A Reality Check For Resumes

You know that your resume is the first impression a potential employer or a recruiter has of you. Based on that printed summary of your work history, education and skills an employer can also determine:

• your communication style
• how organized you are
• the value you might offer as an employee

To standout in today’s competitive job market, you need to showcase how your skills and past experience will benefit your future employer. However, remember it's the content a recruiter or an employer is looking for. Standing out as a winner does NOT mean you resort to fancy type, pictures, excessive length, bright color or other eye-catching gimmicks. These scream, "Look at these cool things because I don't have a lot of content to show you." While this eye-catching may be a brief respite for the one who has to review thousands of resumes (yes, thousands), it gets the delete button a lot quicker.

One Typical Scenario

Your recruiter has recognized that your skills match a particular position and you have established an initial rapport with her and discussed the skills and the position. You have made the first cut. Your resume is now to be delivered or faxed to the Employer. In some cases, a number of recruiters will have all sent resumes.

The Employer is now faced with reviewing dozens, if not hundreds, of resumes to determine which to bring in for an interview. Putting yourself in the place of a busy manager, which resume would you look over first?

The resume on the left is visually appealing, easier to read and speaks volumes about its owner's ability to organize. On the right, great gobs of solid text is no easy task to wade through. Your resume should send the message you want - that you are organized and respect the employer's time.