Resume Tips

Organizing Your Resume

First things first: Make sure your name and contact information gets center stage at the top of your resume in a clearly readable font. When including an e-mail address, ensure that it is professional-sounding, like yourname@email.com. Resist using another more casual address such as hotbabe@email.com for obvious reasons. Also, check your home answering machine message- is the message a potential employer will hear professional sounding? Does the message clearly confirm the phone number or residence name to ensure the caller that he or she has reached the right number?

Research shows that we have got 10 seconds, sometimes less, to get someone's attention- whether it is in a presentation, a print ad, a commercial, or even your resume. When employers conduct that first weeding-out process of their stack of resumes, there is very little deep reading going on. Therefore, it is crucial your resume gets right to work selling your credentials. Your key selling points need to be featured at the top of the first page. For this reason, the top third of the first page of a resume is known as the "Hot Zone." The theory is that if your Hot Zone is hot enough to grab the employer's attention, he or she may continue to read the rest of your resume instead of shuttling it to the dreaded "no" pile.

Using the Hot Zone

If you have experience relevant to the job requirements, place your Experience section first.
If you are light in relevant work experience, but have a degree in your field, put your Education section first.
If you are going into a technical field, you may want to put your Computer Skills section first.
You may also include a Professional Summary statement below your contact information on the first page.