14 Solid Resume Writing Tips

I have been working on my own resume for over a decade. It was clunky, it never changed that much, it was boring, and hard to read. After asking for some help I realized that there are tons of things to consider to make an effective, eye-catching summary of your professional skills.

After numerous redesigns and tuning sessions I started having fun with the process - in a really nerdy, computer-programming sort of way (see the rest of this blog). In the past couple of years I started lending tips to others to help get their thoughts organized. I put together this list of the most common suggestions; whether folks are starting from scratch or are just looking for a little polish.

1. You're Not a Designer - Don't Design Your Own Resume

Are you actually applying to a design job? Awesome. Designing your own unique resume is great practice to show off your skills in layout, organization, white space balance, typeface selection, reading efficiency, color choice, copy writing, audience targeting, graphical tuning, and overall presentation.

Does you dream position have absolutely nothing to do with graphic design? Not sure what some of those terms above mean? That's cool too. Use a template!

This is a great article that goes into more detail about designing a modern resume template 

Leave the design work to actual designers. If you're interesting in building a house, you don't draw up blueprints yourself - you hire an architect. Otherwise, you're going to make a mess.

Homer was not a designer, and he designed an amazingly awful car.
Your resume is filled with great ideas, but it can easily come off as garbage.

A simplistic design will usually suffice; especially for corporate or government jobs. If you're aiming for a smaller organization or for more of a casual submission (entertainment industry, just testing the waters, getting your name out there, etc.) consider venturing into a more sleek and eye-catching template design. Lots of folks don't recommend this route, so be smart about your audience.

Here are some avenues to find free resume templates:

• Google Image Search: Resume Template

• There are tons of free templates to download or reference. Be careful of malware if you're literally downloading files

• Microsoft Word Templates - These often scream "HAY, LOOK AT ME, I USED A TEMPLATE FROM THE MICROSOFT WORD!!!111." Try to avoid these unless they are simple, or you're comfortable with your Word skills to modify the style to make the template your own.
  
  Especially for positions with a lot of applicants, there's a good chance someone else is using the same MS Word template that you chose. You wouldn't want to show up to the interview wearing the same dress or shit & tie as the intern, so avoid being spotted using the same template as other applicants

• Buy a template. I don't recommend this unless you really need help, or you need a very polished or specific design. There are tons of free alternatives available to use or reference, though I'm sure there are a few cases where purchasing a template is a good idea

2. Add- & Categorize Skills

I'm a big fan of the skills section and I often don't see enough items included. A bulleted list is an extremely efficient way of cramming a ton of information about your skill set into the least amount of space possible.

An effective skills section will illustrate what tools you offer to a team. Be sure to list topics that are either directly listed on an advertisement, or which may go above and beyond the advertised KSAs - within reason. Anything additional needs to say, "By the way, you may need this skill too."

DO NOT list Microsoft Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint unless the advertisement asks for it. Most 3rd graders, and almost every mom knows how to use all of those by now. List "Microsoft Office Suite" and leave it at that.

However, Excel and Access are completely different. If you basically know your way around either of those, I'd say they deserve their own bullets. If you know how to do some advanced work with those programs, or if you know how to customize and code macros for them then definitely throw those bits on separate lines.

Make sure you sort your skills across multiple columns to reduce wasted white space and to make skimming/scanning easier for the reader.

Bullets don't require someone to read every word like a paragraph, so highlighting a number of impressive points is incredibly effective. Sorting bullets into categories extends that efficiency by inviting the reader to skim each group individually rather than hiding bulk information in a long narrative paragraph or a disorganized stream of "things." Categorized bullets are much more likely to keep a reader's attention, and will likely create a better vision of you as a multi-threat candidate.

Especially for applicants in the tech industry, bullets are the way to go. Be sure to include the most appropriate match of programming languages, software packages, environments, operating systems, familiar standards and techniques, methodologies, and other types of skills you can offer. Find a balance of being impressive and multi-talented while remaining as concise and articulate as possible. Overwhelming a reader with EVERY technology you have ever heard of can be just as ineffective as omitting it altogether.

An extensive example of categorized skills. I animated
the table boarders here to illustrate the layout

This isn't just for development. If you can summarize and categorize skills in your industry, then do it! Head hunters and automated bot searches will respond accordingly.

3. Lead With What You're Proud Of

Don't sacrifice your reader's attention on filler content. Put your best, most applicable content at the top of you resume. Anything that's less impressive should generally be moved down the page. Don't be afraid to water down your least impressive points, but have confidence and support your experience properly.

I like to see education first - especially if you have education at- or beyond a bachelors degree. Definitely keep it near the top if your education is in the same industry/field as the job you're applying to.

However, if your field of study isn't particularly relevant to the position, go ahead and move it further down to allow more important and impressive information to be highlighted first.

If your professional experience isn't relevant -- or even if it's non-existent -- then don't waste time and space yammering on about how you were an industry leader at the fry technician's station. Keep it short and put more context in areas that needs to be highlighted. Maybe that's in your Education section, or even your Professional/Social Contributions instead.

4. No experience? No problem.

This is especially important for recent graduates, or for folks who have jumped into a new industry. If your only experiences are summer fast food sorts of jobs then move the experience section to the bottom of the resume. Don't go into detail about how well you lead the team at Burger King. Employers know what you did there and they don't care; so just mention it was a summer job, include your start/end dates, and leave it at that. There's nothing wrong with it, but it's not what you're aiming for anymore. You're likely shooting for a higher level of employment now.

Save the long-form embellished verbiage from your less relevant positions for your Education or other your most impressive sections. For students, talk about relevant classes or large projects you completed by yourself. Point out relevant lab work. Did you lead a team to get a huge paper completed and you even did the editing to sort everyone's research together? Did you use your academic skills for nerdy personal projects? That's fantastic! Discuss what experience you accrued in extracurricular clubs too.

College is essentially a full time job for 2 or 4+ years. Give it more context than, "I went here." Illustrate how your academic career is relevant to the job position.

Oh, and for those who have jumped ship and started in a new career path, be sure to rewrite the description of your previous responsibilities for your new audience. Your old technical music therapy jargon may not make any sense to that non-profit tech startup you're applying to (true story).

5. Don't Use Just "One Resume"

No matter how similar various job postings may seem, every advertised position is unique; and your resume should be too. Even if the changes between various resumes are only slightly different, each application should be accompanied by a unique resume.

At the very least, this helps you respond as articulately as possible. Going through the job description and adding or removing content will make your resume that much more effective.

You may choose to have several resume styles: one simplistic conservative style for large organizations, and a more flashy design for more casual submissions. It's important to ensure those two styles never cross, however the content will likely be similar in each.

Dealing with multiple resumes leads to the next important tip: Organization.

6. Step Up Your E-mail Game

I want to see Gmail, or GTFO

Your.Name@gmail.com is what anyone wants to see, and it's almost always the only acceptable answer.

Obvious exceptions are @ domains from your own website, your university, or another professional-looking site. Yahoo, Juno, AOL, etc. don't cut it anymore.

Do you use something besides Gmail for email anyway? Well, it's about time you switch. Forward your important stuff to Gmail and join the year 2005. Otherwise, just create a Gmail account just for job hunting, and forward everything that arrives in Gmail to your old spam-infested account back in the stone age. Either way, you need a clean email address. bonerman22@aol.com won't do.

While you're at it, lose the inspirational quote, and the graphics. I can smell your cats from here, and your email looks like garbage until the reader accepts your external/attached image.

Don't choose a script font for your signature. Just keep it clean and simple.

[Mr./Ms./Mrs. Contact's Name],

Thanks for speaking with me about the [specific job title] position in the [department/section/program]. Attached is my current resume for that position. [Brief closing].

Best regards,
[Your name, same font, not even italicized]

That's it.

7. Match Keywords

Is your resume too thin? Are you applying outside of your normal skill set? Maybe neither. Still, it's a good idea to carefully read through the position description and include any matching job requirements that are listed on the advertisement.

Don't go nuts. Find a middle ground of responding to what the call for applicants is asking for without making it look like a straight copy/paste job. There's rarely a candidate that fits 100% of the the KSA's (knowledge, skills, and abilities), but be sure to clearly convey where you skills match the job.

Additionally, use some judgement again: federal jobs, large companies, and head hunters don't have time to look for context, so nearly exact or verbatim phrases are important since they are used as search terms. There are definitely times where using the same language is key to being considered at all.

On the other hand, smaller organizations, or an unsolicited resume submission could use a touch of subtlety. If it's not necessary, use similar phrases instead of exact text from the position description.

8. Organization

Since you should be working with a unique resume for every job posting (see #5), it's important to remain organized. I prefer to have a folder for all resumes, with a subdirectory for each individual job response. Read my previous article on naming project directories.

Example folder structure:

• Resumes
• 2014-05-30 - Company Name - Job Title
• 2015-02-28 - Other Company - Job Title
• ...

I also like to save the individual job description in each of these folders for reference before the interview, along with the URL to the job posting (or other information about where I found the ad), as well as a unique cover letter. It can be as simple as copying the position description and URL or advertisement source into a text document.

Using this method will help you quickly pull up a similar resume from the past and use it as a template for a new response.

This will ensure that you're ready to apply to a new position at a moment's notice. Extend this readiness by saving a copy of these resumes to a private Dropbox folder so you'll never be caught off guard - even while traveling.

Save each resume as a Word or OpenOffice document, and export as a PDF when finished.

9. Make a Web-Based Resume

Not all resumes need to be e-mailed or printed. For more casual uses, create a Web-based resume and send out links to your information. Here's mine as an example:

justinberke.tk is my Web-based resume

Don't provide too much personal information if you're not comfortable with it, but here are a few options to consider from least to most difficult:

• LinkedIn - A professional social networking site that helps you set up a resume-like bio page for your professional career
• WordPress - Create a one-page Web site with your professional bio. Use a number of free or affordable purchased templates that look great to organize and stylize your impressive new personal marketing tool
• FreeNom - Get a free customized URL like YourName.tk and point it to your WordPress or LinkedIn site for easy access.
• Custom .com URL - For around $10 per year, you can register a customized .com URL, like YourName.com. I prefer 1&1.com, namecheap, or Google Domains for a domain registrar. Point this to your WordPress or LinkedIn site for some more pizzaz
• Custom HTML/Bootstrap Web Page - Grab a custom Web site template from anywhere on the Web. I recommend getting started with Bootstarp on your own, or grab an awesome free template from Start Bootstrap, Wrap Bootstrap, etc. and begin coding your own Web page.  Combine this option with a free or paid domain and you'll be on fire!

Final note: pick a design that is mobile-compatible. Most folks use a tablet or a smartphone to view things. Make sure it scales well to smaller or tiny screen sizes, or is designed as "mobile first."

10. Photo or No Photo?

This is a touchy subject. Many will say, "absolutely not," so just like using a highly stylized resume template, carefully consider your audience with this one.

Sometimes it can be a legal issue to deal with a resume that contains a photo since discrimination could become a factor. Some folks report that resumes with photos are immediately disregarded - but I'd imagine that would only happens with very large organizations.

When in doubt, you should probably leave your photo out of the resume.

If you do want to include a photo, understand that it needs to make you stand out and look fantastic. It needs to add some extra value. Don't ever attach a "picture." Attach a "photograph." Are you writing your resume on a napkin with a pencil? No, you're taking the time to craft your best experiences, so take the time and have someone (paid or not) take a headshot.

Adding just any old picture of your dumb face will hurt you more than it will help.

These are all bad portraits.

1. Bros, go to H&M and get an inexpensive shirt and tie; Ladies, put on an awesome office dress or blouse or whatever is appropriate for the setting you're looking to join
2. Go out and take a nice portrait. Wait! Before you do it, do a quick search and learn how to take an appropriate portrait
3. Crop and tune the photo so it looks amazing

These are much better professional portraits - especially
the womens photos. Those are very well done.
The mens photos above are mostly boring.

11. Output

Export your resume as a PDF to send electronically.  It's clean, easily scalable, easily printable, and it's static, so it can't be accidentally changed or modified.

Never send a Word document (.doc/.docx/.odt) unless specifically asked. A text document is sloppy, and its text can be erased. Some folks are still using outdated software and they may not be able to open a .docx file.

A text document is unfinished. A PDF is a finished product. Even if a text document format is requested, try to send the PDF version along too.

Obviously never send an image file (.jpg/.png/.svg/.ai/etc.). Raster images don't scale well and they're hard to navigate. Image files are even less likely to be opened by a hiring manager than a .docx file. Again, PDF is the way to go.

12. Objective/Summary/Personal Statement

I say leave this out of the resume and save it for the cover letter. A resume should stand on its own to express your interests and qualifications. Obviously your objective is to get paid, and if you need to summarize your resume then it's too long and it should be rewritten.

Don't duplicate information by summarizing it at the head of the resume. A mission statement is not my ball of matzo either.

Sometimes it's mandatory, and that's fine. I have never seen a mandatory instance in over 10 years of writing these, research how to craft an Objective if you absolutely need to include one.

No: To be gainfully employed... 

Yes: To contribute my experience with [insert specific skills and concepts]...

13. Don't forget a cover letter

A resume should stand as a brief overview of your career experience and the skills that you bring to the table. Leave the long-winded discussions for the interview, but tie some of these vague bullets to your personality with a cover letter.

I might discuss this more in another article, but a cover letter is a quick way to say hello, explain why the job description was written for you and nobody else, and lastly, to show that you can communicate well.

Just like the resume, the meat of the cover letter's content can be recycled, but each cover letter should be unique to each position for which you are submitting an application. Mention skills and experience that applies to the job posting, and cut anything that's unrelated.

14. Peer Review

Finally, let someone else take a look at your work and give feedback. It's hard to cut information (believe me - my resume is still way to dense), and it can be even harder to . A second or third set of eyes can really help you identify they best way to market your talent and experience.

The easiest by far is to ask a friend or a colleague. They may be in the same boat as you, but maybe they have some additional experience to offer.

Next, check out /r/resumes. It's a Reddit community of a few thousand folks who can give a quick or thorough review of your resume. Make sure to make a version that strips out your real name  and contact information.

An invaluable resource is your school's career center. Even high school guidance counselors or librarians could give you some great feedback. Colleges are going to be some of the best free resources available since there are programs that are dedicated to bridging the gap between academia and employment. This is full service treatment: templates, content, wording, proofreading, etc.

Lastly, there are paid resources out there that will give you great information, but I've personally never needed to go that route.