Writing the Perfect Resume: Go Slowly for Best ResultsWriting a good resume is one thing. Writing the perfect resume requires that we do two additional things really well. One is that we have to be patient and take a gradual approach. We have to take our time and write many drafts over a period of days – even weeks, if time allows before the posting deadline. The other is that we have to edit and proofread our work very carefully. Employers can tell if we’ve done this, and they appreciate it when we take the time to make our resume just right. We also proudly know that we’ve put our very best foot forward, and this helps us to gain confidence and keep the momentum going in our job search. Writing the Perfect Resume: For Best Results, Write Many Drafts You can’t write a great resume in one day. Instead, you’ll develop your resume in steps and stages, and any and all improvements will help you! For your resume as well as your cover letter and thank you letter, you’ll get your best results if you write many drafts. Don’t rush through the writing process. Take as much time as you can to develop them. The more that you place your undivided attention on your resume writing, the better the quality of your writing for your prospective employer to read. It’s a lot of work for you, but the benefits will surely outweigh the costs if in the end you’re offered a great job in return for this extra effort. How many thousands of dollars is that worth? Writing the Perfect Resume: Developing Your First Draft For your first draft, start with what you have and then build on it. Do a lot of brainstorming and feel free to write a lot of “raw data” or rough notes about your skills, experiences and accomplishments – be creative and open to any new ideas. • Don’t focus much on the styling and formatting, fine tuning or final length of your resume until you’ve given yourself a lot of opportunity to gather information. In other words, the information gathering stage always comes before decision making. • To make editing and proofreading easier for you later, use the tab key and/or centering commands on your keyboard rather than relying on the space bar for the placement of your text. Writing the Perfect Resume: “Sleeping on It” • Review all of the resume articles on this site to ensure that you’re including all of the important “success elements.” • If the posting deadline allows for it, take at least a few days to improve, fine tune and finally perfect your resume and cover letter – especially for those really exciting new job opportunities that you find so hard to pass up. • Work on it a little bit, leave it, come back to it later, go back and forth. “Mull it over,” “let it simmer,” or “sleep on it.” Continue to read it over and over for possible changes, deletions and improvements. That’s the tried-and-true “perfecting process.” :-) Writing the Perfect Resume: Read it Back to Yourself Carefully Once you’ve built your next-to-final resume draft, read it back to yourself as if you’re a total stranger – as if you know nothing about you or the job posting. Take lots of time to carefully do fine-tuned editing: • Don’t use big, hard to understand or uncommon words – they might confuse, distract or intimidate. • Use well-understood terms such as the appropriate monetary units. Convert foreign currencies to the values used in the country you’re applying to. For instance, if you’ve moving from Japan to the United States, express your sales outcomes in U.S. dollars rather than Japanese yen. • Make sure that each sentence flows easily and that you write it in the active voice (don’t use word combinations like “was,” “will be” and “has been.” • If you use more than one name for yourself, don’t put both names on your resume. Instead, only use the first and last name that you’d like to be called on a day-to-day basis by your new boss and co-workers. • I remove all commas from my letterhead and also don’t put labels such as “Phone:”, “Cell:” or “Email:” because these are obvious and redundant, as is putting the word “Resume” at the top of the first page. Use a Professional Email Address Email addresses with your name in them are generally regarded as very professional by employers whereas ones that indicate a nickname, hobby or strictly personal interest of some kind lack professionalism and may give the wrong impression. • Examples of good email addresses are “john.martin.doe at hotmail.com” and “jason.h.johnston at yahoo.com.” • Examples of poor email addresses include “bluemoon5000 at hotmail.com” or candydandy1957 at yahoo.com” Writing the Perfect Resume: Proofread it to Perfection • Carefully review my article on resume formatting (“Writing a Great Resume”) before undertaking your careful proofreading process. Proofread your resume carefully for grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization and spacing. Read it several times silently, and check it carefully after every time you make a correction. • Read it out loud to yourself and/or another – does it sound good? Are you pleased with it or a little embarrassed about some of the wording. • You could even read it backwards! :-) It will help you to correct additional errors you might miss. • Then ask a trusted friend or family member to check it in a similar way before you send out an application for a job you hope to win. Be honest with yourself, and courageously continue the proofreading until you're truly satisfied and proud. It could mean the end of your job search!
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