Resume Writing: Skills and Experiences - Essay Example

Your résumé must stand out or it might never get noticed in the first place. But it is important that these do not conflict with readability, because, as mentioned before, you need all of the information to fly off of the page. If the information is not incredibly accessible, no one will bother to give your résumé enough time to crack the code and find out what is going on with it – they’ll just move to the next one in the stack. The problem is that a common “do” that goes along with these two themes also in some ways conflicts with them.

One of the major issues is the keywords and power words. Résumé builders are often told to mirror the language that the job offer has to ensure that the recruiting officer does not have to work very hard to understand how perfectly you might fit the job. The problem is that résumé builders are also perpetually told not to let their résumé blend in or look “standard.” One can assume that everyone will be mirroring the language of the job description, and this might make one seem like part of the pack rather than a standout.

This is a hard situation to deal with. One of the interesting ideas that I had previously heard but did not see mirrored on any website was to include a “skills/things that people do not usually put on résumés” that can make you: things like winning your workplace’s football pool 10 years in a row or the fact that you are a marathon runner. This keeps the individuality there while still being allowed to mirror language. There is one definite résumé don’t: don’t make your résumé too long.

Some positions require highly detailed of skills and experiences – they will ask for a CV. This can be much longer than a résumé. A résumé MUST be kept to two pages. A résumé is *not* a record of your past, a personal statement or a form of self-expression (Rockport Institute). Keep it short, to the point, and focused on the employer and not yourself.