What Makes A Great Resume

Unless someone is applying for an entry-level service job, or a job that requires few skills or little in the way of experience, an individual will not be able to secure a position without a resume. A resume is a calling card, indicating where an individual has worked, the duties performed, an applicant's educational background, any special skills an individual might have, and a list of references.

However, in today's society, employers are literally inundated with resumes. How can you separate the good resumes from the great? Certainly, evaluating resumes is a subjective process. Nevertheless, there are a few things that great resumes seem to have in common.

Brief, but complete

A great resume needs to include all relevant information. In other words, there should be no visible "holes" in the resume. This means that information should be included about every place an individual has ever worked and each high school, college, or university an individual has attended.

That said a resume should be as brief as possible. Human resource executives may receive hundreds of resumes for a single job. They simply don't have the time to sift through multiple-page resumes. If at all possible, a resume should be kept to a page or two. Within that space, a job-hunter should be able to include all necessary information, without creating information overload.

Experience is emphasized

A great resume emphasizes experience above all else. In fact, experience is often the most important determining factor in whether or not an individual lands the job of his or her choice. Therefore, in a great resume, experience tends to top the list of accomplishments. That way, from the very start, an employer can determine if this is, indeed, a contender for the job.

A great resume includes a list of job titles. A job title can be highly descriptive, indicating the parameters of a particular position. The more positions an individual has held, the better the resume will look to a prospective employer.

Duties are described

The best resumes include a description of duties for each position held. The list of duties can help an employer to understand the full range of an applicant's experience. The duty list can also help to "flesh out" a resume, providing the appropriate context for an employer to evaluate an individual's qualifications for a particular position.

Only the best references are included

In a truly spectacular resume, only the best references are included. This is because an employer is not interested in mediocre recommendations. Instead, there should be references that really sing an individual's praises. Because today's job market is so competitive, you as an employer probably routinely check references to ensure that a candidate is all that he or she appears to be. References should be, in essence, cheerleaders-people who are enthusiastic about an individual's job performance. The really great resumes play up an individual's strengths while de-emphasizing his or her weaknesses. Essentially, a great resume is like a public relations piece, stating the best possible reasons why an individual should be considered for a given job.

Click here to go to the next employer article - Why a Cover Letter Should Make You Want to Call a Candidate to Interview

Click here to see the full list of employer articles.