Your resume is your first opportunity to make a great impression on a prospective employer. It is a written record of your skills, accomplishments, work history, and education, plus your ticket to an interview! Therefore, it is critical that your resume is well written; clear and concise, but detailed.
In addition, these days almost all employers use electronic applicant tracking, so it is important that your resume is "scannable" - regardless of the way its submitted. It is best to submit your resume to Certified in MS Word as an e-mail attachment.
Six ways to make your resume "scannable":
- Your resume will be scanned and entered into our
computer database with software that reads each letter, number, and word separately.
- We can then access your file by searching for keywords
it contains.
- Use standard, clear, legible fonts such as Arial,
Helvetica, or Times New Roman.
- Use a font size of 10 to 14 points at standard, "default"
word processing settings.
- Avoid italics, underlining, or reversing type, as
these effects may cause the software to misread letters.
- Some bold or capital lettering is fine; just make sure the letters do not touch.
To ensure your resume comes up in searches, use of keywords that apply to your experience and skills is critical.
- Use "concrete" words and phrases to describe your
job titles and skills (typically nouns)
- Job title keyword examples: receptionist, biologist,
programmer, manager, and law librarian
- Skill keyword examples: MS Excel, electronic assembly,
Powerpoint, HTML, packing and shipping.
- Your Staffing Specialist will be glad to help you update your resume - just ask!
