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Excellent Resume Tips
The Park Avenue Group Banking Blog
I work the Professional Market of six figure + positions and I often see errors such as "Objectives" and "references provided upon request", all forms of personal data, etc, in addition to those highlighted in the following excellent article.
The 10 Worst Things to Put on Your Resume
Alternately, I recommend certain points be included on a resume that are often over-looked:
1. Company, Title (formal and functional), Location (City/State) and correct dates for EVERY company they have ever worked for unless less than 3 months in duration. Don't explain gaps on a resume; save that for an introductory email or better yet, an in-person conversation. “Professional Experience” should be chronological and not industry specific. Do include Military or other early career positions held.
2. Accomplishments. This is really what people care about and therefore a true differentiator. Skills speak to ability. Specific accomplishments speak to what you did with your skills. These are usually what your performance was being measured on, rankings or other noteworthy achievements. Be liberal with these bullet points but use fewer as you go back in time through your career.
3. Professional affiliations. Note, unless you are newly out of school, you want to focus on involvement or better yet, leadership roles you have played in professional or community groups. If your firm or organization sponsors a more personal Not for Profit, for example, the Boy or Girl Scouts and you are the Chairman for a specific project or fund raiser, that's great to highlight. Otherwise, leave off personal religious, school or athletic groups you participate(d) in.
4. Use strong positive words. You can still be factual while highlighting your passion. Be bold yet stay within the bounds of professionalism.
5. Education - If you attended college but did not graduate, do not include a year. If you have a degree, specifically state what type and then include the year. Omitting when you graduated from college is a red flag. Don't worry about age discrimination. Believe me, there are other ways for prospective employers to figure out how old you are. IF it matters, you don't want to work for them anyway.
Good luck. Let me know if I can help. Visit http://www.parkavegrp.com for more tips.
Stacy Ethun
Owner/Recruiter
Park Avenue Group
