Effective Resume Creation

Resumes are often the first point of contact between you and a potential employer. You want to make a good impression. It is very tempting to build and pad your resume with all kinds of gloried experience and skills that you may not possess. Maybe you won’t get caught. However, there is a chance that you will be busted and embarrassed by your lies. In this tough economy, employers do not have a lot of extra money to waste on hiring the wrong people. As a result, many employers are engaging in employee screening practices from background checks and skills tests to reference checks. Don’t blow your opportunity to get that great job. Make your resume look its best without creating a fictional employment history.

• Are you worth spending money on? Are you going to work hard, come to work on time every single day and do your best?
• Are you dependable? Are you going to stick with the job after training or are you a job hopper who is going to bail at the first chance you get?
• Do you know how to follow directions and instructions? Are you able to be a good example for other employees?

• Get rid of gaps. Make sure to fill in gaps in your work history with some kind of information. Gaps raise questions about what you have been doing with your time. Were you unemployable, in jail or dealing with personal problems? These are the questions that come into the mind of your potential boss when looking at a resume full of gaps. Fill in these gaps with your organizational memberships and activities, volunteer experience, skill building workshops, education and history of other unpaid experience such as being a caregiver for your sick relative. Even though you did not get paid for your work, you still have valuable experience and skills to list. List your online job experience of writing articles and working on your blog. All these opportunities illustrate that you have been busy with your time.
• List some top-notch references who respond. Provide references from people who will respond to emails and phone calls from prospective employers. Let your references know you are giving out their contact information. Impressive references from people who don’t respond are useless. Make sure your references are willing and able to help sell your abilities to someone else.
• Explain reasons for leaving a job under your job history, especially if you have changed jobs a lot in the past. Nothing screams, “don’t hire me,” to a potential employer louder than a resume full of jobs where the person only worked a few weeks before quitting. State clearly that the job ended, you went back to school or whatever reason you have to explain to your new boss why you will not quit this new opportunity.
• List your best contact information. Be sure you regularly answer the phone number and email address you placed on your resumes. No one likes repeatedly trying to call someone in for an interview or follow-up ~ they will probably only try to contact you once and then move on.

Taking the time to create a great resume helps you approach the job hunt with confidence. You are presenting your best self to employers, so it will only a matter of time until you land that job.