In the first two installments of this blog series, we offered advice to job-seekers on everything from what to do with your personal information, all the way to resume layout suggestions. If you missed them, click here for part one and here for part two. During the final installment, we’re going to focus on five more aspects of the resume, that we’re sure most people miss.
First Person. This has been a long-running debate for some time now, but most hiring managers and/or HR professionals suggest that you include a personal tone to your resume. It is the norm that you don’t refer to yourself in the first person with pronouns such as “I” or “me.” Furthermore, we suggest that you stray from pronouns or your name to talk about yourself in the third person (i.e. Tucker is an accomplished digital marketing professional”; “He is seeking opportunities to…”).
Salary History. A resume should be dedicated to displaying your value to a potential employer by listing your professional experience and skills. Providing intimate details, such as the yearly/hourly salary for each previous employer is unnecessary. If an employer request your salary history, include this in a separate document.
Recent Experience. Only include recent and relatable experiences, please! If you’re applying for an IT position at the second largest consulting firm in the U.S., the hiring manager isn’t interested in reading about your work experience as a cashier at the local food spot. Focus on experience and/or skills that’ll be beneficial in the potential role you’re looking to fill. Always remember to reverse chronological order…most recent on down.
Stay Relevant. What you do in your personal spare time isn’t important now. Like the last tip, if it isn’t relevant to the potential role you’re looking to fill, reconsider it on your resume. If ever in doubt, ask yourself, if you were interviewing someone for this position, would you be interested to know that a prospective employee likes to golf on the weekends?
References Upon Request. Resume real estate is golden, don’t waste it on non-essential pieces. For example, your references. Listed a few contacts beneath your resume is a waste of your real estate. Most times, a hiring manager isn’t interested in your references until after you’ve made it to a face-to-face interview. In that case, they’ll request either a list of references or letters of recommendation, which we KNOW you’ll have on hand!
Please note, these tips are suggestions from hiring managers who excel in business recruitment efforts. Once you’ve made these changes to your resume, look through our Job Search page for available positions and apply!
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