Whether you are a new graduate or midway through your career, you need to keep your resume updated.
Below are some findings from a
study Palladian International did on job seekers' resumes. (The full survey
can be accessed here if you fill out a form first.) After each finding, I offer some tips from the NewsU Webinar ("
Getting Your First Job in Journalism," archive now available) that Joe Grimm and I hosted recently.
Survey: Generic objective statements serve no purpose and are a waste of space.
Tip: In our NewsU Webinar, Joe and I talked with job seekers about the ineffectiveness of beginning the resume with an objective. It is at best filler.
Instead, open the resume with a strong statement summarizing your strengths. By citing your strengths, you invite the recruiter to read on. Make each word in your resume count. Use strong verbs and concrete nouns to demonstrate your value to prospective employers.
Survey: One-third of the resumes used the wrong structure (chronological vs. functional when the other structure would have been more appropriate).
Tip: Know when to use a functional or a chronological resume. The resume should call attention to your value and give the employer a reason to interview you.
A chronological resume focuses on where you have worked and what you did; a functional resume emphasizes your strengths. If you are seeking a job in the same field, a chronological resume can work fine. But if you are seeking to change fields, a functional resume will better emphasize your value.
Survey: 27 percent of job seekers provided no accomplishments in their resumes and only 40 percent provided three or more for each job held.
Tip: Be sure to back up your experience with specific accomplishments. State those accomplishments with action verbs.
Survey: Most resumes surveyed had few mistakes.
Tip: Accuracy is critical to your resume. Don't allow any errors. Proof your resume and have a trusted outsider follow up.
Survey: Half of the resumes were missing the month or the year of the start or end of at least one position.
Tip: Remember that recruiters will look for gaps in employment. Don't hide the dates. Use a left column to list dates and categories such as strengths, experience and education. Use the right column to describe your experience and accomplishments.
Other tips: Be sure the content of your resume relates to the job you are seeking. Avoid including hobbies and unrelated courses that fail to support your argument for the job.
I wrote or read resumes for better than 40 years....
