Ask Lemmy

Can I grab this one?

I have created quite a few for people and my designs were successful at landing well with employers.

Firstly, most of the time luck is a deciding factor and there is no brute forcing through it, so stay strong and keep searching. There can be a lot of mind games around the recruitation process.

It is easier to explain how to improve a resume based on any input as a base, but it is good to have two versions, one lighter and the other one more strict / professional.

When people were spreading wide nets during the job hunting, that was a minimum — you should present a vibe that at least kinda matches the position. Good to have a printed versions and digital, PDF file is a solid choice.

For some positions, where you are any type of a representative, taking care of customers is one of your main tasks — consider a resume with a picture.

It should not be a factor but obviously, it is. And please don’t have a “zombie” or any “gangsta” face. Terrible picture is worse than no picture.

Another baseline is one page only. If you have a valuable list of actual experiences for more than one page you really don’t need to write a resume most of the time and even if you do, there is a way to compress the education or work history sections to provide a full picture and add some detail for the last or two most recent positions.

Yes, one page, really.

Two most important aspects to really pour your time and efforts into:

1. Proofreading. Check it 20 times, seriously. I saw so many resumes thrown into the bin just because there were two spelling errors in two words in the first line of text. Check it one more time, check if your email and phone number are valid and don’t use silly email addresses (in 99% of the cases). Give it to a partner, friend, parent, sibling — ask them to check if anything is or feels wrong. If you are — for any reason — making your resume in language you don’t know, use a professional help, don’t use automatic translators etc.
2. Design. Whether it is good margins, readable lists, using font sizes to guide the eye of the reader, sure it is not about using every option in your text editor, don’t go crazy with fonts — styles and amount, if you know what are you doing, one is the perfect amount and two is actual maximum. Well constructed page can attract recruiters or employers and makes your resume stand out or hold the focus for those crucial five minutes.

Don’t use any “crazy” paper, especially with glitter or colored, paper weight can help tho, you don’t want a flimsy napkin or so stiff paper that you could kill with it.

If you are making copies, check if they are good and readable. Please, don’t let it get bent, wet or stained. Have a folder or something to protect it during the transport.

They will often treat it like shit or write on it but deliver it in a neat condition.

If your country requires for legal reasons any clauses to be present — check the official, most recent guidelines.

I hope this will anyhow help you achieve your goals or at least, get you started.