The purpose of a resume is to accurately reflect your professional experience and qualifications to GET an interview. Remember, resumes don’t get jobs…people do! We often get questions on how to format a resume and if you ask 10 professionals, you will inevitably get 10 different opinions. Whether you follow a chronological format, skillset format, key accomplishments format, in our experience at Echo, the best resume is the one that gets you the interview! With that said, there are definitely best practices and suggestions we have accumulated over the 65 + years our team has been in the talent acquisition and professional recruiting industry. We have included below a sample format that we really like that accomplishes a strong resume, and here is why..
- Contact information is clear (Employers need to reach you)
- Summary instead of an objective –objectives can be limiting and job seekers need to remember the audience. Sometimes the first review of a resume won’t think to call you for their other open finance role, if your objective is specific to the exact role you are applying to. Stick with a summary that sets you apart.
- Chronological –most widely used and human resources and hiring managers generally skim resumes. What needs to be clear…
- Duration of time in positions
- Consistent work history from start of work until today
- If companies are not widely known like Coca Cola, putting a brief description of the size of company, what the company does, and where located is really helpful
- Positions are clearly marked
- Bullet point format over paragraph —paragraphs are hard to read and bullets are concise and clear
- Descriptions that describe leadership, management, who your cross functional business partners are, systems familiar with, major awards and/or accomplishments
- Anytime you can quantify how what you completed during your responsibilities and tasks, this is very helpful (headcount reduction, saved money, helped make money —metrics achieved)
- If you have more than 3 years of work experience Education should go on the bottom of the resume. GPA over 3.8 out of 4.0 put on the resume, anything below that personally we would leave off the resume
- Enjoying boating, fishing, dogs, the Minnesota State Fair are awesome! They are what make the person. Keep on the resume or not, but these items generally won’t get you the interview (job of the resume)…but great to speak about during an interview because could help you get the job!
