By Dermound Becker
Special to Relocation.com
It is a competitive market out there for job seekers. One thing that will make or break you when it comes to looking for a new job is the look and tone of your resume. You should update it regularly, even if you are not currently looking for work. It never hurts to have it ready if you need it. Times change, and so do the ways that employers expect a resume to look. Here are some tips:
Get rid of the objective statement – Replace it with the position you are seeking. Make it short and relevant. Employers want to see “Executive Assistant” and not ‘I am seeking a position where I can assist… “ Objective statements used to be the norm, but they are out dated now.
Take off jobs that are more than 10 years old – You need to be up to date, and jobs that are more than 10 years ago are not going to help you, unless they are very specific to what job you are applying for now. If you have changed jobs a lot in the past 10 years, be sure and have a good reason for each change. Employers are looking for stability.
Be sure to add any new accomplishments, training, certificates, etc. – It is easy to forget to add important new information about the job you have been doing. Anything new you have done that adds to your ability to do the job you are seeking is important to include on the resume. You want to stand out and show that you are interested in learning new things.
Update the format – Most people who are submitting resumes used a PowerPoint or MSWord format to write it up. Take a look online for examples of resumes that will stand out when they pass over the employer’s desk. Stand out from the crowd.
Change your font – Fonts like Times New Roman and Courier are out dated. Change the font to something more modern like Tahoma, or even Arial. Do not, under any circumstances, use some frilly or silly font. This will make you look bad.
Use relevant keywords – Because most resumes these days get posted online, you need to use keywords in your resume that relate to the job you are seeking. You need to make the keywords flow in your writing, not simply throw them in just for the sake of having keywords. But if you can work them into your resume, do it. If you have to, do some searches that will tell you what keywords to use.
Write the way you talk – make your resume sound just informal enough, but not too informal. Most employers don’t want to have to read through a resume that sounds stilted or old fashioned. Try reading it out loud and see how it sounds.
Spell check! – Nothing is going to look worse to an employer than misspelled words. It makes you look either lazy or dumb. Get a friend to proofread it just to make sure everything is right.