Resume Advice For Job Seekers

Here are a few thoughts for those currently shining up their resumes:

1. The 10-Second Sell. Most resume reviewers will spend 10 seconds or fewer on their initial scan of a resume. You need to have something that catches the eye in under 10 seconds, preferably towards the top of the page. I am not talking about a fancy font, but something that demonstrates your value to a business (i.e., how is it that you will be worth more to the business than what you will cost the business on a fully-loaded basis?)
2. Red Flagging. If you save your resume Word or PDF file with the words “real estate” in the file name, you are clearly not as passionate about real estate as you are about just getting a job in one of several different industries for which you have an individually tailored and labeled resume. Delete those words from the file name so you are at least giving yourself a fighting chance of being taken seriously as someone who truly lives and dies real estate.
3. It’s About You, Silly. Don’t put someone else’s name on your resume, ever. I don’t care if you did research for Albert Einstein… The resume is about you and no one else. Only your name should appear on the resume unless you are going to split your compensation with that other person whose name you typed onto your resume.
4. A Person Of Action. Use action verbs and an active voice (as opposed to a passive voice) when describing your function and role and past accomplishments. The last thing any company wants is someone who they perceive will sit and wait for an engraved invitation to take action and produce results.
5. Reading Out Loud. Read every line of your resume out loud. If it sounds awkward or like a run-on sentence when you read it out loud, it is! Fix it.
6. Making Copies. Always bring fresh, non-wrinkled copies of your resume to an interview. There’s nothing worse than starting off the interview when asked for your resume and having to say that you don’t have one.