TESA’s Quick Tips: Basic Résumé Advice
- In this day and age, don’t fear more than one page! Those with experience will average about two pages.
- Résumés are a marketing tool. The goal is to get you in the door. Don’t overthink that and get too far ahead of yourself.
- Think of what the hiring manager needs to see to say, “I want to speak with this person”.
- TESA recommends a summary at the top as opposed to either an objective or no statement at all.
- An “executive summary” is a great way to introduce the audience to you. The summary illuminates an opportunity to sell yourself in 3-5 sentences. Selling the hiring manager on why you are exceptional is more powerful and has a higher upside of success than merely stating an objective. An objective can also have a downside. What if your objective does not match precisely what the audience is seeking?
- Link to 4 Examples of executive summaries at the top of a resume.
- Keep the format neat and easy to read. Make it reverse chronological order.
- Make sure the font remains consistent throughout.
- Focus on the little things, look for words that may be dictionary words but are not the proper word for the sentence. For example, we often see the following: “This position peaked (as opposed to “piqued”) my interest.” This error may not come up in spell-check but should come up with applications such as Grammarly.
- Have a respected recruiter review and provide feedback.