Where's the Beef? What you are forgetting to put in your resume!

As a recruiter, I see a lot of resumes. We see everything from soon-to-be college grads, to those who have been in the industry for years with great experiences, and it never ceases to amaze me the things that people DON’T put on their resume!!

Your resume is typically a 1-3 page reflection of you, simple as that. If you put it together hastily or don’t bother catering it to the job you are applying for, you may as well not send it out. It’s amazing what you can tell about someone from their resume and if you want to shine and be noticed, be sure you have the right stuff listed.

So, for those of you vying for that next great job opportunity, those putting their resume together for the first time, or for the first time in the 21st century, here’s my top 10 things that I find to be often left off a resume.

1. CONTACT INFORMATION. This really seems like a no brainer to me, but I’ve come across more than my fair share of resumes with little or no contact information! You may have a great resume but if I can’t figure out how to contact you for an interview, it’s a little frustrating!! Here’s what I want to see for contact information: Name, Mailing Address, Home Phone Number and/or Cell Phone, and email address.

2. DATES. It really bothers me when people don’t put dates employed for each job and the year they graduated college. I’m not concerned with how old or young you are, that’s not what I’m trying to figure out. I am going to ask you for those dates, ask you questions about each job you had, how long you were there and why you left, so to save everyone some grief, date your resume! When I get a resume with no dates I immediately think that you are trying to hide something. So, if you had a short stay at one job or a gap in employment, put your dates on the resume and then explain in a cover letter and let me know that you will be happy to explain your situation. Also, I don’t find it necessary to know the specific date, ie: May 17, 1987, just month and year or even just year is fine with me.

3. ACTIVITIES & HOBBIES. Your resume says more about you than you might think. It can give indications to your personality, your work ethic, or your overall lack of ambition! Especially with recent or soon-to-be college grads, I like to see your activities, club involvement, offices you have held and just general hobbies. Regardless of actual job experience, this says a lot about your involvement and commitment. Be sure to put them at the bottom of the resume, they are important, but not as much as your other content!

4. BEEF. I like to term it as Beef, and I’m always asking “where’s the beef?’ in resumes I see. I’m referring to sales numbers, successes, achievements, etc. Most people just list their job duties under each job held. I want to know your duties, but I also want to know what you achieved while you were in that role. If you won a sales award or you were awarded employee of the month, I need to know! So beef up those resumes people, brag a little, it’s OK!

5. OBJECTIVES. Truthfully I could care less if you have an objective listed on your resume, but, if you choose to list an objective, make sure that your objective is geared toward the job you are applying for. It never fails that 50% of the resume’s I get with objectives are geared toward something completely different than what they apply for. When I see that I think, 1. They are desperate or 2. They don’t care enough about their job search to cater their resume to the job they are applying for, neither of which is what you want a recruiter or company thinking about you. My advice on objectives is to either not use one at all or change it so that it is relevant to each job you apply for.

6. OTHER RELEVANT EXPERIENCE. Just because you didn’t draw a paycheck from it or perhaps it was in internship several years earlier, don’t down play internships or part-time jobs if it’s relevant to the job you are seeking. There’s no need to be as in-depth as your current/full time positions, but if you worked on a 1000 acre farm through college or was a crop scout for 2 summers, put a blurb about that below your previous full time experience and leave it at that.

7. ORDER. This again relates to catering your resume to the job you are applying for. Typical order for a resume is current position first and then everything else below in chronological reverse order. But, if you are applying for a job in a certain field and you’ve had a couple jobs in that field, but your last one or two have been in something different, I had rather see the related information on top so I don’t have to dig for how you relate to the job. Many resumes get a 30 second glance by recruiters or HR departments; don’t lose your chance to shine because your experience as it relates to the job is buried 4 jobs down. Again, it is very important to cater your resume for each job you apply for. Thankfully in this electronic world, it’s a lot easier than it used to be to do this, there are NO EXCUSES!

8. This one is what CAN be left off your resume: NO LOGOS, NO COLORS, NO PICTURES, NO FANCY FONTS. Nice, clean, easy to read is what you are going for with your resume. Unless you are going for a marketing job or some other creative job, then you may be allowed more creativity, but in most circumstances it is better go for simple. Now if you want to get creative in the delivery of your resume in order to get noticed, then you can have some flexibility!

9. 1 PAGE. You don’t have to cram everything on 1 page. For most recent college grads, you can get everything on 1 page, but don’t be afraid to insert some page breaks and run onto a couple pages. I myself made this mistake when graduating college. I was determined to squeeze everything on 1 page. I had 6 relevant internships and quite a few activities/awards to squeeze on there….I decreased the font, decreased the width of all margins, etc. It fit on one page, but I look back know and wonder how anyone read it! Luckily it got me the job I wanted but it was solely due to content and my persistence, not format! It’s ok to go to a couple pages.

10. JOBS. This may sound ridiculous, and it typically only happens with more seasoned candidates who like to focus on their strengths and abilities as opposed to the jobs they’ve held. There have been several resumes where I’ve had to seriously hunt to find their actual job listings or in some cases they alluded to jobs they had but nothing was actually documented on the resume. Some of the new “CV” formats focus more on accomplishments and abilities as opposed to what specific jobs one has held. If you want to list strengths/experiences briefly at the top, that’s fine, but then go on into your typical resume format with each job listed and then document your duties and accomplishments under each job. Again, when I see resumes like this, I start to think they are hiding something.

So now you’ve got some tips on what to add to your resume. It is more important than ever to make sure your resume is in top form if you are seeking a new career. Don’t be lazy with your resume, it doesn’t matter if you are applying for a custom applicator role or the CEO of a company, your resume is a direct reflection of you, so give it the time it deserves!

You can find my original blog on www.agcareerwomen.ning.com

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