Free Resume Building Tips:

1. Getting Noticed is the Goal

Your resume offers a snapshot of who you are:

• It should tell your story quickly, with just enough detail to explain the kind of person you are.
• It should have an Inviting appearance, so people will be attracted to it and want to read it.
• It should "sell" you, meaning it presents your best side while being completely honest.

Your resume is a synopsis of your accomplishments:

• It explains your formal education, including degrees, certificates, and other educational milestones.
• It lays out your employment history, your other accomplishments and your awards and honors.

2. How Long Should Your Resume Be?

A resume should usually be only one page so that hiring personnel can quickly scan it; but depending on your career situation and amount of experience, your resume can be as long as needed in order to fully explain your experiences and qualifications.

3. How Do You Name Your Resume File?

The file name on your resume is an opportunity for marketing yourself; including your first name, last name and a key phrase about your skills; for example, "Sam_Smith_Resume_Chemist.doc"

4. Gaps in Your Career

Gaps in the time-line of your career will raise questions with prospective employers; you can de-emphasize gaps by focusing on your accomplishments instead of your chronological work history, but you must still be honest about the gaps; most employers understand if you took time off to raise a family, return to college, care for an ill or aging family member, or deal with an illness.

5. What If You Are Changing Career?

Remember that your resume is designed to get an employer's attention; rarely is there any reason to explain why you left a particular position; doing so may just raise red flags with an employer and move your resume to bottom of the pile; be honest about the dates of employment, but do not needlessly explain each situation (however, be prepared to explain why you left each job during the interview).

6. What If You Left a Job Under Bad Circumstances?

If you can do the job then applying for, do not mention any disabilities on your resume; resumes are weeding-out devices, and you do not want to give hiring personnel any unnecessary reason to exclude you; do not even allude to a disability; for example, do not mention that you won first place in the wheelchair category of a 10K race; the only time you may want to mention your disability is if it pertains to the job you are seeking; for example, if the position involves counseling people who recently lost a limb, you may want to mention that you have experienced that.

7. What If Your Employer Has Changed Hands Frequently?

If you have worked for the same employer for some time but it's name has changed because it changed hands, explain the situation so potential employers do not assume that you have been job hopping; one way to do that is to list the positions you have held under the current company name, even if that was not the name of the company when you held all those positions.

8. What Software Formats Works Best?

"Microsoft Word" is the most common word-processing software; you should have a version of your resume available in that format; however, not all employers want to open a Word file, so be prepared to paste your resume as text inside an email or send it as a PDF; also, if you have Word 2007, save your resume in the Word 97-2003 Document format format so that people using older versions of Word can still open your resume; regardless of the format, practice by "emailing your resume" to a friend to make sure it still looks good once it is sent.

9. Using Resume Templates

There are many "preformatted resume templates" on the market and on the Web; for many applications, these are fine and create a clean, professional-looking resume; however, depending on the job you are creative enough to design your own resume without using one of the standard templates; employers who receive many resumes will likely recognize all the standard templates; therefore, "a resume created without one may stand out".

10. Resume Design Online

Many websites help people design their resumes; most contain templates that job seekers use to create their resumes, and many allow the job seekers to store their resumes and update them as needed; some are free and others charge a fee; type in "resume builder" in any search engine to see a listing of these sites.

11. Protecting Your Privacy

You need to provide enough personal information on your resume to allow employers to reach you; however, do not provide your Social Security number or your birth date on your resume; this information can easily be used by identity thieves, and no employer would need to know this to make a hiring decision.

12. Customize Your Resume

your resume may not be appropriate for every job you would like to apply for, so customize it when appropriate; for example

• Change your "Objective" to fit the position.
• Emphasize the parts of your experience that best suit the position.
• If certain certifications or education are required for the position, highlight those on your resume.

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