section, unless you need to fill space.

Example of bullet format:

[end of undergraduate section here]
•      Junior-year semester at University of East Anglia, Norwich, England (1993)

Example of bolded section under undergraduate section:

[end of undergraduate section here]
Reid Hall, Columbia University, Paris, France
Summer 2003 Study Abroad (Coursework: 19th Century French Painting, French Language)

6. How long should the Education section be?

Unless you’ve earned five different degrees from five different schools already, your education section generally should take up a maximum of a third of a page. This means it’s important to get Experience to put on your resume and not rely on your Education to get you a job!
Implementing these 6 suggestions will give you a great start on the Education section of your resume, making it both efficient and effective.

Did these tips help you with your resume?  Please comment below.

True or false?

“A resume is supposed to make you look good.”

Answer:  FALSE

Well, I’ll concede, it’s only partially false.  Although you want your resume to look good and to portray your job history and accomplishments in a clear and impressive manner, it’s important not to overdo your attempts to impress your reader.

The misconception that a resume is supposed to make you look good can lead to mischaracterization of job duties, inflation of accomplishments, and flowery, high-falutin language.  None of those things belong on a resume!  Stick to the truth instead.

Example #1:  A client who was applying for development jobs wrote in a bullet that she “[a]ssisted in organizing” a conference.  Since I do not like to see the word “assist” on a resume (see Words to Delete from Your Resume), I asked her what exactly she did to assist.  It turns out she set up tables and provided registration assistance on the day of the conference, but had no involvement in the planning or organization of the event.  We changed the verb in her bullet to “Staffed” – a much more accurate description of what this applicant did.

Example #2:  A client stated that she “[p]articipated in” company meetings.  In actuality, she had organized materials for the meetings and attended them.  We made her language more specific, thus accurately reflecting her activities.

Why not stretch the truth just a little?

First of all, I never condone lying about anything and always support acting with integrity.  Additionally, if your resume gets you an interview, you could be asked questions about absolutely anything you’ve written.  You don’t want to get caught in even the tiniest lie.

I’m glad I asked my clients questions about their bullets before an interviewer did.  The first client was applying to jobs where she could easily be called upon to organize a conference; if she submitted a resume that overstated her experience in conference organization, it could lead to an embarrassing and deal-killing interview moment.  Similarly, the second client was applying to jobs that entailed numerous meetings, and familiarity with meeting protocol was required.  It was dangerous for him as well to represent his experience inaccurately.

When you are creating resume bullet points, and even when you are writing your Summary of Qualifications, make sure to report your activities, qualifications and accomplishments accurately.  Without using impressive or flowery language, you can succeed in writing a resume that makes you look good by clearly and truthfully conveying your accomplishments.

As in so many other things, honesty on your resume is the best policy.  Think of the most impressive thing you can truthfully report and let it speak for itself.  Follow this advice and you’ll look good without even trying.

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