It’s a new day and time to make a new resume! As recruiters we see hundreds of resumes a day. On average, a hiring manager spends between 5-7 seconds reviewing a resume so it’s critical your resume stands out. Whether you’re looking to jump start your career or change careers, here are some of our top tips for building a new resume in 2018.

Beginning of Resume

DON’T: We don’t need every demographic detail about you at the top of your resume. Please no marital status, race, number of children, or religion. And we definitely don’t need to know your social security number or date of birth. This is just setting yourself up for identity theft and is not professional.
DO: Put your full name at the top of the resume. Believe it or not, we have received resumes with no name. Make sure to also add the best way for you to be contacted, preferably a phone number and email address.

DON’T: But first, let’s NOT take a selfie. Don’t put a selfie or any kind of picture on your resume. I don’t care how professional it is; that just opens the door for a hiring manager to discriminate against you.
DO: If you want to make use of your professional picture (still not the selfie), you can use it as your profile picture on LinkedIn or Facebook. Hiring managers are now more than ever considering candidate’s social media accounts when making hiring decisions.
Objective Statement/Summary

DON’T: Don’t start your resume with a clichéd objective. Objective statements are so last year (plus like 10 years). We all know you are seeking a job where you can utilize your excellent communication, organizational, and leadership skills.
DO: Start your resume with a summary of your industry background, relevant experience, and goals pertaining to the job you are applying for.

Education

DON’T: Don’t list that you received a bachelor’s degree if you didn’t receive a bachelor’s degree. Simple enough. I would also caution you on putting the dates on your education if they’re over 15 years ago. This can open the door to discriminate because of your age. We also don’t need to know you had a GPA of 3.7 back in ‘02. As hard as you worked to receive it, it is unfortunately no longer relevant.
DO: If you didn’t graduate, you could list courses taken towards the degree you were trying to obtain. If you did graduate, make sure you spell your degree correctly. It’s Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Arts along with the official degree; not bachelors of science. Regarding GPA, if it’s been less than 5 years and your GPA was over 3.5, it’s still relevant to list it. You can also add the dates with your degree especially if you just graduated.

Skills/Accomplishments

DON’T: Even though you think it’s an accomplishment that you were Mr. 7th grade at your middle school in ’86, we don’t….. Any awards you received in middle school/high school can just be kept to yourself. Under skills, don’t list you’re fluent in a foreign language if you’re not. Don’t list proficiency in MS Office and not bullet or format your resume properly.
DO: Do list relevant accomplishments of previous positions that would be relevant to the position you’re applying for. List any type of software skills you have especially if you know the company you’re applying to uses them.

Work Experience

DON’T: If you’ve been in the workforce for 20+ years, we don’t need to know you worked at the ice cream parlor when you were 15. We also don’t want to see your oldest job first.
DO: List your work experience starting with your most recent position first. List the company name, your position, and the dates you’ve been there. Bullet your duties and use past tense for previous jobs.

DON’T: We don’t need to know your entire story for each position. Don’t use first or third person either. Example (I would open at 8am and close the store at 5pm; I was in charge of counting the cash drawer; I answered all incoming calls and transferred to the person that was requested)
DO: Do list relevant duties in a clear yet concise format. (Responsible for opening/closing store; counted cash drawer; answered incoming calls)

DON’T: Last, but certainly not least, don’t send in a resume with misspelled words! Nothing says you’re not qualified for the job like misspelling qualified 😊.
DO. Spellcheck. Spellcheck. Spellcheck. Have someone else review your resume too. Sometimes we read what we we’re wanting to say versus what is actually on the page.

Do you have any other tips to share?

Written by: Shawn Kinard