Tag Archives: resume writing help

December 7, 2017 · 4:54 pm

Does Your Resume Suffer from TMI?

The role of any good resume is to provide valuable information—data that helps a recruiter or hiring manager make their decision, and ideally material that causes them to decide in your favor. It is possible, however, for your resume to have too much information. The result? A resume that is either unfocused or simply difficult to read.

But where do you draw the line? When have you officially reached the point where you’re trying to pack too much content into your resume? Here are some warning signs for every resume writer to be aware of.

Signs Your Resume Has Too Much Information

Your resume is too long. Most candidates will have a two-page resume with only senior or C-level job seekers extending their document to three. On the other side of that, one-page resumes are usually only for entry-level job seekers. Remember that your resume is meant to curate your career highlights and arrange them in a way that’s impactful; it’s not meant to be a transcript of everything you’ve ever done or said while on the job.

Your resume has big blocks of text. Your core competency and career history sections should both take the form of bulleted lists—condensing your noteworthy points into brief, easy-to-read points. If you have huge blocks of text, anywhere outside of your executive summary, that likely means you haven’t trimmed or curated well enough.

Your resume repeats itself. There’s really no need to pad your resume by reiterating the exact same skillsets for every single job listing. By all means, opt for a shorter resume instead of a needlessly repetitive one.

Your resume has personal information. To be clear, some personal details are legitimate—even vital. Think specifically of contact information—name, address, phone number, email address. What you don’t need to include are age, marital status, race, etc.

Your resume contains superfluous information. Along the same lines, there are some details that simply don’t belong on a resume. Some common examples:

High school or college GPA
Classes you took in school
Reasons for leaving your previous job
Salary history—unless it’s specifically requested
Hobbies—unless they directly tie into the job you’re applying for

Make Your Resume Lean, Focused, and Effective

A good resume packs a wallop by telling your full story without any needless information or repetition. Our resume writers can help you achieve that kind of focus. Contact Grammar Chic, Inc. today to schedule your resume consultation: You can reach us at 803-831-7444 or www.grammarchic.net.

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April 12, 2017 · 2:53 pm

5 Things That Make Your Resume Unreadable

The goal of writing is always to articulate your point clearly—and that’s true whether you’re penning a novel, a company blog post, or your own resume. A resume that is unclear, or that makes the reader work way too hard to find the desired information, isn’t going to be much of an asset to your job search. In fact, it’s probably just going to be discarded. Recruiters and hiring managers tend to get a lot of resumes for any open position; if yours is the one they have a hard time deciphering, there’s not much point in them keeping it around.

So what makes a resume such a chore to read? There are a few common resume design elements that fall under that heading. Here are five of the most common—all things you definitely want to avoid.

Making Your Resume Unreadable

A Lack of White Space

The eye naturally wants to see some empty space on the page—not just one big block of unbroken text. So when you put in super-thin margins, tiny fonts, and no real breaks in your resume narrative, that makes the whole thing look like a headache. We know you may want to condense 30 years of work history onto one page, but there are better ways of achieving brevity in your resume.

“Unique” Fonts

Calibri and Helvetica are a couple of font choices we really recommend. Anything else is immediately on shaky ground. These are the agreed-upon resume formats because they’re easy on the eye; don’t risk the use of a fancier font, which might just be annoying for your reader.

Too Much Industry Jargon!

You want to make it clear that you know your industry well, but you also want to make sure the resume is readable to someone who isn’t in your field—as many recruiters won’t be. Try to avoid industry buzzwords as much as you can.

A Lack of Metrics

Here’s a little secret: A lot of hiring managers and recruiters like to skim resumes before really reading them in earnest, and what they’re looking for as they skim is numbers. Metrics and statistics catch the eye and make your resume more appealing. Include them when you can.

Poor Spelling or Grammar

Spelling and grammar matter because they make your resume easier to read—period. Typos are inherently confusing, to say nothing of unprofessional. Proof well!

Write Resumes That Get Read

Anything that makes your resume harder to read is compromising your job search. It’s vital to make your resume easy to digest—and that’s something the Grammar Chic resume writing team can help you with. Contact us today for a resume consultation. You can reach us at www.grammarchic.net or 803-831-7444.

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November 11, 2015 · 10:47 am

4 Ways You’re Unintentionally Slowing Your Job Search

Job hunting is usually not a very casual business: More likely than not, if you’re seeking a new job it’s because you desperately need or fervently want one, sooner rather than later. You don’t have the luxury of time, and you wouldn’t dream of doing anything that would slow your process.

Or at least, you wouldn’t do it on purpose—but what if you’re accidentally impeding your own progress, using job search strategies that slow things down rather than move things forward?

Strategies that Slow Your Job Search

We’ll show you what we mean. These are just some of the approaches that can add days, weeks, or even months to your quest for employment—in other words, strategies you’ll want to avoid!

Taking a shotgun approach to applications. Applying for every job you see may seem like a great idea, but actually it decreases, not increases, your odds of finding employment. That’s because you spend way too much time applying for jobs you’re not suited for or wouldn’t really want. It’s far better to make a targeted list of employers and to really be judicious about the companies you apply to, and then to pour more time and effort into those companies.

Sending generic resumes and cover letters. As you target specific employers, you’ll want to make sure your resume and cover letter matches, which means tweaking each one to fit the company you’re applying for. Generic resumes and cover letters are easy to spot and may make the hiring manager think you’re unserious about the position—which means your application is really just a waste of your time.

Submitting resumes that are way too long. For the vast majority of jobseekers, a good resume length is somewhere between one and two pages. There are rare instances where more than two pages is fine, but—unless you’re a C-suite executive or a PhD—you’re probably wasting time and turning off employers when you send them lengthy, rambling resumes.

Neglecting your LinkedIn page. Think social media is a waste of time? Think again. Most employers now do their homework online before they call you in for an interview—so if your profile isn’t optimized, you may be missing a lot of opportunities. Spending an afternoon tweaking your LinkedIn page can be a significant investment in your job search success.

To speed up your job search, move on from these unproductive strategies—and if you need help, don’t hesitate to ask us! Reach out to Grammar Chic at www.grammarchic.net, or 803-831-7444.