Effective Résumés

A résumé introduces you to a stranger; and as we all know, first impressions are very important. The résumé should be clean, well formatted and organized. Choose a superior grade of paper, preferably not white, but an innocuous pastel color. It should be easy to read. You should avoid gimmicky formats, pictures, anything but a straight forward résumé – elegant in its simplicity.

A résumé is like a “teaser” ad on TV, its purpose is entice the prospective employer to want to know more about you -- to further the process, to read the cover letter, to call you in for the first interview.

Good résumés are one-pagers. They are a “snapshot” of you as a professional. For this reason, it is extremely important to use discretion in deciding what to put in a résumé and what to leave out. A good résumé coach helps you clarify and refine the best information to entice the prospective employer.

There should be no mention of prior salaries, of reasons for leaving a job. There should be a statement that references are available. You should not unless asked to, give a list of references.

There are a host of questions which the courts have determined not be used as criteria in the hiring process. These facts (present in older résumés) should be left out. They include: age, gender, race, nationality, religion, marital status, children, etc. If you feel for good reason, that anyone of these topics should be stated or discussed, do so in the cover letter, or better yet, bring them up in the interview.

Finally, a well-constructed résumé lays the basis for fuller explanations in the cover letter. They should in the same way offer fodder for discussion, explanation and enumeration of details during the interview.

For more tips and resources, see our résumé resources.